The Church of Tomorrow?

Tonight, three of our young men in Doniphan did the preaching. They did such a wonderful job. They were Logan, Donald, and Caleb. Their lessons were extremely well prepared, and delivered with great poise. Last week, Adam Faughn held an outstanding gospel meeting for the Church here, and he is a young preacher as well. These young men are not only the Church of tomorrow, but the Church of today!

When you hear the kind of preaching I heard last week and this evening, it gives us hope and assurance that there are already men who are going to be there prepared to fight the spiritual battles of tomorrow. They will be able to do a glorious work for the Lord in a world that is becoming increasingly dangerous. They are the proverbial "bright spot" of the future. But, isn't that what all of us should be (Matthew 5:16).

Also, I want to commend the parents of these young men. Sometimes a young person can rise above the obstacles of indifferent or even ungodly parents. Yet, faithful Christian parents serve as a key ingredient in rearing the Christain leaders of tomorrow. There may be a young person who can overcome the circumstances of having parents who are less than a positive Christian example. But, just think of how much higher they could have flown if they had parents who nurtured, instructed, and encouraged them in the way of the Lord. Logan, Donald, Caleb, you all did a great job. Thank you, and may God continue to bless you in His service.

Be Afraid... Very Afraid!

Wow! Yesterday was one of those days that keeps you awake at night. I had the opportunity to attend a workshop on "Youth and Teen Internet Safety, Predators, STDs and Beyond." Robert Bergamini, M.D., a Pediatrician who specializes in Hematology and Oncology was the speaker. It is interesting that he became involved in this field due to the fact that he noticed that his patients were vulnerable to STDs, sexual abuse and internet predators. Thus, he became an activist for internet safety for young people.

We all know this can be a real problem, but let me give you an idea just how serious it is. In March, he opened one free e-mail account. On day 10, he received 388 e-mails, 143 of these were infected with Trojans. On day 18, he received the first spam that linked to a child porn site. Then 5000 e-mails were analyzed after one month. This revealed the following:
- 3857 identified his origin as St. Louis (his home).
- 916 had pictures of willing partners from the St. Louis area.
- 86 had clear links to child porn.
- 93 downloaded keyloggers through his security.

Now don't think his computer was unprotected. He had a $5000 security system on that computer. It cost about $1000 per year to keep that security system up, and these things still happened.

The predators are on the cutting edge of technology. They are highly motivated. And, they are after our children!

This is just a small sampling of the information given at the workshop. Also, this is not necessarily the most disturbing thing discussed. Parents, you have a responsibility to keep up with what your children are doing on the Internet. Chat rooms, Facebook, My Space and even Instant Messengers are all easy ways for predators to stalk your children. They need to be informed, and you must be vigilant about their online activities. Even adults must be extremely careful on the net.

Someone told me how afraid they were for their children to grow up in today's world. My thought is what about tomorrow's world. What will it be like. As Christians, we always have and always will face challenges in this world. We can't always isolate our young people from this ungodly world, but we can teach them how to live in it (1 John 2:15-17).

Geronimo...!

I have to confess that this is a real learning experience for me. This week, I learned about this blogging site from Adam Faughn. Adam did a wonderful job preaching a series of lessons for our Gospel Meeting in Doniphan. The next thing I know, I am getting ready to jump into the "blogoshpere." It feels like standing on the edge of a dark abyss and then taking that terminal step that hurls you into the unknown depths of cyberspace. But then again, all of life is like that! There is a first time for every endeavor we attempt.

There are so many who never take a chance or step out of their "comfort zone." To do something new and challenging, requires effort and risk. Living the Christian life is much like this. It takes courage to make the initial step to become a Christian and leave the old life one had been living. It takes courage for the young (and old) Christian to go against the influences of their peers. It takes courage to stand up in front of a congregation to lead in a worship service. It takes courage to talk to a friend about Jesus. Yet, we cannot live our lives in fear. We cannot always cling to a life of comfort and ease.

Of course, comfort and ease never accomplished anything of real value. So here we go. I hope this site will be able to enrich your life by informing and encouraging. Have a great day!