Hello everyone!
9Marks just released their September/October e-Journal. The topic is church discipline - so if you don't know what that is, don't like it, or just want to know more - I encourage you to check it out. It is a very fundamental part of Jesus' instructions to the church and an important facet of church life and health.
Also, Bobby has a few pieces (book reviews and and an article) that you can read.
Happy Reading!
Showing posts with label CHBC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CHBC. Show all posts
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands
"The Bible says that our core problem, the fundamental reason we do what we do, is sin. What is being said here? Scripture is defining sin as a condition that results in behavior. We all are sinners, and because of this, we all do sinful things. This is why I said that our core problem precedes our experience. David captured it well in Psalm 51: "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me" (v. 5). David is saying, "I was born with a fundamental problem. I had it long before my first experience. Something is wrong with my inner self that fundamentally affects the way I operate as a human being." This has thunderous implications. Because sin is in my nature as a human being, it is inescapable. It marks everything I think, say, and do. It will guide my cravings, my response to authority, and my decision making. It will alter my values, direct my hopes and dreams, and shape every interpretation I make. [...]
The good news of the kingdom [of God] is not freedom from hardship, suffering, and loss. It is the news of a Redeemer who has come to rescue me from myself. He rescue produces change that fundamentally alters my response to these inescapable realities. The Redeemer turns rebels into disciples, fools into humble listeners. He makes cripples walk again. In him we can face life and respond with faith, love and hope. And as he changes us, he allows us to be part of what he is doing in the lives of others. As you respond to the Redeemer's work in your life, you can learn to be an instrument in his hands."
Paul David Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change
Starting in September I am going to being co-leading a ladies' small group working through biblical counseling material. In preparation I am reading through some great biblical counseling books (like the one quoted from above). Biblical counseling is a Gospel-centered means of helping people work through life biblically, and I love the model (read more about it in this post). I'm excited (and humbled) to get to serve my church in this way.
The good news of the kingdom [of God] is not freedom from hardship, suffering, and loss. It is the news of a Redeemer who has come to rescue me from myself. He rescue produces change that fundamentally alters my response to these inescapable realities. The Redeemer turns rebels into disciples, fools into humble listeners. He makes cripples walk again. In him we can face life and respond with faith, love and hope. And as he changes us, he allows us to be part of what he is doing in the lives of others. As you respond to the Redeemer's work in your life, you can learn to be an instrument in his hands."
Paul David Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change
Starting in September I am going to being co-leading a ladies' small group working through biblical counseling material. In preparation I am reading through some great biblical counseling books (like the one quoted from above). Biblical counseling is a Gospel-centered means of helping people work through life biblically, and I love the model (read more about it in this post). I'm excited (and humbled) to get to serve my church in this way.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Fourth of July
Not the clearest picture, but you get the idea! You can vaguely see the Washington Monument, and the dark building in front of the fireworks is the Supreme Court.We spent our Fourth of July at a wonderful BBQ at the Lawrence's, joined by plenty of other church friends. We ate delicious food, including Connie Dever's homemade vanilla ice cream sundaes. Then we watched the fireworks from the roof of our church: four stories up, and five blocks east of the Capitol Building. We had spectacular views of the DC show, and a 360 degree view of other shows in the District, Maryland and Virginia. Good times!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
New Year
It has been a hectic yet fun last couple weeks.
Stephen, Jess, and Mengning were here for a great week/end, and my parents as well, right before Christmas.
We had to have all our stuff in the church house we lived in in the basement by the morning of the 23rd. By God's kind providence (lucky for us, lots of work for Stephen) Stephen was here AGAIN to help us move. : ) We got the house packed and cleaned and left for vacation to South Carolina to visit Bobby's grandparents and dad's side of the family the next day. Due to a broken train on the way to the airport, we missed our flight...but ended up taking the Carolinian Amtrak instead (DC to Charlotte in eleven hours).
We had a great time celebrating Christmas and Bobby's g-parents 50th anniversary. Praise God for such kindness in preserving them and their marriage this far! It was good and exciting for me to hang out with the entire family and get grafted in a bit more. I also got to spend some time with the dear Emily Heath. She stopped on her way from Murrells Inlet to Asheville and we got to spend the morning together.
For the last ten days we have been houseguests at the Devers - very kind and gracious hosts! We've been eating dinner with them a lot and watching good classic movies (like The Saboteur and Christmas in Conneticut).
Yesterday and today we moved all our stuff from the basement at our old house to our new apartment. It is basically a very large studio with a separate little kitchen area. Bobby and I were talking about how amazing Christian community is - one woman at our church is allowing us to use her Suburu Forester yesterday, today and tomorrow to move and run errands. Our friend Brian made two big trips with his truck in the rain. Three other folks came with their cars. Our friends the Dunlaps brought dinner to us (and it was delicious at 8:00 PM after moving in the rain). Such generous, kind folks here at CHBC.
For a slightly more detailed housing situation update: We moved here and stayed in church housing while Bobby was completing the internship. There is a new intern class and another family just moved into our old house. Bobby has been hired to work in the church starting July, so we will be living in our new place through July/August, at which point we will move back to church housing. This situation is made easier by the fact that we live in the basement of a church member's house. They are gracious landlords.
Bobby started his new job yesterday and is loving it so far. At this point he is using a huge master spreadsheet to work through every article and piece of information on the 9Marks website, making comments and brainstorming about which heading it should go under and what other articles it should link to. Once he and the 9Marks crew know what there is, they will know what else needs to be written to round out the information.
I am still dog-walking but adding on to that a job as a teaching assistant at Capitol Hill Learning Group (imagine an informal pre-school and a more structured play-group and you have it!). They run the CHLG out of the top floor of a church on the Hill and work with kids 2-5. They learn Spanish, do arts and crafts, stories, play-time, etc. I'll for now only be working Friday mornings, but it is a great provision for us financially and it will be super fun. I start this Friday and can't wait to meet the little ones in my group.
Some of our prayer requests:
1) Discipline and the fight against laziness. We're trying to get to bed earlier/wake up earlier so we can each have quiet time (Bible reading and prayer) with the Lord before we start our days. We're also trying to become more consistent in our evening family devotions. Pray that our hearts would desire to seek the Lord in these very important ways.
2) Contentment. We've loved living half-way down the block from the church and now we're a mile and a half away. We now live very close to a Metro stop which takes us near the church, so the commute isn't long but...it is a commute. May we be grateful for the kind way God has taken care of us in giving us such a good living situation, albeit further from the church.
3) In light of the new year, all of Psalm 90! It is good for developing an eternal perspective and meditating on God's love. "So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom (vs. 12)."
Take care and much love, friends.
Stephen, Jess, and Mengning were here for a great week/end, and my parents as well, right before Christmas.
We had to have all our stuff in the church house we lived in in the basement by the morning of the 23rd. By God's kind providence (lucky for us, lots of work for Stephen) Stephen was here AGAIN to help us move. : ) We got the house packed and cleaned and left for vacation to South Carolina to visit Bobby's grandparents and dad's side of the family the next day. Due to a broken train on the way to the airport, we missed our flight...but ended up taking the Carolinian Amtrak instead (DC to Charlotte in eleven hours).
We had a great time celebrating Christmas and Bobby's g-parents 50th anniversary. Praise God for such kindness in preserving them and their marriage this far! It was good and exciting for me to hang out with the entire family and get grafted in a bit more. I also got to spend some time with the dear Emily Heath. She stopped on her way from Murrells Inlet to Asheville and we got to spend the morning together.
For the last ten days we have been houseguests at the Devers - very kind and gracious hosts! We've been eating dinner with them a lot and watching good classic movies (like The Saboteur and Christmas in Conneticut).
Yesterday and today we moved all our stuff from the basement at our old house to our new apartment. It is basically a very large studio with a separate little kitchen area. Bobby and I were talking about how amazing Christian community is - one woman at our church is allowing us to use her Suburu Forester yesterday, today and tomorrow to move and run errands. Our friend Brian made two big trips with his truck in the rain. Three other folks came with their cars. Our friends the Dunlaps brought dinner to us (and it was delicious at 8:00 PM after moving in the rain). Such generous, kind folks here at CHBC.
For a slightly more detailed housing situation update: We moved here and stayed in church housing while Bobby was completing the internship. There is a new intern class and another family just moved into our old house. Bobby has been hired to work in the church starting July, so we will be living in our new place through July/August, at which point we will move back to church housing. This situation is made easier by the fact that we live in the basement of a church member's house. They are gracious landlords.
Bobby started his new job yesterday and is loving it so far. At this point he is using a huge master spreadsheet to work through every article and piece of information on the 9Marks website, making comments and brainstorming about which heading it should go under and what other articles it should link to. Once he and the 9Marks crew know what there is, they will know what else needs to be written to round out the information.
I am still dog-walking but adding on to that a job as a teaching assistant at Capitol Hill Learning Group (imagine an informal pre-school and a more structured play-group and you have it!). They run the CHLG out of the top floor of a church on the Hill and work with kids 2-5. They learn Spanish, do arts and crafts, stories, play-time, etc. I'll for now only be working Friday mornings, but it is a great provision for us financially and it will be super fun. I start this Friday and can't wait to meet the little ones in my group.
Some of our prayer requests:
1) Discipline and the fight against laziness. We're trying to get to bed earlier/wake up earlier so we can each have quiet time (Bible reading and prayer) with the Lord before we start our days. We're also trying to become more consistent in our evening family devotions. Pray that our hearts would desire to seek the Lord in these very important ways.
2) Contentment. We've loved living half-way down the block from the church and now we're a mile and a half away. We now live very close to a Metro stop which takes us near the church, so the commute isn't long but...it is a commute. May we be grateful for the kind way God has taken care of us in giving us such a good living situation, albeit further from the church.
3) In light of the new year, all of Psalm 90! It is good for developing an eternal perspective and meditating on God's love. "So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom (vs. 12)."
Take care and much love, friends.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Biblical Counseling
Here John Piper works toward a definition of biblical counseling: "God-centered, Christ-exalting, cross-cherishing, Spirit-dependent, Bible-saturated, emotionally-in-touch, culturally-informed use of language to help people become God-centered, Christ-exalting, joyfully self-forgetting lovers of people who spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples." Whew.
At Capitol Hill Baptist Church they are serious about equipping the congregation to minister to itself - training laity to care and serve each other effectively, in this case in the realm of biblical counseling, to the glory of God.
One of the ways I am benefiting from this is a small group I am in on Tuesdays. We are learning introductory material in the "Transformation Series." This semester we're completing a workbook entitled "How People Change: How Christ Changes Us by His Grace." The coursework is offered through the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF for short), and is based on both a book and a full course taught at the CCEF center, both of the same name as the workbook. For those of you familiar with CCEF, the workbook is written by Paul David Tripp, Timothy S. Lane, and David Powlison contributes. The course is geared towards helping both the lay counselor-in-training (me) pursue growth in godliness as well as help others toward the same end.
To get a better idea of what that looks like, this is what they write in the introduction to the workbook:
Many people in our culture would call How People Change a self-help course because it leads people through steps of self-examination and change. However, the Bible would use two words for this material. The first word would be gospel. This course is a study of what God has done in Christ to transform us from idolatry-enslaved sinners to people who are like him, zealous to do what he says is good in a world that is terribly broken. This course celebrates the truth that Jesus came to save us because we are unable to save ourselves. His work addresses the deepest and most personal issues of the human experience. This course calls people to know their world, to know themselves, and to know the Lord and his grace. The second word the Bible would use for this course is discipleship. Discipleship is walking with someone as he or she learns to walk more faithfully with the Lord. Rather than helping themselves through this course, people are being discipled by the Lord as they are discipled by you...Our ultimate goal is to encourage people to: 1) Look at themselves in the mirror of God's word, 2) Know and rely on Christ's grace and 3) Step out into life with renewed faith and courage.
At Capitol Hill Baptist Church they are serious about equipping the congregation to minister to itself - training laity to care and serve each other effectively, in this case in the realm of biblical counseling, to the glory of God.
One of the ways I am benefiting from this is a small group I am in on Tuesdays. We are learning introductory material in the "Transformation Series." This semester we're completing a workbook entitled "How People Change: How Christ Changes Us by His Grace." The coursework is offered through the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF for short), and is based on both a book and a full course taught at the CCEF center, both of the same name as the workbook. For those of you familiar with CCEF, the workbook is written by Paul David Tripp, Timothy S. Lane, and David Powlison contributes. The course is geared towards helping both the lay counselor-in-training (me) pursue growth in godliness as well as help others toward the same end.
To get a better idea of what that looks like, this is what they write in the introduction to the workbook:
Many people in our culture would call How People Change a self-help course because it leads people through steps of self-examination and change. However, the Bible would use two words for this material. The first word would be gospel. This course is a study of what God has done in Christ to transform us from idolatry-enslaved sinners to people who are like him, zealous to do what he says is good in a world that is terribly broken. This course celebrates the truth that Jesus came to save us because we are unable to save ourselves. His work addresses the deepest and most personal issues of the human experience. This course calls people to know their world, to know themselves, and to know the Lord and his grace. The second word the Bible would use for this course is discipleship. Discipleship is walking with someone as he or she learns to walk more faithfully with the Lord. Rather than helping themselves through this course, people are being discipled by the Lord as they are discipled by you...Our ultimate goal is to encourage people to: 1) Look at themselves in the mirror of God's word, 2) Know and rely on Christ's grace and 3) Step out into life with renewed faith and courage.
The course thus far has been teaching me a lot about God's promises and my own heart's reactions as well as equipping me to ask better questions of people as I talk with them about their own spiritual walk.
I have a lot of great resources that I have gleaned from the classes, so expect more posts in this topic.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Apples!
My plan to have pictures of my first apple picking failed when I realized the camera batteries I thought I had charged were dead. Sad day.
However, we still had a great time. It was a beautiful sunny fall day. We drove to Maryland and picked apples in an orchard that had about ten different varieties. I appreciate knowing where my food comes from, and it was great fun choosing exactly which kind and which apple we wanted.
Together Bobby and I picked about twenty pounds of Red Delicious, Rome, Pink Ladies, Jonathons, and so on. The only thing I've made so far is an apple crisp - if anyone has any good apple recipes, email them to me or leave them in the comments for all to enjoy. We also picked up some butternut squash, a couple sugar pumpkins for baking, and lots of homemade jam.
We enjoyed great fellowship with our brothers and sisters in the faith: Sunshine and Dan, Lindsey and Josh, and Geoff and Stephanie. They are encouraging and open people, and so its been fun sharing both joys and stuggles of marriage and getting to know them more. Our small group rotation is two years, so we will be able to all grow together as our marriages progress.
Finally, this week Bobby is headed off with Mark, other church staff, and the rest of the interns for a week-long trip to Georgia and Tennessee. Please pray for their safe travel and that the trip would be fruitful (Mark is preaching the chapels at Covenant College, they are doing a 9 Marks talk, and Mark is preaching at an installation of a former CHBC member). Also pray for me - this is our longest time apart since we got married. I'll be staying with a family from the church, so I'll be occupied, but still.
Starting dog walking tomorrow. Updates soon.
And two things: Shai Linne at Crossroads? Incognito or did he perform? Haha. And - leave comments! If just to say hi - Bobby and I appreciate it.
However, we still had a great time. It was a beautiful sunny fall day. We drove to Maryland and picked apples in an orchard that had about ten different varieties. I appreciate knowing where my food comes from, and it was great fun choosing exactly which kind and which apple we wanted.
Together Bobby and I picked about twenty pounds of Red Delicious, Rome, Pink Ladies, Jonathons, and so on. The only thing I've made so far is an apple crisp - if anyone has any good apple recipes, email them to me or leave them in the comments for all to enjoy. We also picked up some butternut squash, a couple sugar pumpkins for baking, and lots of homemade jam.
We enjoyed great fellowship with our brothers and sisters in the faith: Sunshine and Dan, Lindsey and Josh, and Geoff and Stephanie. They are encouraging and open people, and so its been fun sharing both joys and stuggles of marriage and getting to know them more. Our small group rotation is two years, so we will be able to all grow together as our marriages progress.
Finally, this week Bobby is headed off with Mark, other church staff, and the rest of the interns for a week-long trip to Georgia and Tennessee. Please pray for their safe travel and that the trip would be fruitful (Mark is preaching the chapels at Covenant College, they are doing a 9 Marks talk, and Mark is preaching at an installation of a former CHBC member). Also pray for me - this is our longest time apart since we got married. I'll be staying with a family from the church, so I'll be occupied, but still.
Starting dog walking tomorrow. Updates soon.
And two things: Shai Linne at Crossroads? Incognito or did he perform? Haha. And - leave comments! If just to say hi - Bobby and I appreciate it.
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