Important Vote

This Tuesday, July 1st, the Miami-Dade County Commission will be voting on whether to correct a zoning ordinance that is discriminatory against churches. Attend if you can. Here is the information from the Christian Coalition of South Florida.

Miami-Dade County Commission Church Zoning Ordinance Vote.
File Name: AMENDING SEC 33-124 RELATING TO ZONING

Agenda Date: 7/1/2008

Agenda Item Number: 7A

Notes:		Title:		ORDINANCE RELATING TO ZONING; AMENDING SECTION 33-124 OF THE CODE OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA TO CHANGE THE OFF STREET PARKING REQUIREMENTS FOR CHURCHES; PROVIDING SEVERABILITY, INCLUSION IN THE CODE, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE
Sponsors:				Sen. Javier D. Souto Tel.. 305-222-2116

Text of Ordinance:

Miami Dade County’s existing Code as it relates to parking space requirements for churches is discriminatory against churches and probably would be repealed by a Court of Law. The reason why the current law is discriminatory is because it treats churches differently and more restrictive than it treats similar types of uses or even more intense uses like general auditoriums, movie theaters, convention halls, private clubs, bingo halls, high schools, colleges, trade schools and even amusement parks. This Ordinance corrects this unfairness or prejudice in the current law by placing the same requirement of at least one (1) parking space for each 100 square feet of the seating area in the main auditorium (sanctuary), including adjacent areas which may be use as part of the auditorium, as opposed to one (1) parking space for each 50 square feet of the seating area as the law now reads. The law will make it easier to build churches on smaller parcels, because the size of the church parking lot will not have to be twice the size as required for auditoriums, performing arts centers and movie theaters, and four times the size requirement for high schools and colleges, and five times the size requirement for amusement centers.

Location:

Miami Dade County Commission

111 NW Stephen P. Clark Center
111 N.W. 1st Street
Miami, Florida 33128

Models for Christ

There are so many neat ways to take the gospel to the lost. One young man, Shane Nearman, founded a ministry called Models for Christ for the purpose to bringing the gospel to members of the modeling community. I preached the funeral of Shane's grandfather recently and got to visit with Shane about this ministry. Pray for Shane and his wife, Christina, as they seek to be witnesses for Christ.

Singing Lessons

Second Samuel 22, which is duplicated in Psalm 18, may be the most powerful of the Psalms because it was a "summary psalm," looking back upon all of David's victories over his life. Here is the second part of a four part series I'm doing on Sunday nights covering this chapter. (Unfortunately, part 1 did not get recorded.) Parts three and four will follow.

Fish Fry

I took Brenda and Jesse to their first baseball game tonight to see the Marlins take on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. I don't know if they learned much about baseball but they got to personally meet Billy the Marlin and boy was he a hit. Too bad the Marlins didn't get more hits. They blew an 8th inning lead and lost 6-4.

And 70% would be wrong...

A Pew Research study reported yesterday that 70% of Americans believe that there are multiple paths to heaven. This includes a majority of evangelical Christians (57%). There's no way around it...ministry is getting awfully tough on those of us who preach that Jesus is "the way, the truth and the life." The truth is, those who believe that there are multiple ways to get to heaven have thought very little about any of those ways or else the contradictions would be obvious.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Jesse sang "Happy Birthday" for me this morning. When I asked him how old I was, he immediately replied "TWO!" When I told him to try again, he thought really hard and much to my surprise said "THIRTY-FOUR!" But just when I was starting to congratulate him, he finished "JUST LIKE BRENDA" (his four year old sister)! Oh well.

Speaking of Brenda, she met "Paco" Sunday night. Paco is the chihuahua of Bettie Karsyz, a member at FBCH. After leaving, Brenda told me, "Daddy, Paco is my new best friend." "What about Daddy?" I asked her. "He's my best friend too," she answered. So there you have it. I'm on the same level as a three pound rat dog she met a few minutes prior.

Why I'm not CBF

A few years ago, a number of churches dissatisfied with the conservative direction of the Southern Baptist Convention formed a de facto denomination called the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. While some churches are dually aligned with both the SBC and the CBF, I predict this will become less and less the case. If anyone needs evidence as to why no Southern Baptist Church (or any evangelical church for that matter) should associate with the CBF, just look at their decision to allow John Killinger to hold a workshop yesterday during their general assembly in Memphis Tennessee.

In one single event, John Killinger stated that Daniel intentionally lied in his prophecies, the gospel of John should not be publicly preached, Jesus never claimed to be the Savior, he had no idea that he would be sacrificed until the crucifixion, and we should not claim that Jesus is God or that he always existed. All in a day's work!

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship can't claim ignorance about Killinger's views. In the spring of 1995-1996, I was a student of Killinger's at Samford University. I personally heard him say in a Theological Perspectives of Modern Literature class that Jesus would have never said "I am the way, the truth and the life," insisting that John 14:6 got it wrong. He argued that Jesus was not the only way, but the best way. He also wrote in a book on the beatitudes that Jesus is merely "superior" to other religions. In his book Jesse, he wrote the fictional story of what Jesus would have been like in the late twentieth century. Let's just say that Killinger's "Jesus" said some naughty things about Baptists that I won't repeat on this blog. (As a side note, I had to do a book review of Jesse for the aforementioned class at Samford. Yes...I reviewed the book while the author of that book, Dr. Killinger, was the professor who was grading my review! I can proudly say I told the truth about this lousy book and Dr. Killinger gave me an "A", probably for fear of appearing biased if he didn't!)

When I chose to attend Samford, I was an ignorant seventeen year old who didn't know that heretical theology would be taught. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, on the other hand, knew good and well what they were getting when they invited him to speak. And that's why not a single red penny of any church I pastor will ever go to the CBF.

IMB Report

One of the best parts of the anual SBC meeting is the International Mission Board report. Here is the link to watch it online.

Where "Safe Sex" Falls Short

There are seventeen pregnant teenagers at a high school in Massachusetts and it turns out that nearly half of the girls made a pact to get pregnant. To read the Boston Globe story, click here. One public health director is quoted as saying that girls in this high school take pregnancy tests and are disappointed to discover that they are not pregnant. This only proves that when God's standards on sex and family are abandoned, no amount of condoms or sexual indoctrination will make up for it.

Tenth Anniversary!

Ten years and it seems like yesterday! We celebrated with a quick getaway to Fort Lauderdale. This picture was taken at Casablanca Cafe. And yes, they sang "As Time Goes By."

A Heart for Missions

Baptist Press put out an article about a banquet I attended in Indianapolis last week. Our church was recognized by the International Mission Board for leading our association of 300 plus churches in Lottie Moon giving per member. This is our second year in a row to receive this honor. We aren't competing with other churches when we give to missions, but it does reflect how big a heart for missions FBCH has. Hey guys, we can't back off now! Let's increase our goal again this year.

Let It Go

Many Miami-Dade Christians are upset because this past year, Christian radio station FM 89.7 WMCU was sold to America Public Media Group for 20 million dollars. They, in turn, made it a classical radio station. I have personally received numerous pleas from local residents that I join a campaign to "save" WMCU by writing to the FCC to block this transaction. One person who visited (but never joined) my church left when I refused to make the "Save WMCU" campaign a major Sunday morning issue behind the pulpit. (Good riddens, right?) Today is the cherry on top of the cake. The Christian Family Coalition is actually trying to rally Christians to persuade the Attorney General to prosecute Trinity International University, the former owner of WMCU, for selling their own station! Now that the transaction is complete, they argue, we should punish TIU for daring to think that there might be better things to do with 20 million dollars than run an FM Christian radio station. Here is the letter I received from CFC. (My reply follows.)

Trinity International Foundation (TIF) a subsidiary of Trinity International University (TIU) sold radio station WMCU/WKCP 89.7 FM for 20 million dollars to American Public Media Group (APMG). The FCC license has been transferred and the money has been paid to the college.

The Christian programming has been replaced with classical.

Many have sent email, Fax and letters complaining to the parent organizations of the former radio station which are Trinity International University (TIU) and The Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA), but Trinity simply does not care about Christian Radio in South Florida. They made it plain and simple - They wanted the money not the radio ministry.

We are now asking those opposed to the sale of WMCU/WKCP to contact Bill McCollum, Attorney General of Florida. He has the authority to investigate and bring civil and criminal charges against TIF, TIU and APMG. Maybe if criminal charges are brought against the board of directors of these two parties the station can be returned to Christian programming.

This is urgent. Please email, call and Fax the Attorney General of Florida, Bill McCollum.

Here is the reply I sent...

You have got to be kidding. TIU has every right to decide if $20 million dollars could further God’s kingdom in greater ways than a local radio station. They made what appears to be a wise, Godly decision. The truth is, FM radio is going the way of the black and white TV. Soon, we’ll all be listening to satellite radio and you’ll be amazed that TIU was able to “steal” 20 million dollars in exchange for a sinking ship. It would be incredibly bad stewardship for them to turn down that kind of money for something that is only going to be useful for a few short years. You need to get with the program, get satellite radio and you’ll have all the Christian radio you want, only better because there are many Christian stations to choose from and no commercials. Please give up this silly endeavor. It is embarrassing for Christians to act so irrationally.

Sorry if I'm coming across as harsh, but it's partly because I know I'll get a dozen emails from folks who got their email who think it's a great idea to write the Attorney General of Florida in hopes of a lawsuit. Please, if you get this request, don't waste your time writing such letters and please don't forward it to other Christians.