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Why Do We Not Baptize Infants?
In this blog series, Deeper, I look at a theological or biblical topic more deeply and see how it applies to our lives. Today I will be looking at the topic of infant baptism. As a Southern Baptist pastor, I do not believe that infant baptism is biblical. However, there are some wonderful pastors from other denominations that do believe in infant baptism. Just this week, I was reading one of my favorite commentaries, while preparing for my sermon on…
Changes to Online Giving
Dear Island Pond Family, If you never give online, then you can ignore this email. If you do give online, please continue reading! With the start of the new year we are transitioning to a new online giving platform called Planning Center. Please read the following information, particularly if you use recurring giving. The giving page on our website has been updated, so if you normally give by clicking on that link, then you can continue doing what you normally do. You…
Porn Causes Sexual Problems
Warning: This blog covers some mature themes of a sexual nature. What if I told you that your sexual problems were caused by pornography? In his book, Your Brain on Porn, Gary Wilson discusses how porn causes sexual problems in the brain. Mind you, this is not some conservative Christian saying this. This is coming from a secular (non-Christian) scientist. Too often people think that porn either 1) enhances sexual experiences, or, at the very least, 2) won’t have any…
Why Should The Government Be Involved In A Christian Marriage?
Why even talk about this issue? I am on a number of Facebook groups for pastors and a question comes up on a regular basis pertaining to this issue. It usually goes something like this: “Betty and Arnold are living together and want to be married ‘in the eyes of God’ but not by the state. Betty is a widow who is receiving her former husband’s pension and if she get’s married she will lose that financial help. Therefore, she…
Pictures of Trunk or Treat 2024
Last week, we had about 450 people attend our Trunk or Treat outreach in the parking lot of our church. The weather was on the cool side, with some occasional strong winds, but it was such a fun time. We handed out a lot of candy and hopefully the kids left with a big smile on their faces. Mike’s trunk presented the gospel in a very easy to understand way. May we do all we can to make Jesus shine…
Who are the Nephilim and sons of God in Genesis 6?
Who are the Nephilim and sons of God in Genesis 6? Genesis 6 contains one of the most well-known stories in all of the Bible. That is, of course, the story of Noah in the ark. But before Noah gets going there is a really strange passage that Bible nerds love to debate over. In fact, when I preached on Genesis 6 earlier this month a 10 year old kid came up to me after the sermon and wanted to…
Ask The Pastor: Why does Island Pond celebrate Satan’s holiday?
Ask The Pastor: Why does Island Pond celebrate Satan’s holiday? This past week I was stopped before the service and asked this question. The reason this person asked is because we do an outreach close to Halloween called Trunk or Treat. While we do not mention anything about Halloween at the event, any reasonable person can put “two and two” together when it is within a week of Halloween, people dress up, and candy is given out. But this begs…
Ask the pastor: What’s the difference between the United Methodists and Southern Baptists?
Ask the pastor: What’s the difference between the United Methodists and Southern Baptists? This is a timely question as a number of people have recently left United Methodist churches (UMC) and some are ending up at Southern Baptist churches (SBC). This begs the question… what are the differences between the two denominations? Before I got this question, I did not know a ton about the UMC so I had to do some research and below is what I found. But…
The Four Hardest Jobs In The World
I want to quote an article I read on the four hardest jobs in the world. You can read this article here. Mike O’Dell of the York Baptist Association writes: In his book, “By The Stream,” Monty Hale quotes leadership guru Peter Drucker, saying that the four toughest jobs in America are: president of the United States, a hospital administrator, a university president, and the pastor of a local church. Are you surprised by number four? I mean, just how difficult…
Ask The Pastor: Is it okay for a youth pastor to watch inappropriate movies with his sister?
Question: Is it okay for a youth pastor to watch movies of violence, sex, assault and anything of the like with his sister? Thanks for your question! Back in 2020 I answered the question, “Is it a sin to watch R rated movies?” and that answer has a lot of similarities to the answer I will give you. The short version of this previous Ask The Pastor question is this: The Bible doesn’t specify which ratings we should be watching…
Let’s Stay Focused
The olympics have been going on the past couple of weeks and as I have watched parts of them I can’t help but admire the ability of these athletes! Swimmers have sped through the water, gymnasts have performed all sorts of amazing jumps, twists, and moves, runners have sprinted across the track. All of it has been super impressive. The current olympics became even more impressive when I came across a video from one that took place about 100 years…
