I am often asked about what I do. When people ask, "What you do?" or "What you do for a living?", they are generally asking what is your job or career. I usually do not like to tell them I am a pastor because then they act funny around you, or quickly tell you that they do go to church, or my favorite is that they apologize whenever they say anything they think could be considered off-color.
But tonight I was reminded what my real job is everyday. The whole Dingmore clan went to the Macon Music Baseball game because Colton's Allstar team was going to get to go on the field and get a ball. It was their end of the year party.
As I watched Colton, Kenzie, and Asher run around and having fun, I was reminded that they are my real job. I was reminded that they are the best legacy that I could leave behind, and being their Dad is my greatest job.
Before I had kids I really didn't understand all this. To be honest, I do not do a lot of things well, but being the best dad I can be is something I can not fail at. So God, help me in this for I can not do it alone.
Aug 29, 2007
Chaos
Chaos is something that we work our whole lives trying to avoid. Life is good when there is no Chaos, right?
However, when you read the scripture you find story after story about chaos. In fact, it seems that God is attracted to chaos. God showed up mightily when the Israelites were in the desert wondering, God showed up mightily when a Giant taunted the nation of Israel, God showed up when three men where throne in a furnace, God show up when a guy name Daniel was throne in a lions den, and God showed up on the cross when the world was in spiritual chaos because of something call rebellion or sin.
God is attracted to each of these situation, situations of chaos. If fact, read about any story in the bible that shows God accomplishing some awesome things in a nation, in a group, or some one's life, it often comes in the context of chaos. Could it be that chaos is the canvas that God uses to paint some of his most amazing masterpieces? I think that bible teaches that.
Yes, the scripture tells us that God is not the author of confusion. But confusion is not the lack of chaos. Chaos can bring confusion when there is no peace in the chaos. God's way to deal with confusion is not to eliminate chaos, but to bring peace to those who seek him in the midst of chaos.
Could it be that at our attempt to build good lives by eliminating chaos, we could be working against God. I am not saying that we should always seek chaos, God works in the stable times as well. What I am saying is that when chaos comes we shouldn't get more consumed with eliminating the chaos as we are looking for God in the midst of it. If we seek him in the chaos, then the chaos we dread may be the stage for one of the greatest movements of God in our lives.
So if your life seems in chaos right now, you just may be in a very good place. Seek him in it, what he is teaching you, what he is revealing to you about you, and you might find that you welcome a little chaos.
However, when you read the scripture you find story after story about chaos. In fact, it seems that God is attracted to chaos. God showed up mightily when the Israelites were in the desert wondering, God showed up mightily when a Giant taunted the nation of Israel, God showed up when three men where throne in a furnace, God show up when a guy name Daniel was throne in a lions den, and God showed up on the cross when the world was in spiritual chaos because of something call rebellion or sin.
God is attracted to each of these situation, situations of chaos. If fact, read about any story in the bible that shows God accomplishing some awesome things in a nation, in a group, or some one's life, it often comes in the context of chaos. Could it be that chaos is the canvas that God uses to paint some of his most amazing masterpieces? I think that bible teaches that.
Yes, the scripture tells us that God is not the author of confusion. But confusion is not the lack of chaos. Chaos can bring confusion when there is no peace in the chaos. God's way to deal with confusion is not to eliminate chaos, but to bring peace to those who seek him in the midst of chaos.
Could it be that at our attempt to build good lives by eliminating chaos, we could be working against God. I am not saying that we should always seek chaos, God works in the stable times as well. What I am saying is that when chaos comes we shouldn't get more consumed with eliminating the chaos as we are looking for God in the midst of it. If we seek him in the chaos, then the chaos we dread may be the stage for one of the greatest movements of God in our lives.
So if your life seems in chaos right now, you just may be in a very good place. Seek him in it, what he is teaching you, what he is revealing to you about you, and you might find that you welcome a little chaos.
Aug 26, 2007
Confused
I often stayed confused, so the title of this entry is not a shock to my friends.
One of the people groups that confuse me the most (second to University of Texas fans...why? I am a Texas A&M Grad.) are some Christians. As a pastor I find that everyone has an opinion of how church is supposed to be done and with great passion they tell me. If how I worship does not match theirs, they quickly begin to tell me how ungodly I am. Really now, come on.
I found that there are mainly two "camps", and I do not fall into either. In fact, both "camps" will write me emails telling me how I missed it.
Let me introduce them to you:
1. The "old ways" group - This is a group of people that think that most anything modern is a weakening of the gospel. They think that because the gospel is offensive to some people that we ought expect it to be offensive to all. The idea of creating environments that people enjoy while you present the gospel is terrible. If the church is boring, dull, and people come out frowning then that to them is church. I tell these people all the time that it is possible to disagree with a message and yet enjoy the way the message was communicated. Methods and content are different, yet to the "old ways" people there is no difference.
Most of the time these people do not even know that the old hymns that are loved were written to the music of the pub songs of that day. That is right, some of the great hymns of today were written by men who wanted to relate a message to people and so they took the music of the bar songs and rewrote the words. It would be like today taking a song by The Fray and putting new words to the music and singing it in church. What is the "old way" today was the contemporary of yesterday.
I guess they forget 1 Corinthians 9: 17-23.
2. The "seeker-driven" group - Notice I said seeker-DRIVEN. This group is the one that says that connecting with people is so important that we occasionally sacrifice truth in the process. These people are those that do not want to offend anyone for any reason and so their church is weak. I find that even people who are not followers of Christ are not interested in these churches because they tend not stand for anything.
Then there are churches like Piedmont. We are not seen as acceptable by either group. We believe that God is the author of life and truth and we do not walk away from that. We also see it as our job to communicate that timeless message in a timely way because that is what Christ did. Not every one agrees with our message, but we make people think about it and people enjoy coming. I think that if they enjoy it they might come back even if they do not agree with our message initially. We believe that we need to reflect creativity in our church because the God we serve is the most creative being...just take a look at creation out your window. Plus I do not like to go to something boring, who does?
I do not think that the way we do church is the only way to do it, but for me and for many who have given up on church but not on God, it is a refreshing new way to reconnect with the God who loved us enough to die.
P.S. This is my blog and freedom of speech here is not anyone's right but mine. I do like discussions, but if you are looking for a fight, email me instead of blogging here.
One of the people groups that confuse me the most (second to University of Texas fans...why? I am a Texas A&M Grad.) are some Christians. As a pastor I find that everyone has an opinion of how church is supposed to be done and with great passion they tell me. If how I worship does not match theirs, they quickly begin to tell me how ungodly I am. Really now, come on.
I found that there are mainly two "camps", and I do not fall into either. In fact, both "camps" will write me emails telling me how I missed it.
Let me introduce them to you:
1. The "old ways" group - This is a group of people that think that most anything modern is a weakening of the gospel. They think that because the gospel is offensive to some people that we ought expect it to be offensive to all. The idea of creating environments that people enjoy while you present the gospel is terrible. If the church is boring, dull, and people come out frowning then that to them is church. I tell these people all the time that it is possible to disagree with a message and yet enjoy the way the message was communicated. Methods and content are different, yet to the "old ways" people there is no difference.
Most of the time these people do not even know that the old hymns that are loved were written to the music of the pub songs of that day. That is right, some of the great hymns of today were written by men who wanted to relate a message to people and so they took the music of the bar songs and rewrote the words. It would be like today taking a song by The Fray and putting new words to the music and singing it in church. What is the "old way" today was the contemporary of yesterday.
I guess they forget 1 Corinthians 9: 17-23.
2. The "seeker-driven" group - Notice I said seeker-DRIVEN. This group is the one that says that connecting with people is so important that we occasionally sacrifice truth in the process. These people are those that do not want to offend anyone for any reason and so their church is weak. I find that even people who are not followers of Christ are not interested in these churches because they tend not stand for anything.
Then there are churches like Piedmont. We are not seen as acceptable by either group. We believe that God is the author of life and truth and we do not walk away from that. We also see it as our job to communicate that timeless message in a timely way because that is what Christ did. Not every one agrees with our message, but we make people think about it and people enjoy coming. I think that if they enjoy it they might come back even if they do not agree with our message initially. We believe that we need to reflect creativity in our church because the God we serve is the most creative being...just take a look at creation out your window. Plus I do not like to go to something boring, who does?
I do not think that the way we do church is the only way to do it, but for me and for many who have given up on church but not on God, it is a refreshing new way to reconnect with the God who loved us enough to die.
P.S. This is my blog and freedom of speech here is not anyone's right but mine. I do like discussions, but if you are looking for a fight, email me instead of blogging here.
Aug 25, 2007
Rain
It is raining while I am writing this...it is actually raining.
If you are not from Middle Georgia that may not sound like a big deal, but we have not had rain in weeks. We have been having record heat and no rain.
We all need rain to live. Rain is refreshing, life giving, and relaxing. It is so simple yet so valuable.
In life we all need a little grace. Grace is so simple. Grace is getting that which we do not deserve and could not earn. It is simple but so valuable.
We need grace from God because we all deserve his condemnation but we need his acceptance and the only way we can have it is by grace. We also need a little grace from others. We all make mistakes and sometimes those mistakes hurt others, and then we are in need of them giving us the forgiveness that we may not deserve.
Grace like rain is life giving. When it comes to grace our response should be two fold:
If you are not from Middle Georgia that may not sound like a big deal, but we have not had rain in weeks. We have been having record heat and no rain.
We all need rain to live. Rain is refreshing, life giving, and relaxing. It is so simple yet so valuable.
In life we all need a little grace. Grace is so simple. Grace is getting that which we do not deserve and could not earn. It is simple but so valuable.
We need grace from God because we all deserve his condemnation but we need his acceptance and the only way we can have it is by grace. We also need a little grace from others. We all make mistakes and sometimes those mistakes hurt others, and then we are in need of them giving us the forgiveness that we may not deserve.
Grace like rain is life giving. When it comes to grace our response should be two fold:
- Accept it - when it comes to God's grace stop thinking you do not have it because you are so bad. Just accept that God by his grace loves and likes you, and then respond to it by living in a way that makes him smile.
- Give it - it is easy to be nice and forgiving to those who we like and do not hurt us, but grace means to give those same things to those whom we do not like and to those who hurt us. Otherwise, we are not grace givers even though we are grace receivers everyday. Is that not the definition of arrogance... to be unwilling to freely give to others those beneficial things that we ourselves have been freely given?
Aug 23, 2007
Winners
In the spirit of the Little League World Series I post a pic of Colton sliding in home during an Allstar game. Notice that ball falling in front of him because he knocked it out of the catcher's hands. Fun.To win the game of baseball you have to have one powerful thing..self-discipline. You can have a lot of raw talent but unless you can put some self-discipline into the players you will not create a winning team. I have seen players who have all the heart and a lot of talent but do things that hurt their team because they have little self-discipline.
This is also true in the game of life. I know a lot of people who have a heart that wants to do what is right, they know what is right, they intended to do what it is right, but because they have little self-discipline they do some things that go against all they know. It could be as simple as not eating the way they know they need to, or as big as making a choice to do that which they know God opposes.
It is why we gossip, we lie, we over spend, we have affairs, it is why we lose in many areas of life. Self-discipline makes winners, but it takes time, commitment, and hard work to birth it in our lives. Are you a player?
2 Timothy 1:7
7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
Aug 19, 2007
Athens Church
I was in Athens today, all you Bulldog fans would be proud. I even ate at the Varsity. It was some good eating...the fat grams were so big you could see each one, but that is why it tasted so good.
I was at a church that has a similar mission and heart as Piedmont. We both have a passion to create environments that attract people who are far from God and help them establish a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. It was neat to talk with many of the volunteers and some staff and have an instant connection because we have the same passions and philosophy.
This is what I love about Piedmont Church. I love being with this group of people who are passionate about creating environments that lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Starting a church is not an easy task, but it is exciting work to partner with a lot of other people who are want to come to church to welcome, inform, and to serve those who may be coming to church for the first time or at least the first time in a long time.
The Volunteers and Staff of Piedmont are awesome and I feel privileged to serve with them. I know that when you come that you will find yourself saying what a guy told me last week. He said, "I told my wife, you can not come to this church and not be in a good mood." PC is a great place to be and serve.
I can not wait for September 9th. I challenge you to invite someone to come with you and be a part of something new.
I was at a church that has a similar mission and heart as Piedmont. We both have a passion to create environments that attract people who are far from God and help them establish a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. It was neat to talk with many of the volunteers and some staff and have an instant connection because we have the same passions and philosophy.
This is what I love about Piedmont Church. I love being with this group of people who are passionate about creating environments that lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Starting a church is not an easy task, but it is exciting work to partner with a lot of other people who are want to come to church to welcome, inform, and to serve those who may be coming to church for the first time or at least the first time in a long time.
The Volunteers and Staff of Piedmont are awesome and I feel privileged to serve with them. I know that when you come that you will find yourself saying what a guy told me last week. He said, "I told my wife, you can not come to this church and not be in a good mood." PC is a great place to be and serve.
I can not wait for September 9th. I challenge you to invite someone to come with you and be a part of something new.
Piedmont Church's Beliefs
We do not have our beliefs up on our website yet because of some issues with the ability to change some things on the site. So, I thought I would post some of them here so that you can read them.
About the Scriptures - We believe the Bible is God’s Word to all men. It was written by human authors under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the supreme source of truth for Christian belief and living. Because it is inspired by God, it is truth without any mixture of error.
About Jesus Christ - Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is co-equal with the Father. Jesus lived a sinless human life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all men by dying on a cross. He arose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to Heaven's glory and will return again to earth to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
About Mankind - We believe that mankind was created in the image of God to have fellowship with Him but became alienated in that relationship through sinful disobedience. As a result, man is incapable of regaining a right relationship with God through his own effort alone.
About Salvation - We believe Salvation is a gift from God to man. Man can never make up for his sin by self-improvement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God's offer of forgiveness can man be saved from sin's penalty. Eternal life begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into his life by faith.
About the Church - We believe that the church is the body of Christ, of which Jesus Christ is the head. The members of the church are those who have trusted by faith the finished work of Christ. The purpose of the church is to glorify God by loving Him and by making Him known to the lost world.
About God’s Dependability - We believe God gives man and woman eternal life through Jesus Christ, and adopts them as His own, salvation is received and maintained by the grace and power of God—not by the self-effort of the Christian. It is the grace and keeping power of God that gives believers the assurance of salvation. No power in the universe can separate God’s children from Him.
About the Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son as God. He is present in the world to make men aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He also lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation. He provides the Christian with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance in doing what is right. The Christian seeks to live under His influence daily
What we Believe
About the Scriptures - We believe the Bible is God’s Word to all men. It was written by human authors under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the supreme source of truth for Christian belief and living. Because it is inspired by God, it is truth without any mixture of error.
About Jesus Christ - Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is co-equal with the Father. Jesus lived a sinless human life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all men by dying on a cross. He arose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to Heaven's glory and will return again to earth to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
About Mankind - We believe that mankind was created in the image of God to have fellowship with Him but became alienated in that relationship through sinful disobedience. As a result, man is incapable of regaining a right relationship with God through his own effort alone.
About Salvation - We believe Salvation is a gift from God to man. Man can never make up for his sin by self-improvement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God's offer of forgiveness can man be saved from sin's penalty. Eternal life begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into his life by faith.
About the Church - We believe that the church is the body of Christ, of which Jesus Christ is the head. The members of the church are those who have trusted by faith the finished work of Christ. The purpose of the church is to glorify God by loving Him and by making Him known to the lost world.
About God’s Dependability - We believe God gives man and woman eternal life through Jesus Christ, and adopts them as His own, salvation is received and maintained by the grace and power of God—not by the self-effort of the Christian. It is the grace and keeping power of God that gives believers the assurance of salvation. No power in the universe can separate God’s children from Him.
About the Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son as God. He is present in the world to make men aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He also lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation. He provides the Christian with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance in doing what is right. The Christian seeks to live under His influence daily
Aug 15, 2007
Barbarian
I think one of the best books written in the last 10 years is the Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus. It is recommending reading for all.
He proposes that we as Christians have changed from a people who once had a primal, dangerous, and even barbaric faith into a people with a sanitized religion. On page 5 he writes, "Yet Christianity over the past 2000 years has moved from a tribe of renegades to a religion of conformist."
This challenged me, it caused me to re-examine my faith and ask...what am I? Is my faith growing and in the process bringing me into a tribe of renegades? Is it leading me into a passion and "followship" of him that some may find "barbaric"? Or am I becoming more and more just another cookie cutter Christian? Am I becoming a renegade or a professional Christian?
I know that this may sound odd if you have not read the book, but it is weighing on my mind.
Go read the book...it is small and only about 150 pages. But you need to be careful, it will make you think in ways that just might make you uncomfortable.
He proposes that we as Christians have changed from a people who once had a primal, dangerous, and even barbaric faith into a people with a sanitized religion. On page 5 he writes, "Yet Christianity over the past 2000 years has moved from a tribe of renegades to a religion of conformist."
This challenged me, it caused me to re-examine my faith and ask...what am I? Is my faith growing and in the process bringing me into a tribe of renegades? Is it leading me into a passion and "followship" of him that some may find "barbaric"? Or am I becoming more and more just another cookie cutter Christian? Am I becoming a renegade or a professional Christian?
I know that this may sound odd if you have not read the book, but it is weighing on my mind.
Go read the book...it is small and only about 150 pages. But you need to be careful, it will make you think in ways that just might make you uncomfortable.
Aug 14, 2007
Meeting God
It has been 11 days since I posted and I was afraid that someone was going to post one of those, "Jerry where are you post," that I have gotten before.
I am realizing more and more these days that I don't need to "find God" as much as I just need to meet with him.
The idea of finding him is that he is not where I am and I have to do something to experience his presence. Often people think they have to improve some aspect of their life before they can "find God."
But instead I need to think that my responsibility is to meet with God wherever I am. Just take the time to give him my attention whenever I think about it.
You can find God anywhere if you just meet with him.
Matthew found him as he ripped people off as a tax collector, Peter found him on the job, Paul found him as he was on his way to murder people...God is there with you in all circumstances.
Don't worry about finding him, he as already found you. Just take the time to meet with him.
I am realizing more and more these days that I don't need to "find God" as much as I just need to meet with him.
The idea of finding him is that he is not where I am and I have to do something to experience his presence. Often people think they have to improve some aspect of their life before they can "find God."
But instead I need to think that my responsibility is to meet with God wherever I am. Just take the time to give him my attention whenever I think about it.
You can find God anywhere if you just meet with him.
Matthew found him as he ripped people off as a tax collector, Peter found him on the job, Paul found him as he was on his way to murder people...God is there with you in all circumstances.
Don't worry about finding him, he as already found you. Just take the time to meet with him.
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