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Ugly Weeds November 26, 2008

Before they invented video games parents had to be more creative. On a summer afternoon when I needed something to keep myself occupied, I didn’t have a room full of electronic gizmos. Back then I could never have conceived of the Internet, Facebook, iPods, VCRs DVDs or cable TV. For a long time we didn’t have a TV and when we did it was a small black and white set. My grandfather would sometimes give me a “weed whip” and tell me to walk along the road and cut down what he called Canadian Thistles. That was not only before video games, it was before they invented gas-powered weed-eaters. The tool was similar to a golf club and it was not gas or electric powered. It was boy-powered. (more…)

Thankful Thoughts

If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you have a lot to be thankful for. You are richer than 75% of the people in this world.

If you can attend a church without fear or harassment, arrest, torture or death, you have a lot to be thankful for. There are almost three billion people in the world who cannot do that.

If you can read this message, you have a lot to be thankful for. There are over 2 billion people in the world who cannot read anything at all.

Heaven November 19, 2008

Hey, if you want to hear a great message on heaven listen to this message from Jim Dobson’s (Focus on the Family) audio archive. It’s a humorous and helpful message by James McDonald.

Missionary Questions

I liked this Someone forwarded a powerful story by Doug. While I was doing some “googleing” to find out if the story was legitimate I came across his own web site. Good stuff. Thought I would point you to it. Here is a link to the powerful story someone sent me. (Don’t these just look like great folks?)

Telling Stories Tonight–Powerful Stories November 14, 2008

Last night Hope and I had a full moon walk around the pond. Dan and Wes came along for comic relief. They are really good at that.

Tonight Hope and I will take a full-moon drive up the Southfield freeway to Berkley Community Church. I’m speaking for a banquet sponsored by Boys and Girls Bible Clubs. A fall night, a full moon, free food, time with Hopey, story-telling for Jesus—it should be fun. I hope to encourage a lot of people to keep doing a very good thing.

It was on August 28, 1946. A third-grade girl walked down the street to see the tent that had been erected on the corner of Bertrand Road and US 31. Bertrand Bible Church was conducting a children’s Bible club. They used little flannel figures to tell the story of Jesus and explain the gospel. She and her sister heard the story of Jesus and were saved that day. That was over sixty years ago. Both of them have walked with the Lord faithfully all those years. One of those little girls was my Aunt Sue, the other was my mother.

Their family was in great turmoil at the time, but God began to work and heal. Starting with the girls, Jesus quietly made his way through the family one at a time, touching and healing and saving one and then another. Those little flannel figures can have a multi-generational imfluence.

When I was growing up, Mom continually devoted herself to children’s work, Bible Clubs, Good News Clubs, Joy Clubs, Five-Day Clubs, and VBS. She knew how life-changing they could be.

Singing Men November 12, 2008

Five thousand men singing at the Together for the Gospel Conference.

Visit here for more information.

Holly and the Evangel Choir November 11, 2008

The Voice of a Savior

Holly sang with the Evangel choir Sunday morning. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was! You can listen to it here.

Anonymous Criticism

My friend Ray Pritchard has a post on anonymous criticism that is worth reading. Here is a part of it:

Anonymous criticism is cowardly. If you don’t have the courage to put your name to what you say, then don’t say it.

When I was a pastor, I told the office staff not to show me unsigned letters or notes because I wouldn’t read them. For that matter, I told the staff never to bring anonymous criticism to a staff meeting. We had a simple rule that no one could say things like . . .

“Some people don’t like this idea.”
“I’ve been getting some negative feedback.”
“I can’t say who told me this.”
“I promised not to mention any names.”

Anonymous criticism is unfair because opinions should be weighed, not counted. Negative statements and strong disagreements are fine, but you need to know the context. It’s unfair because there is no way to dialogue with your critics. And in really rough times, anonymous criticism is a Gestapo tactic, a way to intimidate people with vague, unsourced gossip and slander.

You can read the full post here

Rabbit November 4, 2008

Fifty Years November 3, 2008

My parents tell me that as soon as I was born on November 3, 1958 they dedicated me to the Lord in prayer. From my earliest memories I had an awareness of my great sinfulness. Through the diligent teaching of my parents and the work of the Spirit in my life I began to have a tug on my heart toward the Lord just about five years later. In a child-like faith I called on the Lord in prayer to forgive me of my sins and make me his child. My parents dedicated me to Christ when I was an infant and raised me to serve the Lord. When I was small I dedicated myself to Christ and to His service. On Christmas Day, when I was eight years old, I was baptized at Highway Byway Baptist Church somewhere near Midland, Michigan in a baptistery filled with ice-cold spring water. My Dad was supplying the pulpit there that Sunday.

My dad taught me how to explain the gospel to others. It was when I was eight that I began to explain the gospel to my friends. Some of them made professions of faith. I was eight when I explained the gospel to a college student at Xavier University and he professed faith in Christ. As the years passed, my desire and resolve to be used of the Lord grew stronger. When I was fourteen I taught vacation Bible School, I preached in a rest home, and I was a “Bus Captain” visiting homes every Saturday to invite children to ride the bus to Sunday School. It was about that time I began to desire to be a pastor one day and I sensed that might be the direction of my life. The Christians around me affirmed that calling. I was a camp counselor every year. I preached whenever I could. I read books about the Bible, Christian work, the pastorate and preaching.

The August after my Junior Year of high school I was asked to pastor a small country church near Ft. Recovery, Ohio. I pastored there until I left for Moody Bible Institute the next fall.

Almost thirty years ago, in the wise providence of God, He sent Lois into my life. He had been at work in her life since she was a little girl. He saved her when she was thirteen. We met in 1978 and married a year later. God has given us eight children. We have consecrated our marriage and our children to the Lord.

We have served the Lord together in Christian ministry for thirty years. God has sustained us and used us in spite of our failures and our sin. He has provided for us over and over again. He has guided us in the most remarkable ways—miraculous ways. God is kind and merciful. We have eight children. All of them know and love the Lord. Two of our boys are serving the Lord in ministry so far.

Today I turned fifty years old. The moment I woke up, before I even got out of bed, I consecrated myself to Christ afresh. I dedicated whatever years I have left to his service. That is all I want to do with everything I have within me, with every day that I have left of my life. Until I die or the Lord Jesus returns, I consecrate my tongue, my pen, my life and my family to Him.

The older I get the more aware I am of my own sinfulness and hopelessness outside of Christ. With each year that passes I am more deeply aware of the beauty of Jesus. I love Him more today than I ever have before. I am more determined to serve him in love than ever I have been before.

I will speak. I will preach. I will write. I will sing. I will labor in the harvest with a song in my heart as long as I have one breath left in me. I will love Lois and our children and our grandchildren in order to prepare them and help them to honor our worthy and wonderful Lord Jesus Christ with their lives. That is how I am going to spend whatever years I have left on earth.

Jesus, this morning, the first day as a fifty-year-old, I want to tell you again how much I adore you. I consecrate myself to you again to bless your name with my lips and honor you with my life. Help me make my life a continual sacrifice of praise to you. Help me influence others to trust you and love you. I devote myself to making you known in Taylor, in the Downriver Communities, in Michigan, and wherever you give me any influence for you.. I will use my pen and my words to honor you from right here to everywhere in the world that I can. O, how I love you. How I adore you. You are my life! -Amen

Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
November 3, 2008

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