People have so many questions about Heaven and what is it going to be like. Come Sunday morning and find out more about the place you were created for. I will answer the following questions this Sunday 930am @ Out Of The Box Worship Center
Where Is Heaven?
What Is Heaven Like?
Who Is In Heaven Now?
Will We Know Each Other In Heaven?
What Will We Spend Eternity Doing In Heaving?
How Can I Be Sure That I Am Going To Heaven?
Come and find out what the Bible says about the place so many people want to go but so few know what it is really like. Heaven, this is what we were made for.
Pastor Ronnie
If you cannot be with us this Sunday, I will be starting a three-week series on this subject on Sunday evenings at 1st Hillsville United Methodist Church @ 630pm starting Sunday February 13th @ 225 Fulcher Street, Hillsville Virginia.
If you want to learn even more in-depth what the Bible says about heaven then join us for Life Group at Out of the Box Youth Center 525 Main Street Hillsville Virginia ever Monday morning 9:30am to 10:45am starting Monday morning February 14th for 11 weeks through March 25th. Be sure to send me an e-mail to let me know you plan to be in this Life Group so we can prepare the needed references. Pastor Ronnie
The following is a conversation started by one of our Out of the Box Youth “Beth King” on facebook. I am seeing multiple things like this happen in our youth and it is REVIVAL!
so at work today a lady paid for her food with foodstamps but she still owed about $10. I told her I would take care of it & that she didn’t need to worry about it. After I finished paying, the people around me acted as if I had just killed someone. I felt like I was just doing a nice thing, but they seemed to not feel the same. I hated the confused feeling it gave me due to their reactions. Did I do the wrong thing?
I asked the question this morning on twitter and facebook, “Do you have a tattoo?” research shows that 1 in 5 Americans have one.
We all know there is GREAT debate in the world over whether someone should or should not have a tattoo. There have been times in life “brief times” that I have wanted one. Once was when I saw a fellow clergyman who had the Cross and Flame on his arm and it really looked good. It was in good taste and it was representative of something that meant much in his life. It represented his commitment to Christ and his commitment to The United Methodist Church.
The second time I wanted one is when a fellow Christian made a public comment that we needed to befriend those people who are not like us and make us uncomfortable and added, “those people who have tattoo’s.” I told Misty soon after that, “I have never really wanted a tattoo, but I really want to go get a big one now.” However, it was with mixed reasons that I wanted one this time.
What does the Bible say?
Leviticus 19:28 NLT
28 “Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord.
We could debate all day long on this but here are my understandings. This verse 28 refers back to verse 1 & 2 which read, 1 The Lord also said to Moses, 2 “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
So God is speaking to the Israelites and giving them instructions on living a HOLY Life. It is very obvious to me in verse that God is speaking to those who are cutting and marking their bodies in relation to the DEAD. In the verses throughout Leviticus chapter 19, there are many things that God gives us that pertain to life here on earth and are referred to again and again throughout scripture. Leviticus 19:28 is not one of them.
Neither is Leviticus 19: 5-8
5 “When you sacrifice a peace offering to the Lord, offer it properly so you will be accepted by God. 6 The sacrifice must be eaten on the same day you offer it or on the next day. Whatever is left over until the third day must be completely burned up. 7 If any of the sacrifice is eaten on the third day, it will be contaminated, and I will not accept it. 8 Anyone who eats it on the third day will be punished for defiling what is holy to the Lord and will be cut off from the community.
Leviticus 19: 9-10
9 “When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. 10 It is the same with your grape crop—do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 19: 13b
“Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay.
Leviticus 19: 19b
“Do not mate two different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two different kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven from two different kinds of thread.
Leviticus 19: 20-22
20 “If a man has sex with a slave girl whose freedom has never been purchased but who is committed to become another man’s wife, he must pay full compensation to her master. But since she is not a free woman, neither the man nor the woman will be put to death. 21 The man, however, must bring a ram as a guilt offering and present it to the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle. 22 The priest will then purify him before the Lord with the ram of the guilt offering, and the man’s sin will be forgiven.
Leviticus 19: 23-25
23 “When you enter the land and plant fruit trees, leave the fruit unharvested for the first three years and consider it forbidden. Do not eat it. 24 In the fourth year the entire crop must be consecrated to the Lord as a celebration of praise. 25 Finally, in the fifth year you may eat the fruit. If you follow this pattern, your harvest will increase. I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 19:27
27 “Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards.
It amazes me that we can take the one verse on cutting and marking your bodies and say OK, this is still in play today in 2011 and just automatically disregard the other ones I have listed here.
We have to take Scripture as a WHOLE. We must take Genesis through Revelation and mine the riches of Scripture. There are truths that relate to all time, there are truths that related to a specific time and place described and related to us in scripture and there are ways that we can understand it all.
God in this passage of scripture was is specifically dealing with the pagan religious rituals of the people living around the Israelites. God’s desire is to set his people apart from other cultures. The focus here is prohibiting worldly, heathen worship and witchcraft. God forbids his holy people to engage in idolatrous, pagan worship and sorcery which imitates the heathens. He does this out of protection, because he knows this will lead them away from the one true God.
It’s interesting to observe verse 26, “Do not eat meat that has not been drained of its blood,” and verse 27, “Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards.” Well, certainly many Christians today eat non-kosher meats and get haircuts without participating in the forbidden worship of pagans. Back then these customs were associated with pagan rites and rituals. Today they are not.
The best question I would know to ask is this, “Why do I want a tattoo”? The answer is between you and God. I do not believe the Bible in Leviticus mandates NO Tattoo’s. I believe the scripture is clear here. For those who want to say this is a mandate, I sure hope you do not explain away the other verses stated above. And, before you blast me for this post and some will, take the time and do the work and give a good defense for the context of this passage and tell me how you can possibly say that God will not allow tattoos today but he will allow the numerous other things in this passage such as planting two kinds of seed, the cutting of the hair, and two different kinds of threads.
Further, if you make the argument of the Body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and you eat anything that is bad for you, then don’t force this argument of anyone. If you drink soda, eat chocolate, Twinkies, cookies, sweets, ice cream, if you are over weight, if you are too skinny, etc, etc, etc, then don’t make the argument of the Body being the temple as a valid argument.
Love in Christ and I mean that. I am just tired of people who God loves being condemned for having a tattoo. I do not have one and I do not want one. But I love a lot of people who have them and God loves them and we can argue all day but I do not find in the Bible that God says you shall not!
Remember my Major Guidelines.
If God teaches in scripture in context, that it is wrong, then don’t.
If you are not an adult, you respect your parents or guardians and follow their guidelines. Respect of parents is required by God.
If you are an adult or if your parents have given you freedom to choose and good guidance, then the choice is up to you. I do not see anywhere in Scripture where your decision to have a tattoo or not to have one is condemned.
Ronnie
Here is the Three Minute Thursday that I did several weeks ago on the subject. Look for another one soon.
Renae will be the coordinator for children ages 2-10. Please feel free to invite and bring more children with you to the debut on January 28th from 6:30-8:00.
Renae will be teaching the children with Bible Stories and Lessons, crafts, games and recreation.
Refreshments will be provided.
Let Renae know if you would be willing to help with snacks and/or volunteer to help Renae with this much needed ministry for the children of our church family and the community.
I am really excited about the progress of the Art ministry! We have been receiving all types of donations from paper, glue & egg cartons to furniture, financial support and even a rolling wall that we will use to paint a mural on!
I thank God for all of you and your many generous donations!
Our first meeting will be on February 6, 2011 from 1 pm- 3 pm at OOTBWC. Make sure you eat lunch BEFORE you come so we can spend our time on a special project forValentine’s Day! We will talk about the topic of LOVE and what it means, while we work!
Please wear OLD clothes! If you have an old t-shirt that you can get paint on- bring it! I will also need some adult help so if any adult would like to stay and help out please let me know! If there are any seniors that would like to join in the fun- please come out! This is a great time to spend with the children! If you are planning on attending please let me know so I have enough supplies ready for our project! ( and enough help!!) I look forward to sharing God’s Word and creativity with your children! If you can’t come, I invite you to be ourprayer warrior!
I hope that you are as excited as we are as the Witness Team in Holston Conference. We will soon know what the totals are for Baptisms in Holston Conference for 2010 and I can’t wait to gather and share this information with you. It is going to be a year to Celebrate.
All over the Holston Conference I have heard from Laity and Pastors alike who say this has been one of their best years for Evangelism in a long time. This in itself is worth Celebrating.
The Witness Team has put together another Exciting Conference and soon you will be able to Register yourself and those from your church who would like to attend. I am encouraging every church to participate this year. I believe this will be the best year ever for Baptisms and Professions of Faith in Holston’s History. I know that it can be, it depends on you and me putting into practice what Jesus left us here to do, “Go and make Disciples.” We need to pray but we need to work. Our prayers combined with our labor will produce great results, given by The Holy Spirit.
Mark your calendars if you haven’t already, April 1st and 2nd, 2011
Ronnie
Witness Team Chair
The Rev. Dr. Charles C. Kyker is our speaker for The 2011 Holston Evangelism Conference to be held once again at Cokesbury Center in Knoxville Tennessee on April 1st and 2nd, 2011. More details will be released by The Witness Team soon.
Those who attended The Holston Annual Conference this year will remember that Charles was one of our featured speakers.
Dr. Kyker is a 2004 graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary’s Beeson International Center for Advanced Church Leadership and Biblical Preaching, where he received a Doctor of Ministry in Church Leadership and Evangelism. Charles has also received a Master of Theology in Wesley Studies from Duke University’s Divinity School in 1993, a Master of Divinity from Emory’s Candler School of Theology in 1988, and a Bachelor of Arts in Religion and Philosophy with a minor in Psychology from Greensboro College in 1985.
Amidst working on these degrees, Charles was also serving. He served as youth pastor of Unity UMC in Thomasville, NC (1982-83), and Asbury UMC in Greensboro, NC (1983-85). He served as the associate pastor for First UMC in Buford, GA (1985-87); First UMC in Fayetteville, GA (1987-88); and First UMC in Waynesville, NC (1988-90). Charles was the senior pastor of Centenary UMC in Clemmons, NC (1990-97). He is currently the Lead Pastor of the four campuses of Christ UMC in and around Hickory, NC. Charles was ordained as a Deacon in the United Methodist Church in the Western North Carolina Annual Conference in 1987 and later as an Elder, in 1991.
Charles is married to the former Julie Melissa White of Cleveland, TN. They have been married 22 wonderful years and have four children: MaryGrace (20), Ashley Beth (19), Molly Ann (18), and Joseph (15).
Today I was watching Superman with Samuel on YouTube and Superman made this statement.
“I never allow myself to lose control, because someone could get killed.”
There is great wisdom in this. Today and almost every day we hear news stories of how people have lost control and gone on a rampage. We have witnessed this again this week with the tragedy in Tuscon. I know this incident as many of them involves someone who is mentally ill. However, we are seeing this so much.
Many times it is a person losing control on the highway and road rage occurs. We see it when people lose their jobs and they are upset at the people they work with and for.
But in this statement I see an even more subtle sermon. People get hurt and many times their spirit is killed when we lose control of our tongues. So many times we are so quick to speak and not think of what we are saying. This doesn’t have to be a major thing in our eyes. Here are some areas I have witnessed this recently,
Bad weather has cause the school personnel to have to make a call on closing or not closing school. I have seen so many ugly remarks against school personnel, no matter what decision they make. We need to maintain control and remember it is not us who has to make that call and we need to trust the person or persons making that call has our children’s best interest at heart.
Bad weather causing church services to be canceled. Again, be thankful you are not having to make the decision. It is a hard call when the police and emergency personnel are saying, “please stay off the roads” and you have people who want to have service.
Sports. I am not a huge sports fan but I try to stay in the game, so to speak. I have seen so many ugly comments about teams, players, and coaches. These people are human beings, creations of God and they deserve to be treated as such. Matter of fact, it is pretty funny that they are getting mega bucks to play and we can’t get paid to play but we are making a call on their performance???
I could go on and on, but lets remember, Always maintain control. Never quickly judge a situation before weighing every option. Never criticize a person if you haven’t had the opportunity to walk in their shoes. Stop and think about what you are going to say and if it is critical, spur of the moment, don;t say it. This goes for facebook and twitter as well. Once you put it out there people see it and sometimes it tarnishes what people think of you.
“I never allow myself to lose control, because someone could get killed.” Superman
It may not physically kill the person you pass judgement on or criticize, but it can wound deeply.
I have spoken to many people who struggle with the same thing I struggle with, taking every thought captive. That’s right, as a preacher I still have to take control of the thoughts that run through my mind.
However, I realized something this week in this scripture.
2 Corinthians 10: 1-6
By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” when away! 2 I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
When Paul wrote this, he did not say, “Don’t have bad thoughts.” Paul says here, you will have bad thoughts, just like I do. Yes Paul here is telling us, bad thoughts are going to come, it is part of the human mind. However, when thoughts come, we are to take them captive, take control of them. If they are bad then refuse to dwell on those bad thoughts. If those thoughts are negative, refuse to dwell on them. If those thoughts go against scriptures teaching then state the truth and walk on.
We can do things to guide our thoughts, such as reading the Bible and other good books. By watching things that are uplifting and staying away from questionable material. The old saying is true, “garbage in, garbage out.” However, take courage in the fact that Paul nor Jesus ever said we were bad for having bad thoughts, but we have been equipped with the way of escape. Our thoughts do not have to control us.
John Maxwell is someone that I have mentored under for many years. Through books, tapes, cd’s, and many times in conferences I am drawn wisdom and leadership knowledge from John. I am excited to share with you his newest venture, “A Minute With Maxwell”. Sign up to catch it every day. Here is the link to his youtube page where you can catch day 1 “Success.” http://www.youtube.com/user/johnmaxwellteam#p/a/u/0/-l2wQegN9fA
Today as most day’s I have worked on the messages that I am planning to preach over the next days, weeks, and months. I have organized and filed and printed notes and an array of other things.
Between today and the end of the month of April, I have a total of 50 messages to prepare. Most of these are sermons, either on Sunday morning and Sunday night, to Wednesday evenings with the Youth at Out Of The Box, to FCA, Life Groups, and other special invitations that come from various places. There will no doubt be others added before the end April comes.
How does one prepare to speak this many times?
First of all it takes a calling and I believe that God has placed this call on my life. Because of the call, I have prepared continually over the course of the past 25 years. I have spent many hours in study and preparation for such a time as this. But beyond that, how does one stay current and up to date on the needs of people and their lives today, in order to communicate timeless truths in ways that meet their immediate needs.
Here are some of the ways that I meet these challenges, daily disciplines that I practice in order to get the job done.
I read scripture daily. I am currently on a plan with many others in the church to read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation in the course of this year, in 15 minutes a day, six days a week.
I make it a habit to read one book each week, most of these being by Christian authors and about issues and things that are in line with what I am preaching and teaching currently. However, I will often read other things outside the Christian realm.
I listen to podcasts of pastors and leaders that I respect and gain inspiration and knowledge from. I listen to approximately three sermons and or leadership sessions each week.
I read blog posts, twitter, and facebook updates on a continual basis, and I gain a lot of insight from these posts that keep me abreast of what the pulse of the people is.
I subscribe to the following. USA Today, Outreach Magazine, Bible Study Magazine, Relevant Magazine, Rotary Magazine, and Runners World. I have just added a trial subscription to Leadership Magazine.
I use Google Reader to work through about 40 blogs each day, just reading the ones that look to be helpful.
Something that probably won’t make a lot of sense to many is Running. I run about 20 miles per week or that is my goal for this year. Running does many things for me, it allows the release of stress, the maintenance of health, and a great way to fellowship with friends. And believe it or not, fellowship does happen. In a typical 6 mile run, my running partner and I will talk the entire time.
Some may be saying, with all of this how would one have the time to live life??? The truth is, I live life to the fullest because of these things. I watch very little television, although I love “Law and Order”, and will watch this show as often as I can. I do enjoy watching the news but read most of the news either in USA Today or online. We don’t have cable television for two reasons, number one we don’t have the time to watch more than we already do with local stations and number two, we cannot justify paying so much money for such a time waster.
I take time for my family every day, it is a priority for us as a family to have evening meals together and we do almost every day. We go out as the larger family at least once each week and many times we get to do this more than once. We often have breakfast as a family and this is my favorite meal to prepare for the family. On my days off we either hang out at home or go on shopping trips together. We love to ride 4 wheelers and build campfires and just sit and talk. I have learned, however just this past year that when I go on vacation, I really go on vacation. I don’t look at e-mails and I leave Social Media alone. I do check voice mails in case of emergencies, this past year in October was the first time I have truly done this in many years but it was great and I am going to make it part of my life.
I do most of my study between the hours of 530 and 8am while the family is in bed asleep. It is almost impossible to do after everyone gets up and it is impossible to accomplish in the church office. Church office hours are a time where people need to feel the freedom and welcome to come and chat. This is where friendships are built and relationships are strengthened. This is also a time for the work of the ministry to be planned and carried out. It is just a fact of the ministry, most of the ministers study is done hid away in the still of their home or in a coffee shop somewhere in a corner. (I really wish Hillsville had a Coffee Shop, open early.)
That said, it is time for me to get ready and go to the office. Today I meet with Rotary and that is a place where I get to see and fellowship with people that is in sort of a different world than I am and that is refreshing. I will also be making a “Three Minute Thursday” today. Lots to do and to be honest, like John Wesley said, always in a hurry but never in haste. Make every minute count.
Samuel said yesterday, “This is a Perfect Cold Day”.
It was perfect, the snow wasn’t too deep, yet good for riding a snow sled. The wind wasn’t blowing and we had a great time on the 4 wheeler. We just had a great time together as family. Thank God for quiet days.
I still can’t believe we did it but Samuel started asking this summer to shave his head like mine. He looks so different but he is still our Awesome little boy.
Running is one of the things that I do to relieve stress. However it is worth so much more than that. I run with a good friend, Kenneth and it is a time of fellowship. On Monday Kenneth called and said it wasn’t sticking in Mt. Airy where we run so we took a chance. By the time we started the snow was sticking and by the time we finished everything was snow-covered. It wasn’t miserable as so many would think, it was beautiful. Coming up main street with the street lights and the snow falling, it was picture perfect. We were careful not to slip and fall and it really wasn’t very slick.
During the run we started to talk about the stress of life and running helps us to manage the stress. Then we thought of those whose health is not that good, they are overweight, they carry the same or a higher stress load than we do and they have no outlet to get rid of the stress. It made me very thankful to be out on the street running in the snow. I am thankful that I have the ability to run. I’m not fast and im not slim like a lot of runners, but it manages my stress and gives me an outlet for fellowship that cannot be compared.
I sometimes get to thinking that things are so out of whack and they are worse now than they were years ago. But then I read the Bible and I realize that things really haven;t changed very much.
I am reading the Bible cover to cover this year and of course I am in Genesis. This morning I read where God appeared to Abraham through angels and said at 90 years Sarah is going to have a baby. In the story, Sarah laughs and who wouldn’t at 90 years old. I am 45 years old and my youngest is 19 months old and I cannot imagine having an infant at 90 or 100, whew.
Anyway, Sarah lied and said no I didn’t laugh when God said I was going to have a baby. Did too, and so would you!
Here is what made me realize things haven’t changed, just the year. Right after Abraham and Sarah find out they are going to have a baby at such an old age (not so old in God’s calendar) they immediately turn to the issue of Sodom. Do you get it, Abraham, you’re going to have a child, see ya. Oh yeah, as you are seeing us out-of-town, God is going to destroy Sodom and all of its people.
Wait a minute, I thought it was an issue of 2011 that we go from one high moment (stressful moment) immediately to the next. Things really haven’t changed very much.
I run into this issue a lot. People want to be safe, secure, out of the reach of harm. Well to be honest I like to be in these places as well, however most world changers are people who get outside the bubble and take risk.
God never said he would keep us from the world but rather he will keep us in the world. As I look back in life and the risks I have taken, they have been worth it. They have been life changing for myself and others and they have not always been without pain.
I think of the risk I took when I adopted Michael as a single dad. So many people (Christian people) criticized me and said that I had no business as a single man, adopting a teenage boy. People told me how dangerous it was to bring in a young man who I didn’t have much of a history on and take the risk that he would make it. Ten years later I have a daughter in-law and two AWESOME grandchildren and the most AWESOME son. Has it all been easy, NO. Has it been worth it, YES. Has it changed my life and Michael’s life, YES.
This is just one example, and it is a good one because it has been so successful. I could share some stories with you where I have not been so successful but my point is, we are here to make a difference and not to be safe. People who care only for their own and never take a risk to help others, never accomplish very much.
On Monday afternoon I logged the first 6.3 miles of the New Year. It is my goal to run at least a thousand miles this year and this leaves me 994 to run. There were weeks in 2010 where I logged above 40 miles and I expect there will be this year also but right now I am just catching each opportunity that I can to get out the door. It is difficult in the winter months but I just have to get the shoes on and go.
The temperature yesterday was 46 and that is really a great temp. Shorts, long sleeves and a hat and you are good to go.
I am reading a book called “Craving God”, and it is just what I need in starting this New Year right. Here are a couple of quotes from the book.
“God made us capable of craving so that we’d have an unquenchable desire for more of Him, and Him alone.”
“My journey to healthy eating didn’t gain traction by counting calories or obeying rules of the food pyramid. The process began in earnest when I admitted that, yes, I was overweight physically. But, more importantly, I was underweight spiritually. I was spiritually malnourished. Tying these two issues together is what opened my eyes to see God in a whole new way.”
“Thought for the Day: God made us capable of craving so we’d have an unquenchable desire for more of Him, and Him alone. Nothing changes until we make the choice to redirect our misguided cravings to the only One capable of satisfying them.”
It really is all about God, this is His story and He has included us in His story. he has given us life and for those who trust in Him, we will live forever. Our life here is preparation for eternity in heaven. Let’s live disciplined.
2010 will go down as the most difficult year of my 45. However, where it has been the most difficult, it has also been a blessed year and much good has happened. If I did not have faith in God, who I believe is the Creator of the world, I would have given up already. If there was not the promise of Eternal Life in Heaven, what would be the use of it all.
I am not alone, I have been in fellowship with so many this year who have gone through hurt and pain and they are struggling with why. 2010 was a year that I will never forget. On the day that we baptized a record number of people in the Holston Conference, my brother died in an automobile accident. May 23rd is a bitter-sweet day in my memory forever.
On the weekend we opened the new worship center, we had another tragedy in our family that I am still unable to talk openly about. December 2010 will be a bitter-sweet memory forever.
I have not lost hope, it is what keeps me going. The Bible tells me of a time that is coming for those who Love God that will be Heaven. When we talk about Heaven we imagine so many things. When I say imagine I really mean that we have lots of images in our minds of what Heaven is going to be like. Some are biblical and some have no biblical basis as all. With that in mind, we are going to be studying about Heaven this through the ministries of Out of the Box Worship Center, 1st United Methodist Church, and Out of the Box Youth. There will be Life Groups, Youth Group, and SNL messages where we will study together and discover just what the Bible has to say about Heaven.
I hope that you will join us and that your Hope will be renewed. I hope that you will bring your friends and family that are hurting and asking questions like this, “Why would God allow this world to go on when it is so bad, there is so much pain and hurt?”
For those of you who ordered The Books of The Bible, they are at both church locations. In the main office at 1st Hillsville and Out of the Box Worship Center Downtown. Here is the reading plan for January which takes just 14 days. There are reading plans with the Bibles, be sure to pick your up and get started reading. You will be blessed and grow in faith like never before.
Ronnie
Genesis:
14 days – The Bold Print are the page numbers that are to be read.
I am the Planting Pastor of Out of the Box Worship Center and I also serve as the Associate Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Hillsville Virginia. We are a Multi Site Church, one church in multiple locations. Our 1st campus is located at 225 Fulcher Street in Hillsville Virginia. Our 2nd location is on Main Street in Hillsville, FUMC Downtown, Out of the Box Worship Center, and our 3rd location is 522 North Main Street in Hillsville and this is our Youth Ministry Center, FUMC Downtown “Out of the Box”, Youth Ministry. The most recent ministry we have is “Out Of The Box Worship Center” and we are located at 516 North Main Street Hillsville. This site is now my main focus, along with the Youth Ministry.
I have a Passion to see hurting people come to know Jesus Christ. I believe that we as Christians have to demonstrate God’s Love to the world, rather than just telling them they are loved. I am married and have 3 sons two very special nephews that are like sons, 3 grandchildren, 5 great nephews, and one great niece that are like grandchildren. I am a blessed man.
I attended school at Carroll County High School, Wytheville Community College, Liberty University, and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary.
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