A Definition

I want to define how I will be using the phrase “The Burned Over district” for future articles.  The original definition is from the book “The Burned-Over District by Whitney Cross.”  He defined it as the area of western New York during the period of 1800 to 1850.  It was first coined by Charles Grandison Finney to describe the tendency for radical religious fervor in this area.  It has been used since then to refer to the geographical region of Western New York in reference to negative spiritual matters.  This later definition is the one I will be using.

Burned History

I thought that I would begin my writing on the burned-over district with my own personal history of how I got interested in the topic. It all started when I was doing research into the amount of Satanism and witchcraft in the public schools in our area. I was doing youth ministry at the time and took my findings to my pastor to see what he thought. It seemed that we had a little higher instance of witchcraft in our schools than what was reported in other areas of the United States. He said to me that he wasn’t surprised by what I found. He said that a lot of Spiritual junk had come from this part of the United States, and that maybe their was some kind of stronghold in this area. He listed a few things at that time, like the Spiritualist movement, militant feminism, the Mormons, the new age movement, and the seven nations of the genesee. This is not a complete list of what we talked about at the time but it gives you an idea of what caught my attention. I remember wondering what was so special about this area that we had so much negative spiritual junk in our small area of western NY. At this point I just filed it all away for future reference.

It was a couple of years later that I was talking to a young man who was a practicing warlock that this all came back to me. During our conversation he made a statement that caught my attention. He said that in new age circles western NY is listed as one of the top five spots in the world to come if you wanted to channel spiritual energy. In fact he said that most people who want to go on a spiritual “vision quest” go to the pyramids, Stonehenge, and western NY. I remember thinking WOW, my pastor recognized that their was something spiritually weird about this area and now I find out that the new age community recognizes something is spiritually weird about this area. Again at that time of my life I was not in any possition to do much more than wonder and file it away as very odd.

The next piece of the puzzle came when i started as a pastor, We had a speaker come to our church that specialized in the subject of revivals. During his sermons he mentioned that western NY is one of the hardest places to minister in the United States. He pointed out that most major ministries wont come to this area. And that when they do come they get their smallest attendance. As an example he mentioned a mens ministry that gets around 50,000 men anywhere else in the US but only had 3000 show up when they came to buffalo. He also used a term that I had never heard before. “The Burned Over District”. This caught my attention, and began my research. I have begun to compile that research and want to ask the question, “how does this effect ministry in this area” I will be writing more soon please feel free to comment and ask questions, I will try to answer them in future articles.

The Burned Over District

I am starting a new topic today. “The burned over district”.  This is an area that I have done a lot of research on and have decided it is time to begin writing what I have found.  I have read a lot of books on this topic written from a lot of different perspectives.  From sociologists, and historians, and even from new age spiritualists.  My hope is to write on this topic from a Christian perspective.  Under this topic I will be making personal observations, reviewing books on the topic and inviting dialog.  I hope that as I develop this topic the information will be useful to other pastors and Christian leaders in the area.

More Potatoes

I received a little response on my trash can potatoes.  A couple of folks said that I need to make sure that the soil in my cans is lite.  The problem is that the dirt that I have is just that, DIRT.  The kind that I dig out of the ground.  It doesn’t come in “dirt” and “dirt-lite”.  So to solve the problem I wadded up news paper and stuffed it in the cans to make room for the potatoes to grow, then i covered it with dirt.  .  I don’t know if this will work for sure, but as this is all a big experiment anyway i am giving it a try.  I have attached a couple of pictures to let you see how it is working so far.

Chickens

Yes we have chickens. Six to be exact. Karen wanted chickens so i relented and we bought six baby chicks that we raised in the garage in an old portable dog kennel. Later I built a portable outdoor pen that I could put the chickens inn and move them around the yard. that way they can supplement their food with bugs and grass. The portable pen is made out of PVC pipe and chicken wire. I purposely did not glue the pvc so I can make changes in the future if needed. After a couple of weeks in the first pen i moved the dog kennel from inside and attached it to the out side. So the pictures are of chickatopia version 1.0 (kennel inside) and Chickatopia version 2.0 (Kennel outside.) version 2.5 is on the way. I need to get the feed inside to protect it from the rain. And of course by fall i will have to make version 3.0 i will need to make a more permanent structure by the time the snow flies. I must say that so far raising a few chickens has not been very difficult or time consuming. of course i cant say weather it is worth the work or not as the chickens are still about 2 months from producing eggs.

Trashcan Potatoes

I am experimenting with growing potatoes in a trash can. I have done a lot of reading on the net about this topic and am ready to go. I had a clean trash can so i drilled some 3/8 inch holes in the bottom, about 6 inches of dirt and planted my potatoes. I also tried planting some in old cat litter buckets. The idea is that every time that the potato plants get about 6 inches high you bury them again. as I have read on this topic the one thing that know one seems to document is how many inches of potatoes that you get. that’s why this is an experiment. I will attach a couple of pictures to this article in the near future. and give updates as i have them.

More Global Warming

I got a comment from a friend about the global warming article, and I thought it was worth sharing. Hear are three more reasons from Linda that we in western NY love global warming.

1. Husbands will like Global Warming in WNY because then their wives won’t have to shop for different seasonal outfits!
2. We will no longer be known as the biggest snowfall capital of the world, just because of one blizzard in 1977!
3. We can put up Christmas lights and decorations in good weather – not having to beat the bad weather in November to get it done!

We Love Global Warming

After church this morning a handful of us somehow digressed into a discussion on the latest global warming propaganda.  After much frustration over people who can’t seem to look at evidence and make a logical decision based on that evidence, we fell into what we do best, open mockery.  We decided that if fighting global warming with logic won’t work, then we will use sarcasm, (we are from Western NY). As we stood around lamenting all of the folks who couldn’t make it to church this fine March day because we just got 2 feet of snow in 24 hours, someone asked the question “What’s so bad about global warming, if I burn enough tires then eventually we will have the climate of Florida right here in Western New York.” At that moment a new unofficial unlicensed and generally unruly organization was born.  Yes folks, it’s true we began the group: “Western New Yorkers in favor of global warming” Forever more known as WNYIFOGW pronounced wuneefogwa. 

After agreeing on a name we launched into the task of creating a slogan, we have come up with two ideas for this.  ”Support global warming, burn a tire.” or “Burn a tire for positive climate change.” We hope to have some t-shirts with our slogan printed soon,  and maybe some “we heart global warming” shirts. Of course any proceeds would go to support overseas missions. But our most fun was the part that you can help with.  Our top ten list.  We are working on a top ten reasons that we support global warming list.  We have come up with a few to begin with but we are also taking suggestions.  I would like to keep two lists.  The top ten reasons and an exhaustive list.  So please feel free to leave comments of other reasons, and we will review them and add them as we can.  So without any further delays here is our list as it exists right now.

“Top 10 reasons we support global warming.”

1.  I never have to shovel again.

2.  I can ride my motorcycle all year round.

3.  I can grow coffee in my back yard.

4.  Car insurance will go down because of fewer winter accidents.

5.  Our older folks won’t have to fly to Florida for the winter.

6.  No more road salt corroding my car.

7.  Fresh oranges, grape fruit, and mangoes.

8.  Cut down on the need for heating oil, decreasing our dependence on foreign oil.

9.  No more costly snow tires.

10. I can deer hunt in a t-shirt.

Well there it is, these are not in order yet, but feel free to vote on an order as you make more suggestions. And here are some of the other suggestions that didn’t make the top ten.

The race track would be open all year.

No more toxic road spray.

Alcohol will be for drinking again, not fuel.

Well have a nice day, I hope you enjoyed the list, post any suggestions.

Created to Bear Fruit

Title: Created to Bear Fruit.

Date: 3-2-8

Purpose: for people to evaluate weather they are bearing fruit in all 5 areas defined in Scripture. 

Introduction:

Gardening example.

Romans 7:4

According to this passage one of our purposes is to bear fruit.

Bearing fruit begins with a decision.

One problem is that most of us have a narrow understanding of how fruit is defined in Scripture.

We need to evaluate whether we are bearing fruit in all five of these areas and if we are not begin the process of change.

Main Body:

Luke 13:5-9 Repentance

Luke 6:43-46 Obedience

Luke 3:7-14 Good works

Matt 12:31-37 What you say

Galatians 5:22-23 Character

Are you showing all five of these fruit in your lives?

Next week we will look at how to develop fruit in our lives.

A New Covenant

Title: A New Covenant.

Date: 2-9-8Purpose: To describe the idea of a covenant in Scripture. Notes:  The entomology of the word. It comes from the root to bind.2 uses: 1.  Common use between two men.2.  Religious use between God and man.2 shades of meaning.1.  Mutually binding agreement.2.  A command from a superior to a subordinate.Among Men:1.  A statement of the terms agreed upon.2.  An oath by each party to observe the terms.3.  A curse invoked upon oneself if the agreement is disregarded.4.  The formal ratification of the covenant by some solemn external act.            a.  A sacrificial meal.            b.  The drinking of each other’s blood.            c.  The cutting of animals in half.

5.  Sometimes the setting up of a remembrance, like a stone or pile of stones.6.  Often mediated by someone.7.  Often made them a member of the family or clan.God and men:Similar but with a couple of different characteristics.1.  God takes the initiative.2.  They usually are in the form of a command.3.  Often have conditions of human obedience, and punishment for disobedience.Main OT covenants.1.  God and Noah. Gen 9:9-17 2.  God and Abraham. Gen 15:11-18 3.  God and Israel. Exo 24:4-8 4.  God and David. Psalm 89:3-4 New Covenant.1.  God institutes. Jer 31:31-342.  Jesus ratifies with blood.  Luke 22:203.  Made as a sacrifice. Luke 22:204.  Christ is the mediator. Heb 9:11-235.  Christ sets up a remembrance 1 Cor 11:24-25 Stated in these places.Eze 36:23-27Jer  31:31-34

Heb 10:16-17

Buy In

Title: Buy in

Date to Preach:  2-13-08

Topic:  “Why they need to buy into who you are before they buy into your savior“

Location: IVCF Geneseo

Primary Scripture: 1 Peter 3:8-17

Introduction:

Russel and the persecuted youth group.

Don’t just talk the talk, Walk the walk; Actions speak louder than words; Earning the right to be heard; They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care;

Body:

1.  You must know it.

A.  The power of GIGs

b.  Obedience 

c.  Legalism

2.  You must do it.

James says your dumb. James 2:22-25

3.  You must speak it.

a.  What are you going to say.

Conclusion:
 

Blizzard

Because of the big blizzard that is supposed to be coming tomorrow I will try to put a larger more detailed outline on this site tonight.  It might be a little later than normal, but I am going to try to type out large portions of it. Enjoy the blizzard.

John 1:1-5 “The Word”

Title: “The Word”

Passage: John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Date: 12-16-07

Introduction:

I am not sure that I can adequately preach this sermon. I remember hearing a speaker say one time about a passage of Scripture that he read. “If only I could preach that.” At the time, I didn’t understand what he meant, but I have come to appreciate the depth of his words. He was trying to communicate the idea that what he had just read, was so profound, that his human words would never be enough to convey it’s full impact. He was also saying with that simple statement that if his words could truly convey the truth he was expressing , it would radically change the lives of the hearer forever. That’s where I stand today. My humble words will never be able to express the power, the impact, or the life changing truth that is found in this passage. No explanation, no illustration, no amount of passionate pleas will ever be enough to get across how important and life changing this truth is to each and every one of us. So what am I to do. Well frankly, I will do what I do each week. I will do my best as a human orator to explain the truth of God’s Word. I will speak with a foundation of prayer, my own through the week, and the prayer of others even as I speak. I will count on what I know to be true about the life changing power of the Word of God to speak more powerfully than I ever could. And I will rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart and to use God’s Word to transform your lives. What is this powerful Truth, this life changing Truth that I so desperately desire that you understand. It is the Truth of the “Word of God.” Lets begin by reading our primary passage, John 1:1-5
John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Their is a lot of doctrine caught up in this one passage. The one that many people really focus on is the doctrine of the Trinity. It is clearly stated here that “the Word” which is later defined as Jesus was with God at the very beginning. That He was part of the creation process. And that not only was he with God but He was God. This Verse is one of the clearest passages that states the deity of Jesus Christ. In fact it is so clear that the Jehovah Witnesses can’t deny it, so they say that we miss translate it. In fact if you look at a Jehovah Witness Bible that passage will be translated “and the Word was a God”. But the standard translation is the right one. Thats why you wont find any reputable Greek scholars that are Jehovah Witnesses. But that’s a minor tangent.

The doctrine of the trinity is an important truth in this passage but not the one we are looking at today. Today we want to focus on another important truth in this passage. The truth that Jesus is called the “Word”. This is a difficult concept for us to get our heads around but this morning we are going to try. Because understanding the idea of Jesus Christ being the incarnate Word of God is critical to understanding who Jesus is, and to having an understanding of the importance of God’s Word.

Main Body:

1. The power of God’s spoken Word.

Gen 1:3  And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Psa 33:6  By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.2. The power of God’s Incarnate Word Jesus Christ.

John 1 echoes Gen 1 but identifies God’s word as a person.

3. The power of God’s written Word.

2Ti 3:16  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
2Ti 3:17  that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.Conclusion:

The power of God’s Word.

Mark 1:29-39 “He Came to Preach”

A couple of initial observations.

1.  Jesus was trying to get away from the crowds who wanted Him to preform miracles, so that he could preach.

2.   Preaching was more important than meeting the needs of the people.

3.   When the people were more concerned with the miracles than what Jesus came to say He left the area.

4.  He only healed the one demon possessed man on the sabbath.  The rest were after the sabbath.

Outline

I will not be having an outline available for the sermon this week. The Scripture we will be looking at 1 Cor. 11 and talking about communion meaning and traditions. I would like to say that a had a great reason but the fact is that I spent some extra time in the woods chasing deer. I am happy to report that I got a small 4 point buck. Things should be back to normal next week. Be safe.