It's okay to have your kids next to you in the church service whenever you want.
It's okay if they make noise during the sermons. If there is a loud kid for a brief time, the pastor should just get louder. Don't be a wuss, pastors.
It's okay to take them out momentarily... A🧵 ...if they need it and then come back in. We can be filled with conviction AND consideration. We don't have to choose. You aren't disrupting anyone by getting up & sitting back down. It is a faith family worship service not a presidential address.
It's okay if those around you...

A 🧵: If I finish the book I’ve started, it’ll hopefully be encouraging to twenty-somethings out there, some married, some not, some w/children, some without, to FIND a biblically-faithful, conviction-filled, often plain looking, multigenerational church, where they are noticed… …one prioritizing Christ-centeredness > consumer-centeredness, to find a church where marriages are celebrating 60th anniversaries, rather than basing their search strictly on the glamour of sense-striking Insta reels. At a time where many church plants create their bases…

Today at church (A 🧵I saw the baptism of a 7-year-old girl surrounded by her entire family. One of her good friends even brought her a bouquet of flowers.

Today at church I saw the baptism of a 20 y.o. male surrounded by loved ones. Even his boss’ family showed up in support… Today at church I congratulated a young married man who denied a position with higher pay due to their affiliation with Planned Parenthood.

Today at church I saw a baby girl watch her father sing “Is He Worthy?” onstage, and even attempt to sing along!

I’m a lead pastor in a local church, part of the SBC. I can’t tell you how many times I’m asked “Why don’t you do an altar call?” I always answer, “We do. After each service, I ask them to believe, repent, follow, today’s the day of salvation.” But that’s not what they mean. A 🧵 People who were born and raised as Southern Baptists want to know why I’m not spending 10-15 mins at the end of each message asking folks to bow heads, close eyes, repeat a prayer, raise their hands, snap if I see them do it, and if so, ask them to walk to the front of the stage.

Netflix’s Dahmer miniseries SMASHED week 1 records for “most hours viewed.” The TV show held nothing back as it depicted a serial killer known for molesting and then eating his victims. Some reminders, Christians:

1) What is permissible, is not always beneficial. 2) Congregations filled with anxiety, depression, struggle & mental health awareness, must realize what we take in has a greater effect on our psyche than we will ever fully comprehend. Tread carefully and don’t be afraid of missing out.

"Help, I am tempted by pornography."
If you're struggling with this or you've been approached by someone who is searching for help: here is a scripture for each day of the week, scriptures they can apply to memory, to combat their temptation & prevent addiction/seared conscience. If you are apathetic in this fight, too apathetic to provide help, there's a good chance you aren't aware just how bad it's gotten. Roughly 28,250 users are watching pornography every second.
$3,075.64 is spent on porn every second on the Internet.
88% of scenes in porn films...

The following is from my buddy, now a pastor, once a cop, some very needed perspective on the #UvaldeMassacre “While I do find the sudden outbreak of mass shootings very suspicious in our political situation I do have some observations from my time in Law Enforcement: (continued) 1) While it seems counter intuitive; the scariest time for officers to get stuck in a loop of not acting is when there are a large number of officers present. I know of incidents where officers were clearly justified in shooting someone but no one did. In my opinion… /cont.

The majority of mega churches operating like Fortune 500 companies instead of Acts 2-28 churches:

Senior Pastor (should be plurality of elders) calls a meeting to discuss why youth ministry has decreased in attendance. Youth pastor vows to do whatever he can to increase… Student Ministry sacrifices depth and doctrines for emotionally laden appeals and door prizes. Bible study becomes a midweek hookup party, teenagers graduate, families aren’t taking Deut 6 seriously (unhealthy church dependency, go family equipping ministry model instead)…

Those who mock the Lord and His Word WILL be in hell for eternity, apart from redemption in Christ. Knowing that, we shouldn’t follow nor support those who do. Great example of this (and the culture LOVES him) is @kvministries Kris Vallotton, pastor @BethelRedding: “And there’s… …a man standing there. Like, I can see with my eyes. Like a really big guy. I’m laying on my back so I don’t know how tall he is- close to seven foot probably. And he’s got wrestling tights on. He’s got no shirt on. He got no shirt on and he’s built like Arnold Schwarzenegger…