Meet the Editor in Chief

I'm a terrible speller. I know the rules of grammar (and I'm a stinker for them), but sometimes even major errors slip past my proofreading. Thus, it is important that I have a great speller with an eagle eye for typos. This person is my wife, Cheryl, who does a phenomenal job of making sure that nothing slips through the cracks.

If you see a mistake on my site, just wait. As soon as Cheryl gets a look at it, it will be corrected.

Thank you, editor in chief. Without you, I'd look like a real idiot!

Love,
Kenny

p.s. The original post was corrected because I mispelled "phenomenal."

The Power of the Mainstream Media

The television has been the most influential modern invention. Mine is on right now. I'm not watching it, but it's on. As television is pumped into every home in America, it has a tremendous influence on the way people think. You will shape your perceptions based on what you see on television. It's changed the way Americans think about sex, family, feminism, environmental issues, religion, and many other subjects. As the election nears, I want you to be mindful of how television can change your perceptions.

During the 1964 election, it became obvious that the media had tremendous influence on how people thought. Barry Goldwater was the Republican candidate. He is largely credited for bringing back conservative ideals to the party - low taxes, small government, reformed welfare, and strong national defense. Until him, the moderate-liberal Republicans had control of the party and the liberals had unilateral control of the media. Goldwater made it very clear that he would provide a strong military presence during a time when we were faced with nuclear war with the Soviets. He even joked that he would like to "lob one into the men's room at the Kremlin," meaning he would like to nuke Moscow.

Johnson used Goldwater's off-the-cuff remarks to label him as a racist and an extremist who would get us all killed. With the media completely controlled by the liberal establishment, this view of Goldwater was pumped into every home that had a television. On September 1, 1964, the Democrats ran this ad:




This ad was quickly pulled because it was too controversial, but the damage to Goldwater was done. The media kept playing the ad, and Goldwater was destroyed in the election. Johnson then escalated the Vietnam conflict without providing the necessary force to win. His waffling cost American lives, our reputation, our national dignity, and ultimately, South Vietnam fell to Communism.

Goldwater's philosophy continued to gain credibility until it was realized in an actor from California named Ronald Reagan. Reagan went on to build up our national defense, cut taxes to boost a sinking economy, and his policies led to the liberation of Eastern Europe and the fall of the Soviet empire. Reagan was the greatest president of the 20th century, and perhaps, all of American history.

I don't care if you are a Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal. When this November rolls around, do not allow the media to change your perceptions. You will see a lot of ads. You will see a lot of campaigning. The media has built up John McCain, only to trash him when he became the clear Republican candidate. The media has had fun with this back-and-forth between Clinton and Obama.

I'm writing this article in February because the election process has begun already. Do your homework. Read the issues. Find out where you stand. Find out which candidate most closely represents your standing on the issues. Then vote for that candidate. If you don't know who you're voting for, stay home. You're not doing your country any good by pulling a lever like a monkey.

Now, sit back and enjoy the show.

Things to Check Out

If you haven't done so already, I strongly advise you to check out a few of my links. There is an interesting discussion going on among pastors in this district, and I'm thankful that our District Superintendent, Buddy Rampey, is participating in the discussion with us. Wade and Scott are two pastors on this district, and you want to read their thoughts. To people in my congregation and my friends who read this blog, I want you to know that my heart is in this discussion. I want you to think about how we define success as a church. I want you to think about what constitutes a win for us. I want you to think about what God expects of us.

I've said many times from the pulpit that God is expecting big things from us. He's expecting hard things from us. He's going to make us all very uncomfortable as we step out on faith to become something different than we are today. He's going to make me uncomfortable as I lead you through this time. Over the course of our time together, we are going to change what it means to be a church and we are going to change what it means to be a leader.

Greenwood Wesleyan Church, I am so thankful to be your pastor. I see the seed that God has planted in us, and I'm excited to help it grow. I see the hunger that is starting to develop in your hearts. I see the light bulbs going off in many of your heads. I pray that as I teach you how we can become effective, that God will continue to grow you closer to Him. We're not going to reach our destination overnight. We're going to slowly, yet thoughtfully and deliberately institute change.

I believe that we can be all that God wants us to be. I encourage you to get involved in these discussions, contribute to these message boards, and allow God to show you what He has planned.

A Funny Little gif For You Lord of the Rings Fans

Click on the below picture to view the animation. Enjoy!

The Benefits of Confrontation

We "yanks" have a reputation for being a rude bunch. Even though I'm not a "true Yankee" because Maryland is technically south of the Mason-Dixon line, the area of Maryland where I grew up is much more like Massachusetts than Mississippi.

The reasons why southerners feel that northerners are so rude is that we don't shy away from confrontation. If your friend has something to say to you, he says it, you deal with it, and you move on. This method is not considered polite in Southern culture. Here, if you have a problem with your friend, you tell everybody else but him while simultaneously refusing to forgive him. Nothing gets dealt with, but hey, we're not fighting, right?

There are many things that I enjoy about the South. It's slower, it's not as competitive, it's much cheaper, and the climate's nicer. Generally, things aren't too bad, here, but the Southern way of dealing with problems gives me headaches.

Now, there are times when Northerners take the act of confrontation too far. They're aggressive. Sometimes I've been confronted and I really didn't appreciate how the person did it. You don't need to get up in my face for having a hair out of place.

However, here in the South, we simply try to smooth things over and hope that nobody notices that there is a problem. I cannot tell you how many times in my four years here that somebody has alerted me to a problem long after it was possible to do anything about it. Had we dealt with the situation immediately, we could have taken care of the problem, but that would risk somebody speaking up and possibly causing a ruckus. As a result, I am the last one to know of the problem and I look genuinely stupid. I could have fixed the problem with no hard feelings, but by the time it gets through the church circular, I'm the bad guy for not reading people's minds.

If my house catches on fire, but I don't call the fire department for six hours because I feel bad that I'm making them work, my house burns down. They're not at fault. I am. If I go on a crusade to make them look foolish for not putting out a fire that I never told them about, then I am sinning. The same goes for the way people treat their problems. If you don't call somebody to help put out your fire when your house could have been saved, and then you try to make somebody else look bad for not helping you, then you are sinning. This scenario has happened to me, it's happened to my friends, and it's happened to my colleagues, and it drives us all bonkers!

We don't have to walk around looking for something to complain about. What we do have to do is be honest about our issues. If you need help from me, my friends, or the pastor of whatever church you attend, then you have a Christian obligation to seek counsel. If you don't confront the issues in your life, then you'll never grow closer to Christ. All the pastors that I know are smart cookies, but we cannot help if you don't seek to help yourself.

This is a harsh post for many of you. Some of the pastors who read this will shout, "Amen!" I'm not putting any one individual on the spot, and this is not in response to any one incident. But we need to wake up and realize that just because there is no confrontation doesn't mean that there is healing. It's quite the opposite, actually. The only way to genuine healing is to be honest about ourselves, our issues, and our hang-ups. Once we come to grips with those, we must then make ourselves vulnerable by sharing those ideas with the party that hurt us. It is the only method of true healing.

Since You're All On the Edge of Your Seats!

I went to Merriam-Webster's website to look up the definitions for wimple and crisping pin, which are two outdated words from the King James Version of the Bible.

A crisping pin was something that ladies used to put curls in their hair.

A wimple was a piece of cloth used to cover a woman's head.

There you have it. Now you can sleep in peace!

My Life With a Wii

My buddy Sam is the man!! He let me borrow his Nintendo Wii for a spell. I'm enjoying it tremendously, perhaps for reasons one may not expect.

I have an XBox 360. I love the machine. I love knowing that I'm playing a next-gen, state-of-the-art peice of gaming brilliance. There is not a game that I own for the 360 that I only moderately enjoy. They are all awesome.

The Wii is not a state-of-the-art machine. It is a glorified Gamecube, which was so five years ago! The graphics are somewhat dated. They're still good, but they're nothing compared to the behemoth that is the 360.

Why am I enjoying this console so much? Well, for starters, the games are really fun. I grew up on the Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Brothers. It's great to revisit these characters and find out that they are still fun to play with.

But here comes the unexpected part: My wife really enjoys the bowling game on Wii Sports. We actually can play together. I've been trying to get her to play with me for years. Cheryl, however, likes to play games like Zuma and Minesweeper. I like shooters, RPGs, and sports games. But we both really enjoy the bowling game.

Let me just say that I hate real life bowling with a passion. I'm no good at it, so I don't do it. But my wife and I compete pretty well on the Wii. I get to enjoy a fun activity with her, that surprisingly, involves some exercise. So now, we can talk, enjoy each other's company, and have some bonding time while engaging in an activity that we (finally) mutually enjoy.