Thursday, June 27, 2013

The Death of Shame

What ever happened to shame?

Mark Twain said that man is the only animal that has the ability to blush, or needs to. While I agree with that, I think we’ve gotten to the point where we no longer blush because as a society, we no longer appear to be ashamed of anything we do. Way back in Genesis, we understood what it was like to have shame. Note Adam’s reaction to God:

“Genesis 3:10 - And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I [was] naked; and I hid myself.”

The scary thing is, what I see in the lives of a lot of my friends and family is more like what I read in Romans:

“Romans 1:32 - Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”

When did it become acceptable to publicly live in sin like it is no big deal? More over, when did it become acceptable to post your mistakes and transgressions for all the world to see? I love the ability connect with folks on Facebook, but I find myself unsubscribing from more and more people, because I don’t want to know about the debauchery going on in their lives.

The frightening thing to me is that people are not only living a life of sin, but they are publicly bragging about it. That’s a dangerous place to be; because if that is a characteristic of this society, then many may be heading toward a point of no return, where they no longer seek forgiveness or righteousness.

Guard your heart, people- and check your Facebook status.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Tuesday's Top Ten- Special Singing

Top Ten Special Singers

The word special has varied meanings, depending on whether you are referring to the blue plate special, special education or a Saturday Night Special. (“Special shout out to my Skynyrd fans out there.) But there is a special that is so special it deserves its own area of special-ness. I’m speaking of course of “special singing”.

If you grew up in a small church, particularly in the south, you grew up with a phenomenon of Sunday morning worship called “special singing”. The fodder of probably hundreds of misbegotten American Idol auditions, special singing gives those that enjoy singing the opportunity to do so for God and His children.

The announcement for this event usually goes something like this: “Miss Mamie has the special this morning. Come on up here Miss Mamie and share what the Lord has laid upon your heart.” The problem is, as Garrison Keillor put it, that “The desire to perform is not necessarily indicative of talent.” Thus you get several types of “special singers”. Here are the top ten:

·         The “Opera Star” – This is the lady that has no professional training, but is determined to deliver as though she has the starring role in Carmen at the Met. The only thing louder than her voice is the grating of your own teeth as she hits the high notes with maximum volume. You can actually see that little thing in the back of her throat just like the cartoons.
·         The “Tonally Challenged” – This is the singer that never met a note they can’t flatten. Not quite close enough for the melody, not far enough off to be harmony.
·         The “Timing Challenged” – This is the singer using a recorded track that can’t seem to stay in time with the music. If they perform with live accompaniment, they can strip the gears right out of a decent pianist with their stop and go attempts.
·         The “Trend Setter” – This is the young or young at heart that pushes the envelope, the comfort level and the patience of the congregants by employing sign language, interpretive dance, or Tibetan nose flute as a means of expression. Always a crowd pleaser and the perfect mood setter for the pastor to have to follow.
·         The “Faux Basso” – This is the guy that thinks he can sing bass, when he really can’t. This harmonic testosterone display usually involves a lot of huffing and growling to reach the sub-basement of “Church in the Wildwood” or “Have a Little Talk with Jesus”. Be sure to wipe the spit off the microphone after he gets done.
·         The “BeyoncĂ©” – This is the woman that can pack ten minutes worth of vocalization into a three and a half minute song. Her up, down and sideways modulations are guaranteed to make the most standard hymn completely unrecognizable.
·         The “Vibrato Virtuoso” – This is the singer, man or woman that has such a distinct and pronounced vibration in their voice, you think they have special effects installed internally. Very useful for shaking the dust off those hard to reach light fixtures.
·         The “Talker” – This person can’t decide whether they are up there to talk or to sing. Usually has a ten minute intro for a two minute song. Are they a preacher or a singer? Usually, neither.
·         The “Instant In Season” – Supposedly ready at a moment’s notice, but never practiced and unable to remember the words, even when reading their tiny font from the liner of a karaoke cassette box. The sound guy has to be prepared to rewind and re-cue a couple of times for this one, but the really good ones can pass off the dead air space with a spontaneous crying jag.
·         “Miss Mamie” – This is the little old lady that stands with a quavering voice, and during her performance, forgets the words, the timing, the tune and where she is. But no one cares, because the sincerity and conviction of her faith open the windows of Heaven and her praise is purified with angelic Auto-Tune.

How many more can you think of?

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Playing by THE BOOK

The Key to not breaking the rules is to know the rules.
Ps:119:11: Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Playing by the Book puts “lights on the field”.
Ps:119:105: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

The Rule Book will support us with strength and healing when we need a “Time Out”.
Ps:119:28: My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
Ps:119:50: This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.

Playing by the Book means the rules don’t change in the middle of the game.
Ps:119:89: For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

The Book reminds us of where the sidelines are so we won’t get “out of bounds”.
Ps:119:101: I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.

The Book lets us know that we CAN make it to home plate, the goal or the end zone.
Ps:119:81: My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Book Signing on June 25, Guest Posts, Book Trailers- Oh My!

Lots of stuff going on right now and praise God for that! If you have popped in here from "Stuff Christians Like", welcome! Feel free to browse around and see the posts. Some are serious, some are fun, some are related to the release of "The Last Great Adventure", my novel about Heaven. It's a wild ride, but God is doing some awesome things right now.

Guest Post! - Jon Acuff was nice enough to use some of my material for his guest post on "Stuff Christians Like." He's a great guy and has written some really great books, including "Quitter" (which I love and highly recommend) and his latest, "Start". You can see his awesome stuff over at www.jonacuff.com.

Book Signing on June 25- I will be at the Portland Public Library, Portland Tennessee on Tuesday evening June 25, beginning at 5:00 PM, signing and selling copies of "The Last Great Adventure" a novel about Heaven that begins on the last day of my son Noah and his girlfriend Kelsie's life and imagines what kind of adventure awaits them (and us) in Heaven. A great book for anyone curious about Heaven or struggling with the death of a loved one.

 
New Book Trailer- There is a new book trailer on YouTube for "The Last Great Adventure"- you can view it here:  http://youtu.be/s3cqB4EUyKs

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of "The Last Great Adventure", you can do so at the BUY BOOKS tab on www.phillipdwilson.com, on www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com. If you are book seller interested in carrying "The Last Great Adventure", contact www.crosslinkpublishing.com for more information.

Come back and see me, as this site is updated often!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Tuesday's Top- TWELVE Preacher Styles

Top TWELVE Preacher Styles

Somewhere there should be a seminary class that teaches delivery style for preachers. I’m not talking about homiletics, expository vs. topical, or sermon outlines. I’m talking about the way the message is preached. It usually incorporates tone, volume, dialect and even appearance. While everyone is different, I’ve noted there are a several styles that seem to be prevalent. Everything else is a riff on one of these themes:

Wood Chopper – This is the guy I grew up around. These are preachers that deliver with a rhythmic smacking the pulpit, bending over for emphasis and pronouncing the punctuation with a “HUH!” or as “AMAN!”  While there are those that say these are scary, they get the message across- you’ll hear it in your sleep.

Ecclesiastical Entoner – This is the guy that fits well in a robe behind a massive pulpit or beside a coffin in a black suit. He’s the guy that delivers the high holy monolog in the high holy monotone. You can’t imagine him raising his voice, even if he were riding a roller coaster into the Grand Canyon with a grizzly bear.

Mister Rogers – This maybe the warmer, cardigan wearing version of the Entoner. He’s the preacher that’s calm, gentle, easy going. You know, the okie-dokie neighbor next door that hits his thumb and says, “Oh gosh!” before apologizing.

Jesse Jackson – The Jesse could be considered a variation on the Wood Chopper, although he emphasizes certain syllables of certain words and uses a pregnant pause to create a poetic meter. It gives…the MO-ment….SPE-cial…REV-erence.

Old Yeller – This guy could also be considered a variation of the Wood Chopper, except he doesn’t preach with rhythm, he just preaches with VOLUME. Crank it up and break the knob off. If you haven’t heard this guy, just drive into the rural Tennessee, Georgia or the Carolinas on Sunday morning until you get to gravel, roll down the windows and listen.

Pentecostal Preacher Lady – I know a few of these, and they are a hoot. They will out-preach most men and have so much of the Holy Ghost they almost glow in the dark. Big hair, big voice, big attitude…cause they serve a big God.

Surfer Dude – Depending on his age, he may wear a Hawaiian or an Affliction shirt, frosted spiky hair that looks like it was done with a weed wacker. He talks like California, even if he’s from Oklahoma. He is preaching a relevant message…to people on Redondo Beach in 1990.

Tent Preacher – Generally a male riff on the Pentecostal Preacher Lady, this is the guy that roams the tent, the room or whatever with a while look in his eye, and open faced Bible in one hand and a rambling rant that makes you think he’s getting the snakes out today.

Feminist for Jesus – Usually a fixture of the more refined, enrobed churches steeped in history and stuck in the mud, these are the frustrated militant women preachers that spend half their time preaching about why more people should accept women preachers, to a congregation that has accepted her as a woman preacher…at least until they can get the conference to send someone else.

Grim Weeper – A Bible in one hand and a hanky in the other, these guys cry more than John Boehner when they shot Bambi’s momma. Hard to understand, partially due to the free flowing spirit and mucus membranes.

Comedian for Christ – While many preachers use humor, this is the guy that is more Bill Cosby than Billy Graham. Every sermon sounds like a frustrated stand-up routine. Not quite gospel, not quite comedy.

Holy Hipster – Probably the newest to the scene, proving once again the prophecy of Huey Lewis, that it is hip to be square. This guy’s a scripture wonk with a contemporary translation of the Bible, skinny jeans and the same glasses that were worn by the Wood Chopper in 1962. Go figure.
  

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Reflections on Father's Day

While I know that Father's Day was probably invented by a greeting card company or the hand tools and ugly tie lobby, I think the Mother's Day / Father's Day ritual is a good thing, because it gives us the chance to do three things:

- Honor our father and mother, that our days might be long upon the earth. (The first commandment with a promise!)

- Reflect on our own parenting abilities and give them a tune-up, if need be.

- Praise God and reflect on the awesome Heavenly Father He is for us. (A shining example.)

First, let's talk about the honor. If you are an adult, you've probably come the point where you've realized that your parents aren't perfect. They are people; and people have faults, shortcomings, failures. Sometimes they act selfishly, out of anger or make bad decisions. You may not agree with them spiritually, politically or socially. But that doesn't mean you can't love, respect and most importantly honor them.

My dad was a good man, with great heart, work ethic and a simple faith that translated easily to us. He was also a man with little education, a stormy temper and a lack of understanding that made our relationship sometimes difficult. We often fought over pointless things; politics, religion and philosophical differences that in the end, made little difference. I'm glad I learned that and just quit trying to be right all the time. Remember, you don't have to agree with your parent to honor them.

Second, it's important to reflect on what kind of parent we are. I am convinced that a LARGE portion of the issues facing this country would dissappear if men and women would be the mom's and dad's they are supposed to be. Being a dad is one to the greatest blessing in my life. If you aren't tapping into that, you are missing a well of opportunity for love, life and legacy.

Third, praise God for being the Father we can all look up to. He is the ultimate influence and example. He is the Protector, Provider, and Director for our lives; traits all parents should subscribe to. Plus, He has made the ultimate sacrifice for us through Christ Jesus. A parent has to be willing to made sacrifices- He made the biggest and best.

God Bless and Happy Father's Day

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Tuesdays Top Ten (on Wednesday...) Ways Your Church Sound System is Out of Date

Tuesday screamed by me in a mad rush, so belatedly, here's Tuedsay's top ten on Wednesday...


The Top Ten Ways Your Church Sound System is Out of Date

Many larger churches have state of the art, up to date audio equipment. But for some smaller congregations, it may be time to upgrade the equipment. Here are the top ten ways that you may be able to tell if your system is out of date:

10.  If you have to wait for the tubes to warm up before hearing anything…
9.      If your microphones all have those little color coded foam rubber windscreens that were so popular in the 70’s…
8.      If the brand of your system is Silvertone, Truetone, Sears, or Realistic…
7.      If half the inputs in your system are broken, but the other one still works just fine…
6.      If the speakers look like miniature skyscapers covered in cheap naugahyde…
5.      If the person that purchased and maintains your sound system remembers what naugahyde is…
4.      If you ask visiting singers for performance track formats such as 8-tracks, 78’s, or Edison wax cylinders…
3.      If the entire compliment of microphones in the sanctuary consists of one chrome ten pound monolith sitting on a short stand in the middle of the pulpit…
2.      If your sound booth looks like the radio set of Amos n’ Andy, Jack Benny, or The Shadow…
1.      If your system picks up CB transmissions from Smokey and the Bandit…

…it’s time to upgrade the sound equipment.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Food For Thought- are we a Sleeping Church?

Mt:26:40: And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?
Jesus has given us a task to watch and pray, but the church is asleep at the wheel.

The Church has slept while God was taken out of schools.
You can’t have a Bible and a prayer in school, but you can have them in jail. Wouldn’t it have been better to have them in school, before our kids got to jail?

The Church has slept while divorce, adultery, fornication, abortion, sodomy and pornography have become accepted in society.
It is legal, it is protected and we don’t care!

The Church has slept while the government has been taken over by wicked men and women that are afraid to pray in public and hypocrites that pray in public and sin in private.

Men like Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Reagan, both Presidents Bush- they have all publicly prayed for our country. Who prays for this country today, unless you do? We the sleeping Church are answering for our action or our inaction. It's not a Republican thing, a Democrat thing, or an Independent thing- it's a God thing, and for Christian people that live in a country with a freely elected government to be led by unGodly people is unexcusable.

"I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side."
-President Abraham Lincoln, December 1862

Thursday, June 6, 2013

What "early readers" say about The Last Great Adventure

During the blog phase of The Last Great Adventure project, I got a lot of positive comments, both written and verbal about the content. But the problem was that in the blog format, it was hard to read THE WHOLE STORY. So during the publishing process, I sent galley edit copies to several of my friends to see what they thought. Here's a few of the endorsements they gave:

"The common thread that runs through the healing process is God's grace; and “The Last Great Adventure” is an expression of that grace as it brings healing to a broken heart."
Pastor Mike Callis, Liberty Church

“This is not a book about death, but quite the contrary. This book is about the blessed hope that we all have in Jesus Christ. I laughed, I cried and I longed for the day when we who are called His children can join in on this adventure.”
Shane Forbis- Lead Pastor, Ignition Church

“(The author) takes literal "to do above all we could ask or imagine" to a whole new level. Phil allows you to read his heart. Thrilling! An enjoyable read.”   
Rick Graves, Senior Pastor, Lewisburg First Church of the Nazarene 

“Nearly all parents have dreams for their children’s lives.  The death of a child can shatter those dreams…or maybe just change them.  In “The Last Great Adventure,” Phil gives you the insight of the new dream he has for his child—one of wonder and amazement—a dream that can inspire us all.”
Craig Gleerup, Author, The Type of Marriage That Endures

There are others...and we'll put them up here, but the only other thing I would say about one of these endorsements is that when one of these gentlemen was reading his copy, he called me up one morning and said, "I'm so excited I feel like running through a wall right now!" I assume that meant he liked it.

Heaven has that effect on people.


Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Tuesdays Top Ten- Potluck Dishes to Avoid

Church potlucks are always dangerous territory. Dishes abound that are not for the faint of heart. There are concoctions that would scare the pink off a truckload of Pepto Bismol. We are talking about something you are going to PAY FOR in the morning…if you make it till morning. For those reasons, we have comprised a list of the top ten potluck dishes to avoid.

10- Bro. Ed’s Hot Chili - made with enough peppers to stock Bobby Flay’s chain of Tex-Mex restaurants for a year. (Is that a hole in the wall of that crock pot?)

9- Sister Pearl’s Cream of Something Mustgo Casserole – When everything in the fridge “mustgo”. Cream of mushroom soup covers a multitude of sins…and leftovers.

8- Anything made with Spam and cheese.

7- Anything made with tuna and cheese.

6- Anything made with Spam AND tuna AND cheese. (Can you possibly imagine?)

5- Mayonnaise Egg Salad Surprise – It’s been at room temperature for 8 hours and you have food poisoning. Surprise!

4- Foods packed in a recycled oleo margarine tub. (Make sure I get that bowl back!)

3- Mable’s Marble Meatloaf- the color, texture, flavor and moisture content of real marble.

2- Aunt Sadie’s Pound Cake- dense as a brick; no amount of whipped cream or strawberry juice will penetrate its interior. Guaranteed to maintain that consistency all the way through your digestive track.

1-Cora’s Coconut Cake- Brought by the church cat lady, whose white Persian likes to sit on the counter and watch her bake.

Personally I suggest the no-name, half chocolate, half vanilla sandwich cookies straight from the plastic bag, a few stale chips, a couple of brown and serve dinner rolls and a styrofoam cup of weak sweet tea. Enjoy!

Changing the format!

Since I have launched www.phillipdwilson.com, I am changing the format of this blog to drive content to that site. You will see news about The Last Great Adventure here, as well as blog posts about various topics: some serious, some funny, some thought provoking. So please come back and visit often- and as always,  go to phillipdwilson.com to purchase a copy of The Last Great Adventure, also available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. If you are a bookseller interested in carrying The Last Great Adventure, contact CrossLink Publishing for details.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Book Signing - June 25, 2013!!!

I will be at Elmer Hinton Memorial Library at 301 Portland Blvd. in Portland, Tennessee, for a book signing at 5 PM on June 25. Bring your copy of The Last Great Adventure for signing or there will be copies for sale at the signing. Tell your friends!!!