Weekly meetings available to you are as follows:

Tuesday at 6:30 PM, Truitt Baptist Church - Pearl. Call Matt Flint at (601) 260-8518 or email him at matthewflint.makes@gmail.com.

Wednesday at 6:00 PM, First Baptist Church Jackson - Summit Counseling Suite - 431 North State St. Jackson. Call Don Waller at 601-946-1290 or email him at don@wallerbros.com.

Monday at 6:30 PM , Vertical Church - 521 Gluckstadt Road Madison, MS 39110. Mr. Roane Hunter, facilitator, LifeWorks Counseling.

Sunday night at 6:00 PM, Grace Crossing Baptist Church - 598 Yandell Rd. Canton. Call Joe McCalman at 769-567-6195 or email him at cookandnoonie@gmail.com.


Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Recommended Reading

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." — Isaac Newton

DA Carson, looking at the history of Israel and the modern Church, once remarked that 'belief' is cyclical... "one generation believes the gospel, the next assumes the gospel, and the following generation denies it..."

If Carson is right [and I think he is], then we are coming out of a spiritual winter [denial] and are on the cusp of a spring awakening [belief].

There is a generation ready to believe. Ready to receive the gospel. Ready to deepen their faith. The question I have is, who will lead them? Who will walk with them? Who will guide them, "toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus..."

"Young men grow up when older men show up."

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Brother, your presence matters. If we are going to reach the next generation of men—men who know Jesus, follow Jesus, and then reproduce themselves—presence is the first and most important step.

Young men do not grow through online lectures. They do not grow through self-discipline, stoic philosophy, or the latest workout and diet fad. Men grow when men older show up, build something with them, listen, and invite them into maturity [as mentors or as fathers].

Anthony Bradley, a co-laborer I highly respect and admire, recently wrote,

It's Time to Rethink Everything. Let me be blunt: the 1950s/1960s youth model—designed in the mid-20th century to entertain teenagers and keep them out of 'grown-up' church—is failing our young men. Your son deserves better. It wasn't built for the current crisis of boys and men. It wasn't built for boys having to navigate a world saturated in social media messaging. It wasn't built for the kind of spiritual formation your sons actually need. Demand better for them. And it certainly wasn't built with covenant theology in mind.

Teenage boys today don't need a 25-year-old 'cool guy' handing out pizza and playing games. They need grown men to coach them about life. They need deep connections with their fathers. They need elders. They need consistent, older, wiser male presence forming them in the way of Christ through real-life engagement—building, eating, working, listening, praying, serving, loving their mothers and sisters well. That's what the data shows. That's what the Bible commands and models. And that's what the church is failing to deliver... Our boys deserve better!

The burden is twofold. First, churches must get serious about training, supporting, and forming fathers. Not just preaching about 'being a good dad,' but cultivating a culture where men are actively shaped into spiritual, intellectual, and emotional leaders at home—especially those who never had fatherhood modeled for them. Every father in the church should know he is not alone and can get help from any of his brothers at any time. He should be surrounded by a community of men committed to his growth and maturity in Christ and as a husband and father.

Second, we need to dismantle every system in the church that treats teenage boys as spiritual outsiders until they 'grow up.' It's utter nonsense. If a boy has been baptized into the covenant community, then the church has made a vow before God to shepherd him—not when he's 18, but now. That's not a program. That's not a nice idea. That's covenantal responsibility. And it doesn't happen in a youth room with beanbags and devotionals. It happens through sustained spiritual formation in the context of intergenerational relationships—where boys are brought into the worship, work, and wisdom of the men around them. High school boys don't belong in children's/youth ministry. They need their teenage years tethered to their fathers and the elders of the church—these men are their lifeline for crossing into adulthood. The data could not be clearer on this.

We have to stop treating boys like a separate category of Christian and then shame them for acting like children. They are not pre-Christians. They are not problems to manage. They are brothers. They are sons of the covenant. They are members of the visible church. And when we isolate them from the full life of the body, when we ignore their need for male formation by their fathers and elder father-figures in the life of the church, we deny what their baptism declares.

If the church wants to respond seriously to the crisis of fatherlessness, the boy crisis, and the breakdown of male development, it begins here: support the fathers, and embed the boys in intergenerational relationships in the life of the church. Create a culture where men see the spiritual formation of the next generation as an ordinary, expected part of Christian maturity. And when you baptize a child, mean it. There must be a clear rite of passage into the adult community—long before high school graduation.

Presence isn't optional. It's covenantal. And it's past time the church acted like it. Boys in the church are being shortchanged—and it's a shame. Parents must start demanding more. Churches need to stop outsourcing boys' formation to people who, according to the data, have minimal long-term impact and focus on the ones who do—ie., their fathers and father-figures in the church. Build the fathers and forge a brotherhood in community—because they're the ones who should bear the lion's share of forming the adolescent brain and soul into adulthood.

Carson is right. Bradley is right. The answer is intergenerational discipleship.

What are we going to do about it?

For the next generation. For the King,

Monday, May 5, 2025

Female Fun & Subsequently, Overexposure = Heightened Feminine Perception

1.  During the middle of April, my experience serving as a board member of a local nonprofit began to wane / languish inside.  The nonprofit's local mission was, in concept, exactly what I believed in (& had throughout my four-years of service), but the female Executive Director wasn't leading the org in line with any direction whatsoever from the 10-member Board.  Hence, we essentially were her minions / yes-men / women.  It was apparent throughout that everyone was perfectly fine with this hierarchy, and I was as well.  Until I wasn't. 

If you know anything about nonprofits, this is a backassward approach.  

But this female would have no part in being swayed from her reigning perch.  It was her way or the highway.  I blithely chose the highway a few weeks back by resigning from the board.

Doing this made me feel empowered but also very sad for I really will miss supporting the mission of that local org.  Yet, I won't miss this female.  She represented for me, a concentrated dose, with zero listening skills.
  
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2.  My middle daughter returned from studying abroad in Europe (Spring collegiate semester) last weekend.  Ever since last fall, her plan therein was to waylay for a few weeks prior to departing for her "next big thing" (Summer '25 away from home).  Not long after her arrival home, she approached me with the notion of cancelling her Summer '25 "next big thing" plans entirely, instead hoping to reside at home with her fam for the entirety of May, June & July.

Keep in mind that her "next big thing" Summer '25 away-from-home plan was duplicitous of what she did Summer '24 (which she enjoyed / benefited from greatly).

Multiple evenings were spent hashing out her desires / motives 'till I felt comfortable blessing her sentiency / maturity enough to position her standalone decision as fair / equitable.  

I felt deeply indebted to my wife for allowing me to assist our daughter in navigating this ultimate decision.  

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3.  My mother relishes the opportunity to host meals at my parents' home.  As such, every holiday / special event, it's her show (& has been for the past almost 30 years to the chagrin of my sweet wife).

A dinner birthday / homecoming (aforementioned study abroad grand/daughter) party was calendared (yet again, at her abode) a few weeks back for this past Friday night.  The birthday girl was to be my 93-year-old grandmother.

As an aside, last fall, mom insisted on providing me with specifics on how her brother (my grandmother's primary caregiver) physically assaulted / threatened to kill her.  She did this during our annual Thanksgiving meal (once again, at her home) while she and I were talking somewhat privately, and this disturbing commentary continued forward intermittently 'till I put my foot down.  As you might imagine, I was livid (not only regarding what I was hearing but taking into account too the setting I was hearing of it within).

I have no siblings; therefore, I can't pretend to comprehend on any level how those relationships work.  Nonetheless, I do know that every sibling relationship is unique and that the parents play a sizable modeling role therein as it pertains to the dynamic.  I also know that females long for peace and by default, sweep an awful lot under the rug, for better or for worse, yet too desire to be heard, heard, heard.  

But one thing you must know about my mother is this:  she's my uncle's puppet and always has been.  In fact, his own mother ('till she lost her ability to care for herself) was too.  Like mother, like daughter, I suppose.

In essence, my uncle is a highly intelligent, articulate manipulator who's all around intimidating to boot.  

Therefore, once I caught wind of my uncle's invitation to my grandmother's birthday party, I verbosely rescinded (last minute) me and my family's RSVP.  

Verbosely:  the use of too many words

Know this:  this wasn't profanity.  I simply solidly drove home my point.

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On the opposing side of this gender fun, I've been actively working towards obtaining proposals pertaining to some needed plumbing work at our small, 25-year-old abode.  Having met with 1, 2, 3 plumbing company reps (males) over the past week and a half, I was reminded of how distinctly different men and women communicate / engage.  

Nonetheless, I believe because I've been having so much female fun over the past few weeks, I've been hyper-observant / available emotionally - gender be damned!  And this vulnerableness has ratcheted up in proportion to my female fun milestones.  

And that's made this relatively simple task that much more exhausting (but holistically a bit fun as well).  

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In closing, I'm just tired out.  Lots of folks, women and otherwise have needed, expected, introduced themselves.  Each with their own position, stance, temperature, outlook.  As such, I'm reminded, no, been demanded to listen, react, observe intentionally.  For they're so very different than men.  Complex beyond belief.  And that complexity can enliven us to be far better and more capable than we ever would be otherwise.

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Recommended Reading

 

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Recommended Reading

The genius of Steve Jobs wasn't simply innovation; Jobs' genius lay in the fact that he understood the spirit of the age. It was no accident that Jobs found transcendent success by constructing the iWorld, a world in which everything revolves around the individual. The iMac, iPod, iPad, and iPhone speak directly to our souls.

It was Augustine who said there are two ultimate loves: love of God [or] love of self. Apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, we all inordinately love ourselves. Self is the shape, or misshape, of our hearts. Since the fall, man has been afflicted with a deadly condition, what Augustine [ and later Martin Luther] called being incurvatus in se: being turned in on ourselves. A liturgy of self-centeredness, the English archbishop, William Temple, said it best:

"We make ourselves, in a thousand different ways, the center of the universe. But then our soul is bent over, turned in on itself, separates itself from the source of true life and nourishment, and eventually starves itself of spiritual oxygen, shrivels up, becomes hard, and dies."

Living, breathing, hard, dead souls—precisely what the iWorld produces and feeds.

Good Will Hunting

There is a compelling scene in the movie Good Will Hunting. Will Hunting sits with his therapist, Sean, on a park bench. After belittling and mocking Sean, Sean comes at Will with a more direct approach:

"You're a tough kid. I ask you about war, and you'd probably, uh, throw Shakespeare at me, right? "Once more into the breach, dear friends." But you've never been near one. You've never held your best friend's head in your lap and watched him gasp his last breath, looking to you for help.

And if I asked you about love you probably quote me a sonnet. But you've never looked at a woman and been totallyvulnerable. Known someone could level you with her eyes. Feeling like! God put an angel on earth just for you…who could rescue you from the depths of hell.

And you wouldn't know what it's like to be her angel and to have that love for her to be there forever. Through anything. Through cancer. You wouldn't know about sleeping sitting up in a hospital room for two months holding her hand because the doctors could see in your eyes that the term 'visiting hours' doesn't apply to you. You don't know about real loss, because that only occurs when you love something more than you love yourself. I doubt you've ever dared to love anybody that much.

I look at you; I don't see an intelligent, confident man; I see a cocky, scared shitless kid."

Will is a genius. He knows something about everything. But he knows nothing. Will's entire life has been one of listening to the record but never hearing it, never living it. Nothing in his life is solid; everything, from his friendships to his romantic life, is disintegrated. Sean tells Will that he [Will] knows nothing about real life, about "real loss, because that only occurs when you love something more than you love yourself. I doubt you've ever dared to love anybody that much. Will would have been an iWorld posterchild, he can’t see past himself.

In The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis writes about 'solid' people, contrasting them with 'ghosts.' Lewis portrays solid people as the prototype for 'whole' people, what God has always intended us to become. What makes a person whole [solid]? Selflessness.

The ghosts, on the other hand, are selfish; they are shadows because they cannot see past themselves. Lewis depicts heaven as a place where everything is solid and thus painful to the ghosts. A blade of grass penetrates the feet. An apple is as heavy as a bowling ball. Water is solid even as it flows down river. The metaphors point to wholeness and disintegration. Those in heaven are whole, solid, selfless human beings conformed to the likeness of King Jesus. Those in hell are miserable, disintegrated souls, ghosts who have only lived for themselves, and in living for themselves, have lived for small things, shriveling up in the process.

Shadowy Ghosts

Trevin Wax once wrote that we live in a "world designed for ghosts..." A world where we are becoming less solid and more "selfishly shadowy." Wax writes;

"We live in an era tailor-made for superficiality, for ghost-like transparency. Day after day, we scroll through endless updates, follow all the latest political controversies on social media, jump to games on our smartphones, chuckle at sitcoms or the latest TikTok video—never aware that as time goes on, our souls are shrinking... The currents of culture will tug at us until slowly, almost imperceptibly, we lose the capacity to stand in awe of God, to feel the weight of glory, and to encounter profound and eternal truths. Everything is pushing us toward superficiality, toward the banalities of entertainment or the rush of breaking news. There's no cultural push toward wisdom and reflection, toward those activities and practices that would make us more substantial, more solid."

I meet too many young men who are nothing more than ghosts. Men who have never felt the weight of glory. Chestless men. Men who have never lived for anything beyond themselves.

Aimless and purposeless, these men have no idea where they are going. Some are guessing, groping for answers in the dark. Others listen to the loudest [often most profane] voices in culture. Most, though, have simply resigned—buried at 75, but they die at 26. Their soul has become hard and shriveled because nothing they touch is real.

AI is counterfeit wisdom.

Pornography is counterfeit intimacy.

Drugs and alcohol are counterfeit happiness.

Junk and processed foods are counterfeit nutrition.

Social media breeds counterfeit connections.

Online consumption is counterfeit reward and satisfaction.

And the Church is not immune. Men today are looking for a faith that works, something substantive, something beautiful. Yet, often, they find the opposite: something lacking congruency with little pension for 'adventure.' The opening sentence of The Thrill of Orthodoxy rings true: "The church faces her biggest challenge not when new errors start to win but when old truths no longer wow."

Living in a superficial world that no longer 'wows' takes a toll on a man’s soul. Trying to evade the emptiness, men clamor for attention and likes. Yet, at the end of the day, what does it matter how many clicks, downloads, and followers you have if you're just a ghost being followed by other ghosts?

Men of Substance

I want to be a man of substance. A solid man, perhaps solid enough that others can stand on my shoulders. This is not easy. Pursuing solidness and substance means you are constantly swimming against the tide and always going against the grain. Wax again,

"We face headwinds in structuring our lives and conversations toward solidness. What's more, ghosts are perplexed by solid people, unable to understand or articulate what makes them tick or how selfless habits could bring happiness. They recoil at this strange way of life, preferring the trinkets of triviality to heavy gold inherited by the solid people."

At best, solid people are perplexing. At worst, they are bothersome, chaffing those who prefer superficiality and have no sense of wonder and devotion. No doubt solid people are strange, and yet, that is okay. They should be. After all, they are strangers, foreigners living in a foreign land [1 Peter 2]. Solid people are strange people.

So, how does one become solid? More on that to come.