Preston Mitchell's Blog

Parent Judges

Last night, my son Cameron and I got into it a little when I made a cautionary comment about something he had done.  Then he gave me the response that every parent loves to hear  because it is biblical.  He said, "Dad, don't judge me. You don't know me.  You can't judge me. The Bible says so."  At that point, the paint brush I was holding was jjust about ready to reign down judgment on his skinny self.

I've thought a lot about what the Bible says about judging.  Are we wrong as parents if we warn our children about someone or something and risk being judgmental?  I am no bible scholar, but it is clear to me that we as followers of Christ have an obligation to confront someone on an obvious sin in their lives.  The more important question is the way we do it.  

In the famous passage in Matthew 7, Jesus tells his followers this: ¹"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ²For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

 ³"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

In this verse, Jesus doesn't tell us not to judge, but be in the right spiritual mind before we tackle someone else's problem.  We have to realize that we are sinners, seek forgiveness for our sins, turn from acting on our sins, then we are in a place to approach someone else. I also believe it is something we should do hesitantly and with great love and grace.  It also has to be shared with someone we have built a special bond with. There are only two or three guys who can judge me.  When they do, I trust their judgment.

We are also obligated to teach the young, tell them of what God has done in our lives and warn them of the dangers of falling away from Christ.  I think the word discernment is better than the word judge.  When I warn my children about something, I do it from a discerning eye for their protection and safety.  If our kids are hanging out with the wrong people, we still stand strong and pull our kid out of that group.  Are we judging?  Not really.  We are simply carrying out our responsibility as parents to protect our kids based on years of experience.  We have to call it like we see it.

I don't know if I answered my question or not!  But it is something that is worth consideration because it happens almost every day.  We make judgments on people, policies, finances, friends, etc.  I believe that if we are following the Lord, he will help us to avoid harshly judging people and allow us to speak truth in love. 

This whole "judgemen"t thing may be one of the most difficult principles to explain. If you have a thought, share it.

 

Shaving our Pride

Last week, I shaved my head after The Mix.  I thought it would be a unique experience since I had never shaved my head as an adult.  I'm sure my parents shaved it all the time when I was a boy because my Dad was an Army guy.  I also wanted to support my son Cameron who shaved his head during the Mix as an illustration to a key point in the talk.

Chris King talked about pride in the life of The Prodigal Son.  Pride is probably the foundation of all sin because that is what got Satan in trouble with God.  We pride ourselves on how we look, how big our church is, how cool we are, which conferences we go to, etc.  We also wear pride by our clothes and looks. Chris' point was that to a 19-year old singer/songwriter, hair may be the most prideful thing in Cameron's life next to his guitar.  He does love his hair, but he allowed Chris to shave it.  It's been a week now and I haven't seen the top of Cameron's head yet.  He's worn every hat he owns and several that he has borrowed. 

Does your pride need to be shaved down?  Mine does all the time.  It's human nature for us to preen with prideful thoughts.  Chris' talk really started me thinking about my pride.  I decided that after The Mix, I wanted to shave my head as an act of submitting my pride to God.  I think every man reading this blog should shave your head as a public statement that pride is a dangerous thing.  When you shave your head, make sure your pride falls to the floor with your hair.  Let's all do it together.  Besides, it's summer and a good time to do it.

Since I've shaved my head a week ago, I haven't really missed my hair.  I know it will grow back and I will have to cut it again.  Pride is also like that.  If we aren't careful, it can grow back quickly.  We always have to cut it loose from our heart, mind and soul and replace it with God's love. 

Take the challenge and get those clippers out!

Still, Small Worship Time

The Spirit of God was very real at The Mix last night (our 9-12th grades), not that He isn't every time we gather - but last night was different.  Why?  We totally changed our praise and worship time.  Normally, we have a band that rocks out as loud as it can with "in-your-face" music.  And I love that.  There is nothing like an upbeat, exciting, rock song to kick off a student gathering.

But last night, we pulled the band off the stage.  Cameron, our student worship leader, came out with a stool and a guitar.  I liked what we told them - "it's just me, and you and God!  I want to hear your beautiful voices as we worship without all the noise and lights."  Then he quietly played and sang some worship songs, and students all over the room began to sing and worship together.  The lack of loud music made that time so much more special.  The students were quieter than normal, they responded more than normal and that time set up a power talk by Chris about pride and the blessed place.  It was awesome.

I learned something about worship.  Maybe you know this already, but here are a few things I noticed:

*    Change is good.  I had more students tell me how much they enjoyed the program last night.  We will stay rock it out from time to time, but I've realized how important change is.

*    Quiet and stillness is good.  Not every week, but I think we need to work it more into our weekly programs.

*    Transitions are huge when you have one person on the stage.  I thought our worship leader did a great job of taking students on a journey to the throne of God.  It takes a talented worship leader with a strong stage presence combined with a lack of pride to draw students to worship.  

*    As students walked in and looked at the stage, they were already wondering what was happening.  The stage was clear with no instruments on it. Their curiosity was peaked and we hadn't even started yet.

I can promise you that we will use this element more than we have.  But we will also change it.  We may add another singer for harmony, another guitar for musical depth, candles, etc.  The possibilities are endless.  We are also going to do this element at camp for one night.  It was that powerful.

The Church and Next Gen

Last night was a unique Wednesday night in the life of Fellowship Church (www.fellowshipchurch.com).  Our junior high staff hosted 7th and 8th grade students and parents for the annual Purity Ring ceremony.  I think our sexual purity emphasis is one of the most important things we do in junior high.  It may be time to teach sexual purity to 5th and 6th graders, but that is another blog.  The church is the only barrier protecting our children from The Great Lie - sex is all about feelings and what ever feels right do it.  Sex with same sex, sex with children, sex with animals, hey it is your choice.  That's what our students hear starting about the 4th grade.  At Fellowship, we are committed to teach sexual purity and Biblical truth.  We had over 100 junior high students publicly vow before God, their parents and our staff that they would remain pure until marriage.  It was a moving experience.

After that, I rushed over to our high school ministry where we were having Senior Recognition night.  I started this program when I became a student pastor.  The Class of 2009 were freshmen when I started, so they are a special class to me.  We invited parents to be a part of the program because without their support, there would not be a student ministry.  I thanked them for the countless hours, dollars and time they spent over six years making sure their kid was at church on Wednesday night.  We had 44 seniors participate in the ceremony.  Many of them were still wearing their purity rings they had received four years ago.  It was an awesome night of praise, fun and friendships!

As I drove home last night, I thanked God for a senior pastor and a church that supports children.  From our preschool to high school, Ed (www.edyoungblog.com) has always made kids a priority at Fellowship.  With the addition of Allaso Ranch(www.allasoranch.com) last year, Fellowship is poised to attack (sorry for the military analogy)  schools all over DFW for Jesus.  We are engaging even deeper into the battle for the spiritual lives of our students.  It's a battle that will determine how the Next Gen will impact the future for the kingdom. 

What is even more exciting is that there are 4-5 seniors who I know will be on staff at Fellowship one day.  God is already moving in their hearts for full-time ministry.  That is awesome to me.  I hope I am still around to work with them!  But, it is going to take younger staff members to reach a younger Next Gen! 

I love students, staff and our ministry.  Every church should have their best people working in the student area.  The stakes are too high as we look to the future.  Never give up, don't grow discouraged or loose the priority for students. 

The Great Lie

This past Wednesday night, we finished our series "Jack and Jill" by talking about homosexuality.  I thought it was time to face the issue, especially in light of the Miss USA contest when Miss California answered a question about same sex marriage with a simple but powerful phrase.  "In my home, I was taught that marriage is to be between a man and a woman..."  What used to be accepted across the nation 35 years ago about melted Perez Hilton's toupee off.  He was OFFENDED that she would be so bold as to state her beliefs.  He called her a b______ on his blog.  What an idiot (and I say that in a loving Godly way). Sadly, millions of people agreed with Hilton because they believe the great lie.

Could you stand before millions of people and make the same statement?  It would be tough since our culture has been sucked into homosexual rights and acceptance of gays as an alternative lifestyle.  Our students today, thanks to education, politics and clueless parents believe that if someone wants to be a homosexual, that's okay.  It's their life.  Let them choose.  Part of that is right.  It is their choice.  But there are consequences for that choice.

For some reason, God hates sexual sin more than any other sin.  In the Old Testament law, homosexuals were put to death.  He was serious.  He destroyed an entire city (Sodom).  For gay activists to try and make a case that homosexuality is biblical or that God is okay with it, watch out when it is lightning.  Head for cover.  God is a God of judgment and He will deal with that in his own way.

That's why I think homosexuality is the great lie.  There is no other sin that can cause such destruction and chaos in God's Creation than homosexuality.  It is the great lie for relationships between a man and a woman.  It is the great lie for sanctity of marriage, for families and for relationships.  Almost no other sin does as much damage to God's creation and His heart.  The great lie.  Satan knew what he was doing.  This lie has been tearing apart God's perfect creation since the beginning.  And when we turn the light onto the lie, tense things happen. 

I told the students to think about it in a practical way.  Think about a man and a woman and their sexual body parts.  Any engineer would tell you they work perfectly together.  They match up, they fit and they also work pretty good.  Now think about a man's parts in a sexual relationship with another man.  The parts do not fit.  It does not work.  In fact, anal intercourse is a dangerous and damaging way to have sex.  It does not work.  It does not fit together.  No engineer would ever try to make that relationship work.  God knows what He is doing.

Because God created the man and the woman, there is no gay gene.  If He did, than He has lied to us.  Since God can't lie, then He is telling the truth - Gen. 1:27.  He did not change His mind and create a homosexual mutant man or woman.  God can't change according to Malachi. 

About the only thing the gay community is right on is that it is their choice.  They are choosing a sin that God hates.  But the good news is, gays can change.  The New Testament tells us that when we accept Christ, we become a new creation, we receive the righteousness of Christ and we are forgiven of our sins.  Thanks to the work of Christ, homosexuality can be dealt with like any sin.  In the meantime, we will love, invite and welcome any homosexual who wants to come and be a part of The Mix.  But we will share truth every time because of our love for them.

Senior High Retreat at Allaso Ranch

This weekend, we are hosting a winter retreat for our high school students at Allaso Ranch (www.allasoranch.com).  We should have about 125 students go to the reatreat.  There is nothing like taking students out of town to a secluded place where they can focus on their relationship with God.  Being a high school student today has to be one of the toughest challenges they face.  They are bombarded by a secular culture that lives by the relativism creed.  Many of their parents are not connected to a personal relationship with God.  They are trying to figure out the next step - what ever that may be.  The decisions they make today are the ones that affect their lives forever.  

Chris King, our senior high pastor is going to talk about the power of One!  Our band will lead worship which is awesome.  We will have a lot of time for games and competitions, hanging by the fire and eating some of the best food in the history of church camp.  Pray for our weekend as we reach out to many different students.  

I am looking forward to getting to know some of the students better than I do now.  We have some sharp kids at The Mix.  I am praying that as God reveals Himself, students will be receptive to making Him Lord and Saviour. If you are a high school student living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, you are invited to go.  Call 972-471-5700 or go to www.fellowshipchurch.com/students.  Come be a part of an intense experience.

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