“A cult is a group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea or thing and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control (e.g. isolation from former friends and family, debilitation, use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience, powerful group pressures, information management, suspension of individuality or critical judgment, promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of [consequences of] leaving it, etc) designed to advance the goals of the group’s leaders to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community.”

(HT: Wikipedia)

You see, I’ve been in discussions with the pastors (regarding tithing) since our pre-membership interview with Jason Reyes (soon to be the new senior pastor of Covenant of Grace Church in Akron, OH). Sadly, they didn’t bother to even try to answer my questions until they found out that I had posted my thoughts on the tithe here at my blog. Even then, I was met with a general unwillingness to discuss my questions and concerns; rather, the conversation was continually focused on challenging my lack of trust in and respect for them. They couldn’t understand how my trust was largely dependent on their actions and approaches to my questions. You see, I did trust them when I joined Chesapeake in November of 2005. It was only after months of evading and ignoring my questions that I began to get exasperated with them. In the meantime, other things appeared on the radar that only added to my unease and distrust:

• The pastors paid themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2006 (according to their own financial statement), while giving roughly $18,000 as “benevolence.” When asked about this, their response was that the issued Statement was not an accurate reflection of their financial activity.
• The pastors refused to support from the general fund–or even to collect a “special offering” for–a family in the congregation with known serious financial needs. Meanwhile, they collected a special offering to cover moving expenses for two pastors.
• Jim Cannon (the senior pastor) personally told me in front of Jason Reyes and a Care Group leader that his preference was for my membership status to be reevaluated should I choose not to tithe to him. Later, to illustrate his rationale for this, he drew parallels with a wife not trusting her husband to handle their money. But when I pointed out that I wouldn’t/shouldn’t/couldn’t Biblically divorce my wife over such a matter, his response was that a church membership wasn’t like a marriage.
• Jim also told me that in his study of the tithe, he had considered no extra-biblical writings on the subject of tithing penned before the Protestant Reformation. Thus, all early “Church Fathers” epistles, the Didache, Josephus’ writings, and any other works which could have shed first-hand light on how the early church viewed tithing… were ignored.
• Jim’s response was to call me a “freeloader” and claim that I had “integrity issues” when I told the pastors that not giving to Chesapeake was a matter of conscience: they had collected over $850,000 last year with, as I said before, only $18,000 (2.5%) going to those in need. (I took the money I would have given them, and instead gave it to organizations like Compassion International and Blood:Water Mission.)

And in the midst of all this, the pastors tried to shut down an evangelistic effort from a Godly man in the congregation—to spend time with some other Christian men in a pub, where they could interact with people on “neutral territory” and begin to develop relationships with them. The pastors also forbade this man to pass out copies of a Mark Driscoll book to his Christian friends until Jim had approved it, and they almost banned the men in our Care Group from going on a camping trip they were organizing. Why? Because they wouldn’t get back in time for the Sunday morning service.

From what I’ve seen, Sovereign Grace Church in Joppa, MD (their new name, as of September 12th) isn’t a local church. It really bears far more resemblance to a cult:

• The leaders are domineering and in some areas tyrannical;
• they have tried in numerous ways to psychologically manipulate the congregation;
• they demand trust rather than desiring to show themselves worthy of it;
• they are frightened of “their” people being exposed to “non-approved” books and ideas.

So that’s why I left. I tried to reason with them for nearly two years, but it has proven fruitless. The pastors are content to continue as they have, and it’s just become too heavy a burden. It’s kind of depressing, because I love the people I know at Chesapeake, but with the mindset that many people seem to have (that “we must attend the same church or else we can’t be friends”) it seems it’ll be extremely difficult to maintain our relationships.

So where is the Seitler family headed? I don’t know, but I’m definitely scarred from (and scared of) this overbearing leadership, and so we’re probably looking more toward a house church than toward any other “model.” In the meantime, we’ve actually enjoyed greater fellowship with other believers in the past few weeks than we had when we were in “the club”–and it was mostly due to opportunities that wouldn’t have been available to us if we were attending Sunday morning meetings and Wednesday night meetings and…

UPDATE #2: The post I linked “moving expenses” to (on a blog written by Jason Reyes’ wife Laurie) has been removed since my post appeared here this morning. Just to show you there really *was* a post there (and to let you still read it), here’s a screenshot of Laurie’s Delete Post from within Google Reader. It was the only place with a copy still available.

And here’s larger versions of the six pictures from that post (including the last one, which Jason’s actually in): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

I guess this is just another example of their tendency to cover things up instead of dealing with them.

UPDATE #2: Laurie now has a video on YouTube showing the house.

UPDATE #3: What do I mean by “cult”? Find out here.

Personally, I think all the secrecy about stuff like this is silly and more than a little melodramatic. Reminds me of something someone recently said about Vice President Cheney….

Why all the spectacle? Why do things like this have to be kept hush-hush until we can make some big “event” out of it? It just feels so disingenuous and showy.

We had a really nice Mother’s Day weekend this year! On Saturday, we bundled up the kids and a picnic lunch and moseyed on over to Spring Lake Park. We’d only ever been to the “lake” side of it before, so the open grass and the quiet creek were wonderful. (More photos at Flickr.)

On Sunday we decided to pass on message #2 of Chesapeake’s building fund series and instead visit a nearby congregation. (See, we’re really bad about driving 30 miles to attend Sunday services and not having a clue who the believers are within a 2-mile radius of our apartment.) Timonium UMC got the short straw, so we went over there and checked things out.

Wow.

It’s one thing for a church to think it’s okay for women to serve in pastoral roles… but I saw a number of appointed leaders in there yesterday morning, and not a single one was a man. (The men were either in deacon roles or just not there.) If that wasn’t enough of a shocker for me, they had the kids come up for a kiddie sermonette on Acts 16 where they were told that Lydia had her husband and kids baptized and pastored a church in her home. Needless to say, Katie got some of Papa Bear’s personal commentary on that passage at lunchtime. Maybe I’ll post my thoughts on it later, but suffice it to say, I think there was no small part of eisegesis in what was told to the kids.

The really nice part about visiting that church, though, is that we were back home by 11am (where we usually get back after 1pm). We couldn’t get over how much longer the day felt because of that, so we went driving around later, looking at houses for sale.

It sounds pretty simple: a group of at least five families in one U.S. community (usually suburban) come together and “sponsor” families in a destitute community somewhere else in the country. Each month a participating family sends food, toiletries, etc. to the same family in need.

It sounds like a good idea, but I’d like to hear from folks who’ve checked it out more (I’ve just read the web site) or who are currently working with them. Specifically, I’m curious how far a new “chapter” can go in selecting the community they’ll sponsor. (I know if I were to do this, I’d want to at least have the possibility of being able to meet the folks we’re serving. It’s not necessary, but it would certainly be a “selling point” for me.)

Because of the relational focus, I think this is the sort of thing that would work well on a Care Group level rather than being a “top-down” ministry (that is, congregation-wide with a centralized administration).

So this weekend, let’s take a look at the race we’re running, and consider what may need to be laid aside so that we can run the race marked out for us. (Lay Aside Every Weight)

Of course, I said this before a weekend in which Nicole had two birthday parties and I got hit with hay fever of flu-like proportions. Benadryl didn’t work. Claritin didn’t work. Sudafed didn’t work.

After we got back from her Saturday party, I went to bed around Midnight. An itchy throat woke me up at 2:20am, and from that point until I gave up trying (around 8:30am) I could only doze off for 5-10 minutes every half-hour.

Then we assisted in the 3-year-olds’ Sunday School class.

Then there was the impromptu Care Group picnic/party that afternoon. (Not only were we treated to free meatball subs for lunch, but our CG leader’s wife got Nicole a cake and everything!)

I don’t know whether it was due to sheer exhaustion or liquid Benadryl actually soothing my throat better than caplets, but when I laid down on the couch at around 4pm on Sunday I was finally able to get some rest. Then I woke up for a late supper, and I couldn’t get back to sleep again until about 1:30am.

So I hope you don’t get the wrong idea from posts like Friday’s: just because I set lofty goals doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve actually met them. I wasn’t able to do much thinking at all over the weekend, let alone deep thinking over weighty spiritual matters. But you know what I was able to do? Ironically, I was able to run the race set before me—at least, the race set before in those moments. When I’m going on two hours’ sleep and I’ve got to corral ten preschoolers for ninety minutes, extraneous things fall by the wayside. When I’m desperate for any little bit of sleep I can grab, I’m not going to be puttering around on the internet. I’m far more likely to be praying desperately for some heavenly Unisom! (And shouldn’t I be praying when I’m sick anyway?)

And even though I wasn’t able to put much effort into considering my race, I think God decided he didn’t need my help—that he was perfectly capable of revealing things to me on his own schedule. You see, Saturday evening we watched The Pursuit of Happyness with my family, and my heart was broken. Here was a man who was facing tough times. At one point he’s in a homeless shelter run by a church. Sounds great, a church helping the poor… but this man had a small boy to take care of, and nobody in that church offered anything more than a chance for a cot for the night. Where was the invitation for something a bit more accommodating—at least for the boy’s sake?*

And here I am, sitting almost in the middle of the Baltimore metro area. How many Chris Gardners are nearby? Are they even attending services at my local church, but I haven’t bothered to get involved in their lives?

poverty is so hard to see
when it’s only on your tv and twenty miles across town
where we’re all living so good
that we moved out of Jesus’ neighborhood
where he’s hungry and not feeling so good
from going through our trash
he says, more than just your cash and coin
i want your time, i want your voice
i want the things you just can’t give me (Derek Webb, Rich Young Ruler)

The problem is that I’m just like the church folk in that movie: I may mean well, but I fall far short of what’s needed—even when it’s in my power. I may not have a lot, but I have enough for 1 John 3:16-18 to apply to me:

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

“We ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” Talk is cheap. Even prayers and blessings—when not accompanied by actions—are worthless (no, really, it’s in the Bible). Now is the time to act: to do anything else would be a denial of the Faith.

* As I was writing this post, I became aware of a number of differences between events as they were portrayed in the film and events as they actually happened. So in all honesty, I have no idea what the people at Glide actually did and didn’t do in regard to Mr. Gardner. Thus, this isn’t intended to be a slight on them, but I’m sadly certain there’s many congregations that fit the bill.

For instance, one thing that constantly trips up modern-day Christians is that we fail to remember that the Law given to Moses did not merely outline a religious system… it was a constitution establishing a nation’s government. Thus, we need not only to discern which laws were sacrificial in nature (as Christians, we hold that Jesus Christ is our atonement and makes all other sacrifices—and thus all laws requiring sacrifices—moot), but also whether certain laws were governmental or sacramental in nature. While this may be a simple process with the laws of a “secular” nation, it can get difficult when you’re dealing with a theocracy.

My studies keep drawing me to the same conclusion: God’s eternal Law of Love compels us to serve the poor, but the tithe laws were a form of taxation, and served as the welfare system for Ancient Israel. Thus, these laws only apply to those under the Old Covenant living in geographical Israel.

Deuteronomy 15:7-11 (which I wrote about recently) provides the framework for all God-glorifying giving, and serves as the “spirit of the law” regarding money, possessions and neighbors:

If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye [be evil toward] your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the LORD against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be [evil] when you give to him, because for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

The tithes, while a sacrifice to the LORD, were arranged in such a way as to serve as the particular fulfillment of this command with regards to the Levites (as God forbade them from owning land, cf. Deut. 18:1-8), as well as other poor in the Israelites’ midst (Deut. 14:22-29). Additionally, not only here but also in Nehemiah’s time (after two months of working daily with wood, stone, etc. to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem), the reinstated tithe consisted solely of agricultural produce (Neh. 10:35-39).

Now when you begin to question the tithe, the knee-jerk response you often get is a quote from The Most Overused Tithe Verse In The Bible: “Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.” Congratulations, you have now been labeled a God-robber! However, this is neither faithful exegesis nor Biblical correction. It’s simply propaganda and browbeating. To show you that this is the case, let me share the entire passage with you, and pay attention to what I emphasize:

Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:8-12, ESV)

Let me make it perfectly clear: the tithes were never about collecting money for the Temple. Tithing was the means by which a food bank was kept for the poor and needy in Israel.

There is only one passage in all of Scripture which speaks of money in relation to the tithe: Deuteronomy 14:22-29. However, the money is never actually given to the Levite. Rather, it is used only as a convenient form of transport for those who must travel a long distance. Once the tither arrives at Jerusalem, he is commanded to convert the money back into food, strong drink (beer), etc. and to consume these items with the Levite, sojourner, fatherless and widow (that is, those without such provision). And you know what? Jesus mentioned something much like this in Luke’s gospel:

[Jesus] said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (Luke 14:12-14, ESV)

Never, all in Scripture, is a tithe used to pay building and maintenance expenses for a meeting-house or clergy. The tithe is food, and it’s used to feed people—period. Freewill offerings (and/or perhaps a modern-day equivalent to Nehemiah’s “temple tax”) are the only Biblically-approved source of income from which such things as Equipment Upgrades, Insurance, Janitorial Services, Payroll Expenses, Repairs and Maintenance, Utilities, Mortgages, etc. are to be paid.

In contrast to the Old Covenant system, Paul set aside any pastoral “right” to live off the ministry and instead worked additional jobs to provide for his own expenses. He reasoned that he stood to gain no heavenly reward from “simply” preaching the Gospel (1 Cor. 9:15) and must go out of his way to make it a completely free gift if he were to receive anything from the Father because of his work. However, if Paul were simply a “New Covenant priest” he would have been leading the churches into sin by causing them to break God’s Law which required a community to feed its Levites (again, Deut. 18:1-8). Thus, we can infer that Paul did not believe these laws were binding for ministers of the Gospel.

That being the case, a Christian pastor ought not presume to live off of the tithes of his people. If a tithe is requested of the congregation, then Biblically it needs to be food, and it needs to be distributed to people who need food. (Which is to say, faithful application of the tithe laws requires the establishment of a congregational food bank.) Beyond that, there is no Biblical requirement to “lay [any] money at the [pastors'] feet.” (It is certainly encouraged as the decent thing to do for a chap who has given his whole lives to serving you and yours spiritually… but it’s not required.) In and 4, the money laid at the apostles’ feet was “distributed to each as any had need” (Acts 2:44-45; Acts 4:32-35). Likewise, the money collected on Paul’s behalf from the Church in Macedonia, Achaia, and Corinth was going directly to feed the Christians in Jerusalem who were suffering through a famine—not to line his personal “chariot fund.” And of course a meeting-house is nice, but depleting a collected tithe to fund it—or even to keep it lit and climate-controlled—is unbiblical.

So if I don’t think the tithe applies to us today, does that mean I can get away with not giving anything? God forbid! On the contrary, I believe Christians are to “sell [their] possessions, and give to the needy” (Luke 12:33), but are not bound by a 10-33% annual tithe to modern-day Levites per se. The sacrificial system is no longer binding, but I am still bound by the perfect Law of Love: specifically, to “love [my] neighbor as [myself],” (Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 19:19, etc.) and thus to “remember the poor” (Gal. 2:10), “open wide [my] hand to [my] brother, to the needy and to the poor, in [my] land” (Deut. 15:11), “bear with the failings of the weak, and not… please [myself]“ (Rom. 15:1-3, cf. vv. 25-27), and to “contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality” (Rom. 12:13) “that there may be fairness” (2 Corinthians 8:13-15). Sometimes fairness means giving 1%, sometimes 99%.

But the most ironic thing about my tithe law studies is that some of those who are being commanded to “tithe” (give 10% of your gross income) to “the church” (really meaning “the pastors”) are actually poor enough that the pastors are required by God’s Word to be tithing to them.

So in conclusion: Christians are commanded to give to the poor and needy in our midst, but we are not bound by tithe laws. However, even if one were convinced that Christians must tithe, a faithful reading of Scripture insists the tithe be used to feed the poor. It is wholly foreign to the Word of God to use a tithe on buildings, utilities, vacations, insurance or even clothing.

At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the LORD’s release has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. But there will be no poor among you; for the LORD will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess—if only you will strictly obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. For the LORD your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.

If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the LORD against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’ — Deuteronomy 15:1-11 (ESV)

But maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. See, Chesapeake Community Church has just started a series of sermons on 1 John. I wasn’t there on Sunday (this cold’s been pretty nasty), but I did have John Piper’s message from January 7th, also on 1 John (2:12-14, to be specific) playing as I drove to and from this men’s meeting. There was also a discussion with Jonno in the comments on my “Prepare To Meet Your Maker” post… Anyway, I definitely had 1 John on my mind as I was going into this. Now, the reason I mention 1 John is that in that letter, the Apostle says something very interesting:

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. — 1 John 2:1-2 (ESV)

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is such that we have an advocate, even if we sin after having first received mercy! The reason this was giving me a eureka! moment is because this is the exact same sort of thing being said in the Deuteronomy passage! Look at it again, specifically verses 4-5 and 7-8:

“But there will be no poor among you; for the LORD will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess—if only you will strictly obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. [...] If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.”

Do you see it? Do you see it? There is at least an implication that as Israel’s financial prosperity in the Promised Land is tied to their lawkeeping, their poverty will be due to sin… yet they are commanded to lend whatever is needed to the seeming backslider, even if there’s no chance he can pay them back. In fact, according to verse 9, if you don’t open wide your hand to give the presumed “sinner” whatever he needs, you’re guilty of sin! What a beautiful illustration of Jesus’ command in the Sermon on the Mount:

Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you… so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. [...] You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. — Matthew 5:42, 45, 48 (ESV)

So brothers and sisters, I urge you: do not sin against God and your neighbor in an effort to “avoid foolish investments”! He is no wise steward who ignores the master’s stewardship instructions. Rather, look upon the mercy and kindness of God—who pours out common grace upon all, regardless of merit (that’s what grace is)—and open wide your hand to the poor in your midst, even if you think his poverty is the result of his sin.

UPDATE: It figures that someone like Doug Wilson would have beaten me to this by a few weeks—and he said it better than I did, to boot! :p

While L. Jesse Bane coasted to an easy victory for the Democratic nomination for sheriff, the Republican results were less clear. Cochran and Price were virtually deadlocked and barely ahead of four challengers. It could take a week for election officials to count absentee and provisional ballots and determine a winner.
— Baltimore Sun, Wagner loses as old county names falter

You can get the latest results at the Harford County’s election results page. It looks like there’s a definite gap between Cochran/Price and Tritt/Benedetto, but you never know what may turn up during recounts and such.

Hey, even if Dave doesn’t make it, he can always run as an Independent… right?

Challies Dot Com SideBlog: A La Carte (07/18)

Blogging: The 2006 Blogathon is going to begin soon. If you’re interested in raising money for the cause of your choice, perhaps this is a way of doing so. It involves 24-hours of blogging at 30 minute intervals.

I’ve signed up to participate in the Blogathon this year (thanks, Tim!). 100% of the donations pledged via my blog will go to Covenant Mercies, a “sponsor-a-child” sort of program run by Covenant Fellowship Church, one of Chesapeake’s sister churches. They do some great work caring for orphans in rural Uganda, and I want to support them!

So please sponsor me, and pray I’m able to stay awake for 24 hours straight!

On May 18th of this year, Jake Hollin was awarded Teacher of the Year at The John Carroll School. Jake is a devoted husband, father of four of the sweetest little girls I’ve ever seen, and he’s the leader of our little band of brothers and sisters. I think Jake sees blogs as a passing fad that only interests 13-year-old girls, 35-year-old perverts and political activists… but he’s also been John Carroll’s wrestling coach for a number of years, so I’m not going to mess with him!

Cheryl Gill isn’t just a secretary an administrative assistant at Chesapeake; she’s also Miss Preakness 2006. Recently Cheryl appeared on WJZ during the Preakness. She also appeared on WBAL 1090AM, WMAR Channel 2, ESPN SportsCenter, the Tony Bruno Show, WZBA 100.7FM, WIYY (98 Rock) and who knows where else. As a matter of fact, the girl just might be Miss America one day…

Dave Tritt is all over the place. You may find him in the Baltimore Sun, the Aegis, the Examiner, or helping someone who’s stranded on the side of the highway. It’s more likely, however, that you’ll find him faithfully serving his family. He’s running for Harford County Sheriff this year, and I have a hunch he’s going to win — but I know that even if he doesn’t, he’ll still be a loving husband and dad, and that’s more important to him.

Now I need to be completely honest here: I really don’t care how famous or popular these folks are… I just think it’s weird that y’all might open the newspaper or turn on the radio, and there’d be the person who sits across the living room from me every other week. Yeah, I like to brag! “Our Care Group’s the coolest Care Group!”

If I hadn’t proved it yet, hopefully this will be the clincher: I’ve mapped each and every Sovereign Grace Ministries member church in Wayfaring! That’s right, each one — including the in-progress church plant in Frederick, MD! (That was was pretty hard to peg exactly, seeing as how they haven’t found a place to meet yet!)

(That’s supposed to be a live view of the map; if it doesn’t seem to be working, you can load the full version.)

My biggest trouble—hands down—was with the churches in Mexico. They’ve got some strange addressing methods down there, and I couldn’t make las cabezas o las colas of them!

My goal was to map the meeting locations, rather than the mailing addresses. Wayfaring doesn’t have the same data that Google Maps does, though, because apparently Google doesn’t make all that data available in their API. It didn’t cause me much trouble, but some of the markers may be off a few hundred yards as a result of having to eyeball it.

It’s interesting… looking over this map, I can’t help but notice a certain tendency to hug the Appalachian mountain range. I wonder if that’s intentional.

I also see a distinct lack of SGM church planting in the Northwest U.S. I think they ought to plant one in Las Vegas. Who’s with me?

Last week, Laurie Reyes was mentioned in Tim Challies’ A La Carte sidebar… this week, she gets even more digital ink this week in girl talk: A Tribute to Daryl Cannon:

“This year, I don�t honor my mother for how she has served those who come behind her; I honor her for serving those who have gone before her. My mother�s world changed dramatically last year. In one year, my parents flew back and forth to Las Vegas and New Orleans many times to attend to ill parents. In April of 2005, my mother�s mom died and just three days later my father�s dad died. Just four months later, the flood in New Orleans resulted in my parents taking in my grandmother Cannon as well as my severely mentally handicapped Aunt. My mother was to be the primary caregiver for both. Yet in a whirlwind of airplanes, memorial services, floods, and hospitals my mother stayed the course of humble servant-hood.”

I’ve been both humbled and encouraged while watching the Cannons respond so faithfully to the challenges they’ve faced this past year. It speaks volumes to a guy like me when I see my pastor making such real sacrifices to care for those in need around him. Jim and Daryl are a wonderful testimony to Jesus Christ’s sacrificial love, and I’m honored to have them as my pastor (and my pastor’s wife)!

“A U.S. Senate subcommittee report estimated that if every Christian family would only take care of its own, the federal dole would decrease a full 30 percent. If every church would then take care of its own, the dole would decrease another 12 percent. And then, if each of those churches would provide a sponsoring family to exercise charity to a single outsider, the federal dole could be eliminated completely. Just like that.”

Chad Degenhart, If We Only Took Care Of Our Own

“You know what they say: follow the money. And there’s lots of it coming from churches trying to match audio/video wits with MTV, concerts and TV. So the big guys have gotten involved. Here’s proof…”

Mike Atkinson (at Church Marketing Sucks), Is Jesus the Next Killer App?

I’m subscribed to feeds at both sites cited above, and I read both of these entries this morning, one right after the other. I was surprised by the sharp contrast between the two, and it’s got me thinking (again) about how congregations spend their money, and what that tells the people around us about Jesus. Which is your congregation putting more effort (and money) into becoming: the church that takes care of their own, or the local entertainment pavilion?

“So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

(ESV)

It’s easy to lay the blame on the congregation as a whole… but God won’t let us get away with that. Which of the two paths am I walking down: sacrifice and service, or fame and flash and spectacle? Which is master of my heart: Jesus Christ or money and possessions?

Or put another way: when I find myself with some extra money in hand, what do I immediately want to do with it? What “wishes” do I think of fulfilling? And since good intentions are only part of the picture, what do I end up doing with my newfound wealth? I’m not sure many of us could honestly answer these questions without showing just how un-Christlike we are.

Alright, it looks like I blog about my local church enough to have a “Chesapeake Community Church” category set up.

Chesapeake has decided to hop a ride on the iTrain! Now, they aren’t in the official iTunes directory yet, but you can now get their sermons via podcast!

Since the New Year brings with it a new sermon series on Nehemiah, I’m going to spend some time over the following weeks months, hitting the highlights of these messages.

Oh yeah, and Dave Harvey spoke yesterday on materialism.

Ooh, it’s pretty.

Don’t get me wrong; the WordPress Team has put an awful lot of work into a free resource that’s loved by many (including yours truly). Still, the Admin Panel was always lacking in aesthetics.

Until now. Yep, I’ve just got me a copy of WP Tiger Administration by Steve Smith at Ordered List. This is lightyears beyond the default layout � and I actually enjoy writing in here again!

Much thanks, Steve!

Affluenza is the disease of greed. It’s the materialistic mindset that says that getting more money and possessions for yourself is the ultimate aim of life. Affluenza is the spirit of our age and it has infected all of us.

So Josh Harris begins a new series at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD. I highly recommend downloading the first message and checking back in the coming weeks to get the entire series.

This is a topic that’s been getting a bit of press in the “GodBlogger” world. Not only has Josh blogged on it, but DesiringGod’s Justin Taylor has posted on “A Biblical Theology of Poverty and Almsgiving” and Dan Edelen wants to pool Christian bloggers’ resources so we can actually help some folks (rather than simply lobbing grenades in the latest doctrine war).

My only contribution at this point is my LibraryThing account — since all my books are there now, my brothers and sisters at Chesapeake Community Church can easily browse my collection, and are welcome to borrow whatever they’d like to. (Just please, no highlighting!) Just imagine the resources that could be freed up in a church if a 500-member congregation only needed 10-20 copies of a particular book? (Did the authors in the room just faint? Sorry, guys!)

But it’s a very small start. In Money, Possessions, and Eternity, Randy Alcorn lays out a vision of an Acts 4:32-37 church where there’s a master list of items members have made available to the congregation. (Have a fallen tree in your yard? Don’t go out and buy a chainsaw; Bill Smith’s got one on the list!) It’s like one big family!

Wait… isn’t that what we’re supposed to be?

Pardon me as I pick my jaw up from the floor.

Well, looks like Howard Varnedoe was able to make good on his desire to get Cornerstone’s website redesign up in concert with the new building!

Looks like they’ve got plans for a seminary… nice seal. =)

Too bad it’s all in Macromedia Flash, though. And there really needs to be a contact e-mail, if only to send critiques like this to the web designer(s) rather than posting them on the Internet…

There’s something very peaceful about knowing friends have your back.