I don’t know how many times someone comes to me to tell me something, or emails me to tell me something, and I don’t get the point. I do know that when there is going to be a public record of it, I look/listen closer.

Today pastor Ken Blue contacted me about a technical issue with his Blog. In the process of dealing with it I came across this article WHAT IS MEANS TO BE A BIBLE BELIEVER. I found it interesting that a comment was made that was near the actual point of the article – specifically:

So, I call myself a Bible believer. I pray that I will be a Bible doer. There are those out there who insist that if you don’t agree with their interpretation, you are not a Bible believer.

Go figure, and be careful of the evidence trail you leave behind!

Tags: Uncategorized by admin
No Comments »

If you did not read #1 in this series please go read that first: A Question About Men.

It took me a while to get my thinking straight on this issue. When I posted the first in this series I had 2 guys respond in Facebook to that post. One suggested that the reason men hate (or hate going to) church was that they want to be the god of their own lives. The other response was that is was an issue of people not being able to get along. I am paraphrasing their responses a little because they posted to my Facebook account. Posting to Facebook is good and bad. I cannot find their posts now (bad)! If they had posted here, to the blog, I could link to their responses – please post comments to the blog directly.

REVELATION! Well, it might seem a little thing to you, I dunno. In Genesis 1:27 it says: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” He (God) made man of 2 parts – male and female. That is deep. No, you say it is physiology, biology, and anatomy. I beg to differ.

When God created man He already knew the name, life history, good and bad of every single individual human, He knew their Eternal Impact. Additionally, He made man unique in that He breathed into Him “the breath of life” and man became a living soul. Man is not just physiology, biology, or anatomy, man is an eternal being. A dog is physiology, biology, and anatomy. A dog has a beginning and an end, man has a beginning but no end. Man is not just an animal, but a “living soul”.

So then, man is a living soul of 2 basic types: male and female. Someone said: things that are not the same are different. Well, duh!

My revelation then is that God made the male “living soul” ON PURPOSE. That is deep. Testosterone poisoning is intentional. Testosterone poisoning is FROM GOD. My whole life I have been punished by an ever narrowing noose of imposed behavioral castration. In fact, when I was a young boy, they castrated me (in effect) with a chemical a called Ritalin. My profound revelation, simply put, is this: God gave me a pair, He expects me to use them for Him. I believe that part of God’s intent in giving me a high level of testosterone (read: “a pair”) was that I might make a greater impact on eternity.

In the first blog I referred to a book: Why Men Hate Going to Church. I ordered this book along with a DVD by the same author. I am reading this book slowly. I like to read a little, mull it over, read, mull it over, etc. This guy is spot-on. The problems with church that he brings up, the things that cause men to hate going to church, are the exact things that drive me nuts! As I mention in the previous post, I have been thinking about this for a long time – over a year.

As a result of my thinking, God’s leadership, and what I am learning from David Murrow’s book as well as a book by Dr. Frank Luntz I started a men’s work group. We’re meeting every Sunday morning at 09:00 at my church (http://biblebaptistportorchard.com). We have a short devotion, maybe a how-to, and are working on building a set of internet-based outreach resources that anyone in the world can freely use. I just spoke with our resident funny-guy – he’s in, so we’ll have a few gospel comedy routines! I am excited.

I am so convinced that God made men “Purpose Built” that our first devotion was about this very revelation that God made men with “a pair” on purpose (told you this was deep). To make things concrete, I gave each man one of these:

I then asked them to carry this around with them for the week in a way that they would contact them several times a day. I have carried my “pair” in my left front pants pocket. I asked the men if they would ask God a question each time they found “their pair”, something to the end: “Why did God make me a man”. I found mine in my pocket 5 or more times a day. I personally had many times that I decided to do things a little differently, once backed out of a statement I made and rephrased it, and decided to deal with a nagging problem in a straight-forward manner as a result of encountering these little reminders.

So men, got a pair? – myEternalImpact.com

Tags: Uncategorized by Scott Gregson
1 Comment »

I recently asked a group of pastors a question (through my pastor/father-in-law). The question was: “If you were to give a man one book other than the Bible what book would you give him”. The answers I (we) received back surprised me for 2 reasons. The first surprise was that I actually asked the wrong question, the second was the revelation of the mind of a pastor.

Most of the pastors responded that they would give the man some specific reference book like a concordance, Bible dictionary or commentary. This majority response, by my interpretation, actually answers the question: “How do you see the purpose of your ministry or what is the purpose of your ministry”. To which the answer came back as a resounding: “To equip the saints”. These pastors wanted to give the man a worthy tool. I actually have no argument with that answer, howbeit I evidently did not ask the question I wanted an answer to.

Had I more insight into the mind of these pastors I would have asked something like: “What do you see as the greatest spiritual need of the men you know and what would you do to help meet that need?” When I asked the original question, I was expecting these pastors to reply with books written to specifically pique the spiritual interest of the inner man. I expected to be referred to books like: God Tells the Man Who Cares by A. W. Tozer, The Spiritual Man by Watchman Nee, or Purpose in Prayer by E. M. Bounds. I already knew about those books – “been there done that”. My quest was really for a clue, a link to a, I think, deeper question.

I have been in the printing ministry for a while – I won’t go into details. Over the years I have spoken with a pastors and done a lot of thinking about ways to excite interest in “church” and “salvation” in the unsaved man. Recently, in a telephone conversation with a pastor he mentioned that he was reading a book that was titled or had a chapter that was titled something like “Why Men Hate Church”*. I have been thinking quite a bit lately about how a person can make the biggest impact on this world. I guess being middle-aged I am at “that” point in life where we try to get the big picture and correct/proceed. Why do men hate church? I mean, I think they do, and to some extent I do. I am going to call that pastor and find out what that book is.* Why would I care if men hate church?

My deep down motive to the original question, my continued thought on the correct question, and my posting this blog are all rooted in a desire to change what I am and what I will become. I desire to become a tool in the hand of my God. A tool he can wield as He wishes without the encumbrances of my lack-of-understanding and self-oriented-motivation. I sense a specific pull to direct my energies toward nurturing men.

After, getting the responses from the group of pastors, I talked a little with my pastor about it. He told me he thought that a big need of most men is commitment or faithfulness.

So then, What do you see as the greatest need (save salvation) in the men you know, and how would you go about ministering to that need? Optionally, What is the greatest lack of character in the men you know and how would you go about building that character?

(*I think the name of the book might be Why Men Hate Going to Church
by David Murrow. When the mentioned pastor told me about the book/chapter he said the reason given was basically that men do not feel challenged – they “have” no purpose in going to church. I will link from this post to further posts on that subject later.)

Tags: Uncategorized by Scott Gregson
1 Comment »

Please tell me why you don’t go to Sunday School. I really want to know. I don’t care who you are. Post a comment below. I will not approve the comment so nobody but me will see it. If you want it posted, tell me in the post.

Make up a fake name if you know me so I won’t know who you are.

I really, really, really want to know!!

Tags: Uncategorized by admin
No Comments »

This feeds 9-13, usually with a little left for midnight snack.

10 cups cooked white rice

1/2 hour before rice is done this stuff needs to be made ready:

1 to 1-1/2 bunch celery chopped up relatively small
1 whole onion chopped (1/4″ or smaller)
1 to 1-1/2 cup carrots cup thin/small
3-6 bunches scallions chopped 1/4″
frozen peas maybe 3/4 – 1 cup
1-3 lbs pork cut into 3/4″ or smaller pieces, use less if you want.
bacon – cut off 1/4 of the slab then cut up – dice that 1/4 slab
3 eggs scrambled (small curds) by themselves
salt
soy sauce
sesame oil – optional (adds character of flavor.)

in large soup size pan brown bacon.

Put in pork and fully cook

when done, you gotta decide if that is too much grease and drain out what you don’t want – I usually leave enough in to keep the flavor it gives to rice.

remove pork/bacon and put in carrots and a cup or so of water – high heat cook until starting to tender. By the time everything is done this makes the carrots fully cooked. I personally don’t like cooked carrots but they are good for me so this is my ‘fix’ – cook the living daylight out of them. If you like carrots cook them less – the veggies are supposed to have a little crunch.

add onions and peas cook a little more (until onions start to turn clear 1-3 minutes at high heat), make sure peas are warmed through.

add the remaining stuff except eggs and heat up (keep them crisp)

add the pork/bacon back in, stir, divide into 1/2′s into another same size pan. If the meat has cooled (it should still be hot) add it with the veggies so it will be hot about the same time the veggies are just “so”.

add soy sauce, salt, sesame oil to taste

add 1/2 eggs to each pan stir

add 1/2 rice to each pan, mix and add soy sauce, salt to taste if needed.

done.

You can add other things instead of or in addition to what is listed above:
shrimp, little red hot peppers, red/yellow/green bell peppers, chicken, etc.

Tags: Uncategorized by Scott Gregson
No Comments »