Sterling Griggs

I had a wonderful time with my students and adult volunteers in Huntington, WV, at World Changers this past week. I went to my very first World Changers in Memphis back in 1993 and over the years I've participated in at least 10 projects. If you don't know what World Changers is all about, I'll do my best to briefly fill you in. World Changers is a branch of the North American Mission Board (NAMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). It is a series of weekly mission opportunities (usually during the summer) where students and adult volunteers convene in cities both nationally and globally to do mission work. There are construction projects that I take my students on but there are also projects geared toward reaching the community via VBS-style techniques and community outreach. Youth groups come together, work crews of usually between 10-15 people are formed with students from the various youth groups, and houses are painted/roofed/sided/etc., for an entire week....

I have attended a one-of-a-kind church sevice in West Virginia this morning (no, there was no snake handling or anything like that). Instead, the preacher started the service by quoting Matthew 5:23-24 where it says we must go to those who we are odds with before we present our gifts at the altar. He went on to say that he had trouble praying this morning because of an ongoing conflict with another person. Nothing wrong with that, right? Here's what happened next. The pastor called out this man he was at odds with by name (I'm pretty sure this man wasn't in the church) and told the grievance he had against him. According to the pastor, this man didn't believe the pastor was "preaching gospel". He then asked the deacons in the church if they believed him or the other man and if they did believe that he was not "preaching gospel" then they should remove him from he pulpit right then and there. To firm up his stand, he asked those deacons who wer...

I'm on the road right now heading up to Huntington, WV, for World Changers. We're taking 69 students and adults with us to join about 300 others to do construction work on the homes of the less fortunate. Not only will I probably not be blogging (for all 3 of you who read this) much if any this week, I'll also be missing my family like crazy. So, I covet your prayers this week and if you get a chance, check up on my family this week.

If you've never carefully read Ephesians 1:3-14 , then I recommend that you make a pot of coffee and carve out some time alone to take it all in. These 12 amazing verses are literally pregnant with spiritual truth and in the original Greek they were all one long sentence (try reading it all out loud without taking a breath). A guy could preach for weeks on these verses alone. As I was reading these verses this morning I was simply struck with the depth of what the believer in Christ receives from God as a result of being "in Christ." One area that sticks out for me is the role that Jesus plays in God's will for the entire universe, that it is God's plan to bring everything together in Christ. Everything. Both on earth and in the heavens. All things brought together in Christ. This means simply that, according to God, Jesus is the center of all that is. He is the hub of the wheel, the ultimate point of reference, the only correct answer on a test with an inf...

1 Kings is a pretty cool Old Testament book. In it, you get the story of Israel from King David's last days onward. David's son, Solomon, is thought of as being perhaps the wisest king to ever reign, yet political wisdom doesn't always lead to personal wisdom. King Solomon loved women. He loved them so much that he had 700 wives and 300 concubines . Imagine trying to keep all of those women happy! Polygamy wasn't that big of a deal back in those days but this was extreme, and to make it even worse Solomon chose to intermarry with women from several different pagan nations, violating a command that God had set in order centuries earlier (Deuteronomy 7). As a result, Solomon began to worship the false gods that his wives worshiped and the kingdom began to slip through his hands. Fast forward to Solomon's son Rehoboam. He was named king after Solomon's death and he had a decision to make: Did he correct some of the evils that his father had done or did he di...

Coming home from the beach is always tough for me. In my humble opinion, there is no greater part of God's creation that the coast. Even though we were surrounded by 8 very active kids all week, being at the beach was very soothing and helped me to clear my mind for a few days. Now that I'm home, I'm missing the coast and I am already scheming on how to get back down there before summer is over. The desire to go back is strong and the memories of the week are still fresh with me. Oh how I wish that my desire for God was always that strong. Looking back on those moments of intense spiritual encounter, I can remember wishing that I would never be far from that experience. Yet our faith lies not in the experience but rather in the exercise. Reading the Bible more, attending more conferences and seminars, or investing more time in church volunteering are all good things, but they won't reconnect me (or you) back to an experience. What we must do is seek after the ve...

This week at the beach with family and friends has been great but it hasn't exactly been restful. Most of the kids are up by 6:45 each morning and they make sure that we know it. And since Kellie and I have a room on the main level, we hear the herd as they stage their assault up the stairs. Good coffee helps with that, but it would be nice if they would sleep a little longer. Our days have been packed with kids playing (sometimes nicely, sometimes not), beach time (usually too much sun), lots and lots of food (man, do I need to work out), and great fellowship with our friends who are here with us. By the end of the day, we are spent as are the kids. It's been lots of fun but not all that relaxing. So this morning, as Emme is taking her morning nap, my beautiful wife Kellie has taken our other 3 kids to the beach while I remain here at the house in the solitude. I've read some, listened to a couple of sermons on podcast, answered some emails, done a little bit of chur...

We're raising a beach bum and have no qualms about it.

I flat out love the beach. Looking out the window at the ocean right now, I honestly believe that I would never get tired of this. I'm sure that there are plenty of beach locals who would willingly share how average the beach experience is to them, but as one who only comes once or twice a year I just can't see it. In all of my years of ministry experience I have watched people, especially young people, fall in love with Jesus for the first time. The excitement in their eyes and voices, the passion in their words, the enthusiasm to "take Jesus back home with them" (as if He could fit in their suitcases) are all really cool to witness. I've been there before as well, feeling as if "Jesus and me" were going to change the world one pagan at a time. Then the bottom drops out. Suddenly, your experience with Christ becomes average at best until your next "spiritual vacation" takes place. You see other people excited about their faith and you th...

Chandler wanted to pose before going out for the night.

Life at Ocean Isle is nice. Here is Deacon on the right with his new buddy Asher.

I spent a good portion of yesterday sitting with my mom in the waiting room at Forsyth Medical Center as my dad was undergoing his heart catherization and subsequent angioplasty. There were a lot of people who came in and out of the room, some of them patients while others were family members anxiously waiting to hear positive words about their loves ones' procedures. Late in the morning an elderly gentleman was brought in seated in a wheelchair with several members of his family. I noticed he had good wits about him and was even a little bit feisty. His right sleeve was rolled up a little bit and almost as soon as the nurse had applied the break to his wheelchair and headed for the door, he called out to her to come back over to where he was. There was blood oozing from a needle stick to his right arm and he wasn't too happy about it. He began to fuss at the nurse about the mess it was making on his shirt and how he couldn't understand how the phlebotomist (fancy name...

Before I was married with kids, I used to wonder why my friends who had kids often responded to my question "How are you?" with one word: Tired. Now that I have four of my own, the word "tired" has become a part of my everyday vocabulary. Last night in the Griggs' home was especially eventful as our son Deacon was up most of the night (I do not exaggerate here). He was crying, then fussing, then fitful, with occasional brief interludes of sleep in between. As we rubbed the goo from our eyes this morning we discovered the problem: He had an ear infection that was draining through the surgically implanted tube of his right ear. At least the tube was doing its job of relieving the pressure. No wonder the little guy couldn't sleep. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as everyone was up and getting ready for their day, he laid down in the middle of the living room floor and fell fast a sleep. I find that I sometimes get tired in my walk with Christ. Life...