Anyway, our second service was also well attended, by our Vineyard friends and the community. While I think we may have had fewer visitors, we had several people return for our community meal, and a couple of new them stayed to worship with us that had not stayed before. All together we had about 36 people in service, and 16 children (four of which were visitors, that is not a bad ratio). We served a good meal of beef stew and had beautiful worship and a good message by our Senior Pastor Rick Evans.

At our home group meeting this week we discussed these first two services and came to a very satisfying consensus that these services “felt like church.” In other words, they had the same feeling or rightness and belonging that we normally get when we go to our other two campuses, just in a different building. This is a very good thing because it means we are getting it right, and we are establishing our community in fellowship with ourselves and with Christ.

In closing I would love to here other people’s stories of starting a church and what they experienced with that. Did you have problems? Did it go well? Did it start well and then hit a lull or a valley? Share your feedback please!

One minor problem we did have was with the soundboard. We were using an older, borrowed model that we realized is starting to die. Some of the channels on the board were not functioning the entire time. This is not something hugely noticeable to those in attendance, however over time it would get to be a problem. Our sound man said he would price boards to see what he could come up with, and then would put a proposal before our Senior Pastor to see if the purchase was feasible. I am praying that we find a good price on just the piece of equipment that we need, and that it is available in the area.

It is amazing the amount of work that goes into starting a new campus, what with all the decisions, equipment set up, cleaning, and other things that go on. However when you put a team of people to the work, who are dedicated to the Lord, the work just flies by and gets done, with happiness and joy. I want more people to know Jesus, so they can experience this kind of joy of working together as brothers and sisters for His cause.

I cannot wait to see what the Lord brings to us tomorrow night!

Allow me to back up a bit. In 2010 my family had been attending a small, non-denominational church startup for several years. As some of the people began to leave for other churches the money began to dry up, and the church decided to fold. Since my wife and I had been attending the small groups of another church for several years, we decided to make our new church home The Vineyard Cleveland.

Shortly after we got there in January of 2011, Pastor Rick announced that the church was planning on expanding again. The main church had already spawned one satellite campus in another suburb, and now the idea was to start a third campus, this time inside Cleveland itself. Pastor Rick said the church would be somewhere on the near West Side, and he asked people to pray about possibly being a part of this new campus.

Immediately I knew this was what God wanted me to do. Not only was my wife in immediate agreement with me on this, but this was the part of the city I lived most of my life in, and where my heart has always been. This is a neighborhood of strong, working class people who have fallen on very hard times. Where the auto and steel industries once provided good jobs for thousands in this area, most of those jobs were gone. The infrastructure of local businesses is gone. For many, the hope is gone.

So we started on a journey to find a location and raise money for the new campus. In the summer we held a bike-a-thon, with a goal of raising $10,000 for the new campus. We met that goal with joyous praise for the Lord’s provision. Now, we have found a location, at the site of the old Puritas Lutheran Church, where we will be serving a free meal at 5:15, and holding service at 6. We are very excited to be starting this Saturday.

If you had asked me back in 2010, if I would be on a team of church planters today, I probably would have said no way, that it is impossible. However with God all things are possible, and I rejoice in this opportunity to serve Him, by helping to feed His people physically, and spiritually.

2012 is going to be a great year.

These are the kinds of things the world values. So why am I not surprised to hear this woman would take her own life? I do not know her, I do not know if there were any signs leading up to the event. The article mentions she was suffering from depression but not everyone who does kills themselves. The reason why I am not surprised is because nowhere in this article does it say anything about what she knows about God. (I started to write the word “believes” in the last sentence but “knows” is more accurate).

Now the reporter may not have known anything about her religion or might not have thought it was relevant, however I believe this information is important to understand the question of why she would commit suicide. If a good job, leadership, and looks are the things this woman valued, it creates real problems when considering failure, which we all experience.

Let me make this really clear. This woman may have been very nice, might have done great things for people by raising money for charity. However she was also a sinner. She sinned daily and sinned much against God and His laws. Just like everyone else. Just like me. Had she known the forgiveness of sin offered to everyone, which includes her, for these sins she would know why she is not happy (sin), why she is not fulfilled (sin), why she feels that nothing is good enough (sin). However at the same time she would know that God loves her, and was awaiting her with open arms to forgive her sins and welcome her into His kingdom through repentance and faith.

I think a good follow up or continuation of this article would be an investigation of whether or not she really had anything to look forward to (eternal life with Christ), and what all of us can do to protect ourselves and our families and friends from this horrible fate: to believe the Good News that Jesus died for even a wretched sinner such as me.

What does anyone else think? Do you think I am wrong? Am I being crass? What do you think?

Now in the interest of trying to keep this blog clean I am not going to explain the details of female circumcision. If you found this blog you can look up this practice on Wikipedia. My point here is two fold. First, docors are not supposed to do harm to their patients. This is a pretty simple concept.

the second thing to me is even more important. In the United States it is ILLEGAL TO MAIM A CHILD! A doctor should not be allowed to cut into a child just to prevent their parents from getting it done someplace else. It is a crime: assault with intent to maim, child endangerment, and probably a number of other crimes.

Men, I looked at the AAP website for the best contact, but I am not sure which is best. So I encourage you to talk to your child’s pediatrician, ask him or her to oppose this idea, and ask them to contact those in the organization with their opposition, and ask them if they know who best for you to contact to express what I hope is your disgust that this idea would even be considered. Amen.

Last Sunday at the Superbowl one of the biggest controversies was not a call by an official (I thought the refereeing was fine), but an ad by Focus on the Family. The ad, which featured University of Florida Quarterback and Heissman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and his Mom, was billed as a pro-life ad. This drew a lot of fiery protests from pro-death groups such as NOW and Planned Parenthood. CBS has never featured controversial ads dealing with politics or social issues, so this ad gained a lot of press during the week leading up to the big game.
But was the hype, and the $2.5 Million worth it? The ad was extremely vague, not using words like “life” or “abortion.” Tim’s Mom merely said that there were complications and Tim was a “miracle baby.” At the end of the ad was a link to the FotF site to get their full story. After watching this ad I was personally left asking whether or not this was really a pro-life ad, as nothing was explicitly said.
So I am writing this article to ask several questions. Do you think this was a pro-life ad? Was it worth it to spend the money? Should their have been a stronger, more definitive pro-life message or did Focus on the Family do a good job by putting out a commercial and letting the media sell the ad for them (the amount of discussion leading up to the Superbowl was huge). Do you have any other thoughts about this ad? Write your thoughts in the comments and I will discuss them with you.

The article, written by Roxana Hegeman of the Associate Press, does correctly summarize the facts of the days court proceedings, wherein Roeder was found guilty and could serve 25 years to life. This is fine. Hegemanalso says that fringe groups support Roeder and might want to commit more violence. While there was only one source to back up her statement this may also be true.

The problem is that the article seems to paint all pro-lifers as being extreme and wanting to see abortionists dead, and that pro-life activists want more protection to commit these crimes. This is patently untrue. Every major activist group and ministry affiliated with the right to life such as Operation Rescue, Focus on the Family, and Personhood USA condemned this act of violence, as it is the opposite of the right to life movement. The general consensus of the right to life movement is that while Dr. Tiller committed thousands of atrocities against humanity by daily killing the unborn, and that he deserved to be tried in a court of law, he himself had a right to life that Scott Roeder violated.

Perhaps the worst part of this article is when the author quotes Randall Terr,y as the founder of Operation Rescue, promising there will be more bloodshed. What she fails to tell you is that Randall Terry has not been affiliated with the organization for 17 years. In addition, as stated previously, Operation Rescue denounced this and all other violence against abortionists and staffers.

Hegeman and the Associated Press dropped the ball on this article. Either that, or they are purposefully trying to skew this issue, knowing that a majority of Americans say that abortion is morally wrong.

First, lets look at the officer titles. There are many positions in a lodge, and many of the titles seem quite obscure.

Tyler-Stands outside the lodge room during meetings to make sure non-members do not come in, and that members coming late enter when it is appropriate.

The two Stewards (Senior and Junior) are primarily responsible for providing for refreshments at meetings or dinners at special events. In Ohio these positions are appointed by the Master of the lodge.

The Deacons are responsible for many things mostly related to communication (that sounds vague!). While the Junior Deacon stays at the inner door and communicates with the Tyler, the Senior Deacon conducts the candidates during the degrees and traditionally delivers the lecture for each degree.

Secretary and Treasurer are responsible for taking care of the administrative necessities of the lodge. The Secretary keeps the minutes of the meeting, handles correspondence , and the like. The Treasurer keeps the books and handles banking such as writing checks, making deposits, and investment decisions.

Now we come to the top three officers of the lodge: the two wardens and the Worshipful Master. The Wardens, who could also be called first and second vice presidents, assist the Master with conducting the meetings and with the overall leadership of the lodge. The Senior Warden specifically charged with conducting meetings in the absence of the Master. There are some other duties but these are the most important.

Finally, we come to the Worshipful Master. The master is the elected leader of his lodge, essentially the president. He is in charge of presiding over meetings (basically keeping order), setting the agenda for them, and generally planning the agenda for his term (which is usually one year).

But why Worshipful? Many people think this is a sacrilegious title, as if the Master is the object of worship. This is not the case. The earliest lodges were founded in the United Kingdom (probably Scotland) where the term worshipful is used the same way we use honorable. So the master is not being worshiped, he is simply being honored in the same way a judge, legislator, or head of state would be.

I hope this helps answer some questions about Masonry and the titles we use to identify our officers. If you have any questions please feel free to leave them in the comments or send me an email using my contact form.

First, it is very important to not e that Masonry is NOT a by invitation organization.  Masonry requires that those who wish to join must do so of there own free will. Therefore, inviting a man to join is actually not allowed.  It is permissible to invite a friend to a social event, or to tell him he would make a good Mason. But we never invite someone to join.

That being said, the first thing a man would do to begin his journey into Freemasonry would be to ask a member for a petition, which is similar to an application for a job, and typically includes name, address, occupation, birthplace and date. The petitioner then returns it to the lodge member along with the initiation fee (in my lodge this amount is $150.00 which is about average). Before the petition and fee can be turned in to the lodge Secretary it must also have the signed recommendation of two members, usually the person the petitioner got the petition from and another member who knows the petitioner.

Once the petition is turned in, it is read in open lodge during a stated meeting. The Worshipful Master then assigns a committee to investigate the candidate. Typically the committee is 3 Past Masters of the lodge but there could be variation on this. The committee should then contact the candidate to arrange a meeting, preferably at his home. The committee will ask a series of questions to try to get to know the man better, to test what kind of character the man has. The committee should also talk to the wife to make sure she understands what Masonry is and why her husband wants to join. The last thing a lodge would want is for membership to cause strain on a marriage.

After the investigation the committee goes back to the lodge and makes a recommendation at the next stated meeting. The petition is then voted on by secret ballot, using a special box.

Box used for balloting in a Masonic Lodge

To vote, you simply reach in the front and either pick up a white ball or a black cube (you cannot see them but it does not matter since they are different shapes). The voter than places the ball or cube in a hole at the other end of the box. The ball or cube lands in a little tray that can be pulled out to count the votes. The ballot must be unanimous in order for a petitioner to be elected to receive the degrees of Masonry.

Finally, once the petition has been successfully voted on, the candidate is notified that he has been elected and what meeting he needs to come to receive his Entered Apprentice degree.

That’s it! If you have any other questions about the election process, leave a comment here on this post. Also, if you are a Mason with a funny or interesting story about your election, please leave it here for others to enjoy!