Matt and Baley Hinson

Matt and Baley Hinson were two of my best friends. I've known Baley a few years and knew Matt for over 20 years. On July 27th they died along with their unborn little boy. To know them was to love them. They were truly people of God, and one of the best examples of a Christian I could ever hope to have had. This has been one of the hardest times in my life. It's hard to go from talking to someone every week to never gonna see them again on this side of glory. My mind keeps going back to one statement in my head "if it were only Thursday morning again." I realize that this statement is extremely selfish. When Paul saw a glimpse of Heaven God had to send him a demon to bring him back to earth and want to return. How could I ever want that for my friends. I want them back, but I know I'll see them again. I guess it's easier to think of them as just moved to a better place than it is to think of them as permanently gone. Knowing Matt for so long and knowing how alike we are, I think I know what he would like. He would want us to move on, tell people about Christ, and love on students with everything we can hope to have. Well it's be awesome to know these wonderful people. I can't wait until the day I see Matt and Baley again, but what will be better is on that day Jesus will run to me, hug me, and say well done. Matt and Baley have finished well and I hope I do as well. I hope to be the man of God that I saw in Matt. Thank You Jesus for this wonderful example of what you want from me. Praise Jesus. God Rocks, Jtw

Christian Lingo

Why do some people use Christian Lingo? I don't understand it, it's not like use say computer lingo with someone who's computer illiterate. So again, why do we use computer lingo with either non-Christians or just regular followers of Jesus. Recently I've been asking a lot of questions. I believe that people should not just know what they believe but why. The answer I get to a lot of these questions is the church answer with church lingo. The problem comes when I ask what that lingo means...you guessed it they don't know. So how can you possibly know what you are talking about when you use words that you don't understand? Well you can't and I think that you shouldn't. So the problem becomes how do we change this alarming trend? It also seems to me that this alarming trend also leads to heavy legalism issues. I'm not sure why except that it's easier to seem strong by being controlling than to let others see your flaws and let others do the same as you see a perfect God. Now what? I try my best to not seem like I'm smarter than others, because I'm probably not, or that I'm more holy than anyone, because I'm just a sinner trying to return to my savior. Because of this I surround myself with people that do neither of these things. So in my maybe frivolous attempt to help this I'm going to push. I'm going to stop caring what people think and more on what God thinks. When I hear Christian Lingo crap with no real backing I'm gonna call people on it. I've already made one person mad because I called them on their lies and I'm not here to just make friends but instead to lead people to Christ and help them grow.For this reason I plan to call people on what they say and use the word 'why' a whole lot. So as I sign off I begin the process of toughening my skin and getting ready for the fight that may come. I ask for your prayers as I pray for the answers that I desperately need. God help me to know what to say, when to say it, and when to push. Thank you Jesus for the chance to serve you. God Rocks, Jtw

What is a Servant?

I started thinking about this question yesterday because I was confronted with a person that says they are by title. I was at a restaurant the yesterday after picking up my wife for lunch. We spent the time there watching our waitress sit with some guy, smoke, and talk. She did come over and ask us if we needed anything a few times. Like most people, when you get something on your plate you aren't going to eat, I put some lettuce from my overflowing salad on a few napkins. Afterward, I went to pay. She sat quietly, watched as the tip was placed on the paper, and then decided she would speak up. She proceeded to scold me over putting food on the table and how rude it was to her. I thought it was funny that she didn't mention anything until after the tip was given. Obviously she hadn't seen the napkins I placed down before putting some lettuce down because she wasn't around, but proceeded to tell me how wrong it was regardless.

This brings me back to my original question: What is a servant? This lady was by title a servant. Well if this was true shouldn't she act like a servant. This is what the dictionary says:

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law
noun: a person who serves others: as a : an individual who performs duties about the person or home of a master or personal employer b : a person in the employ and subject to the direction or control of an individual or company

So a servant is someone who is in direct control by someone else. This means this lady is a servant to whom: The customer. She on the other hand doesn't really act like a servant because of the view she has of authority. I bring this up because being a servant applies to everyone that calls themselves a follower of Christ.

Christ calls us to be servants, so we've learned what a servant is. We are under direct control of Christ if we are to call ourselves followers of Christ and a servant. Christ gave us the example of a servant when he washed the Disciple's feet. Before this Jesus said...

John 12:26 "Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me."

Anyone who wants to be a disciple must be a servant and must be where Jesus is. So to go back to my story. i can't say whether this lady was a follower of Christ or not, but her example didn't show me this. If she is a disciple like myself, then I pray she never tells anyone. It's hard enough being a Christian without hypocrites being the first thing people think of when you try to tell them about Christ.

So where does this leave us? A servant of Jesus is a disciple and also is under direct control of Jesus. He's given us commands, directions for living, and His word to answer any other question. As far as I'm concerned Jesus gave us the example of servant hood and that example was the Love of others. When Christians were being hunted by Rome it was asked how the Christians would be found. The response was that you will know them by their love. This is the response I give now when I look for a servant. I will know them by their love.
God Rocks, Jtw

Big God....forgot that!

Do you ever forget how big God really is? I know I do! Here's the issue I have and have others recently talk to me about for themselves. We ask God for something, then we don't get what seems to be an answer. Wierd huh, it seems like if we don't get the answer we want then God's not answering us. The real problem is that no matter what the answer or when the answer comes, that doesn't change who God is. We forget that and we forget exactly how big our God really is. How is it that a God big enough to create the universe, love us enough to send His Son to die for us, and wants to personally know each and every person isn't big enough to care about our problems. Crazy huh? We forget that no matter the size of our problems, God is always bigger. Why then do we worry about things? We especially worry about things that we have no control over and that we can't hope to change. Seems to me that if we truly believed that God is so powerful that we'd just trust Him and not worry. It's much easier said than done. How do we trust God without fear? I guess it comes down to our willingness to grow close to Jesus. It's hard not to trust in God when you're so close to Him that He's all you see. How do we do this then? Well all the spiritual disciplines are a good place to start, but it comes down to our faith and willingness to be a Christ follower. That's the greatest of journeys and worth the most reward. Thank you God for being so Big and Lord give us the chance to be your servant today. Thank you God. AMEN---Jtw

Graduated

Well I'm officially a College Graduate from a University. I'm a alumni of largest distinctly Christian University in the world. It's more than awesome. Graduation was definitely about Jerry Falwell, but also about the future. The message given to us today is about finishing well and never ever quitting. For a short time now my motto has been "whatever it takes." I truly want to finish well, and that's gonna take everything I have. I will never ever quit doing whatever it takes to fulfill the purpose that God has put me here to do. Jerry finished his race very well, he did was God told him. I pray that when the time comes for me to step out begin really running the race that I can do as well as Jerry. Well I've graduated to a new place in my life and a new race to run. I'm ready to run, I always need more training, but I'll do "whatever it takes" to finish the race well. May God bless my work, give me wisdom and grace, and more importantly give me a chance to run a race worthy of Him. Thank you Lord for everything that You've given me, thank You for a chance to be taught by the best, and thank You for again showing that there's hope for me. God Rocks! Jtw

Jerry Falwell

Today I got a call and heard the news of the death of Jerry Falwell. My first reaction was...What the crap!! How can a great man such as this, a man who'd been instrumental to the progression of Christ in the world. It's true, Jerry said some stupid things in his time, but no more myself. He just said it on TV and I didn't. I'm definitely surprised at this, but remembering that I'll see him again in Heaven is awesome. I can remember him talking to people at school and him almost running over people in his SUV on a regular basis. His influence over Christians and his contribution will never be forgotten.

I think an expression that I heard when at Liberty is fitting for this great man.

"Today the devil is cheering for this man is no longer in the fight"

This is how I choose to remember Jerry Falwell and I hope everyone else does as well. God bless the ministry of Jerry Falwell, God bless the family of Jerry Falwell, and God bless everyone that has been touched by God's chosen Vessel of the servant of Jerry Falwell.

God Rocks, Jtw

New Job and the Move

Alright well it's been a week now since we've moved. It's weird, but God likes to freak me out. As some of you know, the place we were moving to fell through at the last moment. The very awesome pastor at the church that I'm now working at found us this cool house. It of course needs a lot of work, but it was at the last moment. God likes to wait until the last moment. For a long time I've prayed for the job i have now. Now we've moved, we have low rent until we get our house, we have family near by to help us out with lots of stuff, and a more importantly a church that loves us to death. I do have to ask, what did I do to be blessed this much. I'm nothing special or anything worth giving all this great blessings to. So, why did God choose to bless me with so much. Don't get me wrong, I praise Him everyday and Thank Him everyday for this. I'm nothing but a poor, horrible sinner. This is where I'm at now. I have the greatest Job ever and really understand grace for the first time. I've always knew in my mind what grace is, but now I know what grace is in my heart. Grace is getting what I deserve, regardless of what I've done. God has showed me Grace! He's given me what I've prayed for and waited for, but I know for no reason do I deserve it. For now I will Thank God and pray now for what He wants me to do with this great present He's given me. I do ask for those that read this to also pray that I get the guidance for what He wants me to do and the wisdom to know it when I see it. Thank you GOD for everything. God Rocks, Jtw

PRAISE GOD I've got the JOB

If you don't know yet I've got a new job that starts the last week in April. As many people know I went to school to learn how to do the work of a youth pastor. I've excepted the position of Student Pastor at West Yadkin Baptist Church in Hamptonville, NC. It's like 15 minutes from where I grew up. All I can say is PRAISE GOD on giving me a chance to serve Him in this capacity again. So We're moving April 28th, to where I'm not sure yet. I could use every one's help that's willing to come help. Well Thanks for all the prayers and all the help since I started down this road. God Rocks!! Jtw

Good Birthday? We'll see later

Hey everyone. For those that don't know, my birthday was yesterday. I spent the entire day and night very sick. I even had a higher fever than I should have allowed. Today I've called into work b/c I still have a high fever, but I'm getting better. So continue to pray for that. Tonight we're going back to NC for the weekend and I have some good medicine there.

What this e-mail is really about it that I need your prayers big time for Sunday. Sunday I have an interview at an awesome church as their youth pastor. I've been praying about this since the day I got the phone call. I've looked at the pros and cons, but still waiting on the Go from God.

So here's what I need...pray that God will either give me the Go or do like the last interview and make the NO obvious to me. I appreciate your help and thanks for the prayers. God Rocks, JtW

Patience and Pain

Have you ever wanted something so bad that you'd do anything for it. This isn't something that you just casually want and can let go, but instead something that overwhelmes your thinking. This is how I feel about being a youth pastor. This is my passion. So much that I and my wife left all we know and completely changed our lives to make this happen. The issue is that now I've come to a place where I can do it, but find that the vision God's given me will not only take a long time but at the same time take a specific place. This means that I must wait. I believe in God and know He's more incredibly awesome than I could ever understand. I wish He'd give me just a little more of what he wants...the how would be nice. You might ask, ok there's the patience part, but what about the pain? Well the pain comes from wanting to get going. I'm like a viper car in a parking lot. It has a need to get out do what it was meant to do, but can't b/c it's not the time yet. I'm ready, I'm willing, so where's the mission? I feel like Isaiah, God's asking who will go for me, and Isaiah is jumping, screaming I will go, send me! So now the patience and pain are mixed. For now I jump and scream...and yet I wait! God rocks, Jtw