WithoutWax.tv by Pete Wilson | Tag Archive | church
Tag Archive - church

Monday Morning Mega Letdown

April 1, 2012 in Spiritual Growth with 33 Comments

Friday’s record-breaking $656 million Mega Millions lottery prize went to three exceedingly lucky winners in three different states and just about everyone else is back to work today.

The odds weren’t too good. In fact they were about one in 176 million.

USA Today reported…

By Friday night, after it’d grown for more than nine weeks, Americans had spent nearly $1.5 billion on Mega Millions tickets — the equivalent of nearly $5 for every man, woman and child in the USA. They spent more than $429 million on Friday alone.

When a lottery is getting a lot of press, for some reason, I often get asked on twitter or via email about my personal stance on the lottery. People will ask if Cross Point would receive a donation from someone who had won the lottery.

Now, please keep in mind that I’ve only bought one lottery ticket in my whole life (it was on my honeymoon 15 years ago). I don’t think it’s a good personal investment, but I want to make it extremely clear that I would absolutely receive a donation from someone who won. So…..if you happen to be one of the three that won…you know how to get a hold of me. :)

So I was wondering, do you think a church, shelter, or any ministry driven non-profit organization, should accept the money? Why or why not?

If you won, what is the first thing you would do with your money?

Breaking The Silence

January 25, 2012 in Spiritual Growth with 24 Comments

I believe sometimes you have to forgive someone, not for their sake, but for your freedom.

This past weekend my friend and neighbor, Will, did one of the bravest things I’ve ever seen. He shared with us his story of sexual abuse and how it led to a double life.

I know, statistically, there are hundreds of you who read this blog who have been a victim of a similar devastating and painful act. I have no right to tell you what you should do or how you should handle it, but I’m praying if there’s hidden pain in your life that you can find a safe person to confess that hurt and pain to and possibly begin your process of healing.

I’m sorry you’ve been hurt. I’m sorry you have to live with the consequences of someone else’s sin. However, I think there’s a big difference between living with those consequences in the bitterness of unforgiveness verses the freedom of forgiveness.

We’re all praying for you today!!

Church Bans Interracial Couple

December 6, 2011 in Church Leadership, Leadership with 55 Comments

I’ve heard horror stories over the years of churches that have made incredibly stupid decisions, but this one even shocked me.

On November 27th the Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church (as a side note, I grew up Freewill Baptist and I never encountered this) voted 9 to 6 to ban interracial couples from church services or functions, with the exception of funerals.

According to ABC News…

Stella Harville, 24, and her fiance Ticha Chikuni, 28, are the couple that prompted the church’s actions. Harville is white and Chikuni is black. The couple met at Georgetown College in Kentucky, where both were students, and they plan to marry in July 2012.

Harville is in graduate school in Indiana and Chikuni is working at Georgetown College, but when the couple visits Harville’s parents in Pike County, Ky., they usually go to church with her parents.

Harville’s parents Cathy and Dean Harville have been church members for decades. Cathy Harville has taught Sunday school at the church and Dean Harville was a deacon there and is currently the church’s secretary. They consider the church’s 42 congregants their family.

But after a service in June where Stella Harville and Chikuni participated by singing and playing the piano for a hymn, the family was shocked when then-pastor Melvin Thompson approached them after the service.

“There seemed to not be a problem and then all of a sudden the pastor at the time came up to [Chikuni] and told him he could not sing anymore,” Harville said. “That floored us. We wanted to know why.”

The next week, Cathy and Dean Harville met with Thompson and were shocked to hear their pastor say that members of the congregation had said they would walk out if Chikuni sang again. The parents wanted to know exactly who had a problem with their future son-in-law.

“‘Me, for one,’” Cathy Harville said that Thompson replied. She said he added, “‘The best thing [Stella] can do is take him back where she found him.’”

READ ENTIRE STORY HERE: ABC NEWS
There’s a part of me that so wants this all to be one BIG mistake. Surely this church can’t be for real.

But as far fetched and as radically misguided as this story is I think it’s important for us to remember how easy it is to miss the mark when we start putting our own personal preferences ahead of God’s Word. Nothing destroys a church quicker than a self seeking agenda that isn’t committed to the truth of the Gospel.

Every time an individual makes laws requiring more of us than what God requires, human pride and the desire to control others enters the equation. It continuously amazes me how we can complicate what God made so simple.

Praying you and I never become so blinded (don’t think it can’t happen).

Personal Finances, Marriage, & The Church

August 5, 2011 in Leadership with 10 Comments

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Dave Ramsey’s daughter Rachel Cruze to talk about personal finances, marriage, and the role of the church in the current American Crisis.

Her wisdom absolutely blew me away and I want to share it with you guys.

My personal take away from my conversation with Rachel is that I need to be doing a better job of teaching financial principles to my own boys. Outside of teaching them about Jesus, there are few things that will set them up better for the future, than teaching them how to manage the blessing of money.

Do yourself a favor and check this out: