by Josh Monda | Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
It has been along time since I have posted primarily because I have been so busy. I know that is hard to believe that I have been busy without a job but I sure I have been. Rather than update about Mike Erre’s book (I will do that later) I thought I would just give some things that have been going on in my life.
I’ll start with the crusade we recently had. I meet with one of our Pastors pretty regularly and I really enjoy the time I get to spend with him. Leading up to the crusade he asked me if I would like to help with train the counselors I of course jumped at the opportunity because this is the very thing I love to do. So I spent a few nights getting things ready and going over the training and then we trained the counselors for two evenings, to be ready for the response we were expecting during the crusade. The Impact Macon Crusade was February 22-25 and I was there every night. We saw God move in a remarkable way during that week we saw over 100 decisions for Christ and over 90 0n one night. I must say I was not ready for over 90 people to respond to the gospel that night but it was wonderful. Hey they were all counseled to.
Secondly I was asked if I could teach a book of the Bible to the youth what book would it be. I replied I would go through the book of James and the response was “why don’t you teach it” of course I jumped at that any time I get a chance to teach some teens I am going to do it. So on Sunday nights I am taking our Student Overflow through James. I pray and hope they are enjoying it. I have already taught through James so I already have the messages done, but if you know me you know I spend a great deal of time with message prep even if I have already done it before and making sure I am saying what the Lord wants me to say.
Thirdly the first week in March I started taking over the Wednesday evening teaching to the Youth. This has been going great once again I love teaching the teens. On Wednesdays I typically play a game with them and then we go over prayer requests and then I teach. I desire to see both these ministries grow tremendously and I have seen God definitely working on the hearts of some of the teens that come.
Fourthly I received a call from the principal here at Atlanta school and was asked if I could come in and teach Science while the current teacher is away on maternity leave. I accepted the position. Which if you are a teacher you know the work that gos into lessons and so forth. So for the next few weeks I am now a Science teacher. I must say that teaching in the public school is a lot different then teaching in Christian School, or teaching at church, however the kids seem to like me as a teacher and some even thanked me for teaching.
Finally all of this has been happening while still sending out resumes (required for state aid) and while going through an interview process with a church that is interested me. So yeah I have been busy but hey I like being busy. Please pray I will be directed to the church God wants me at and that I will know it and so will the church.
by Josh Monda | Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
Mar 16
Posted by Josh
I am sure you have probably heard of Christopher Hitchens but have you heard of his brother Peter Hitchens. Peter Hitchens has a book coming out on May 1st entitled The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith you can pre-order the book by clicking the Title. I found this video on youtube giving a preview check it out.
Life, My Thoughts, Spiritual Application
Mar 10
Posted by Josh
I have been giving some thought to wisdom lately. God’s word tells us that the wisdom of man is foolishness. I have often wondered if I have used my own wisdom (I use that term loosely) in making decisions or how often we have relied on our own wisdom instead of God’s.
Today I read this verse in 2 Corinthians 1:12
For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.
You know we have to be so careful that when we make decision that we are not acting out of fleshly wisdom. Fleshly wisdom really flies in the face of God. Think about it we are told to love our enemies is that what fleshly wisdom says to do? Or we are told to turn the other cheek however fleshly wisdom says get even. God has continued to remind me of His grave over these past weeks.
You see sometimes I want to get angry or upset about something. There are times that I want to be frustrated but I realize what is the point. When I fail to forgive I am reminded of how much I have been forgiven. You see god is calling us to look at others as he sees them. He sees the heart and so often we fail to look inward and focus on the outward. You see it does not make any sense to forgive someone that has wronged, or has talked bad about us, or even done things to harm us. Fleshly wisdom says do not forgive but when I decide to act according to how God would have me respond I remember I have been forgiven much. Because I have been forgiven mush I must forgive much.
Life, My Thoughts, Spiritual Application
by Josh Monda | Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
Sep 29
Free Porn Book Porn-Again Christian
Posted by Josh
I was recently doing some online surfing and came across this free ebook on Mark Drsicoll’s site. Â This book deals with men and porn and is title Porn-Again Christian. Â All of the book is not there yet but it will be soon. Â Simply click on the link below and bookmark the site they also have an RSS feed. Â Warning this book will be very frank.
…some years ago I sat down and in one day wrote a small booklet about male sexuality that we published in-house. Since then we have gone through thousands of copies and literally cannot keep it in stock. I asked some Christian publishers if they wanted it, and they said it was too hot to handle and so they declined.So, I decided to just put it online and give it away for free. The book has had a small amount of editing and rewriting since its original version. We’ll give it away at the Resurgencea bit at a time in conjunction with the Song of Songs series I am preaching titled “The Peasant Princess.” Once the entire book has been put online, it will then be posted as a file that guys around the world can download and read on their computer, forward to their friends, or print copies of to hand out as they like.
I hope this thing goes nuts and hundreds of thousands of guys read it.
In closing, I want to say two things. One, a lot of folks will not like the content or tone of this book and I love them and wish them well. You get what you pay for and this is free. Two, a lot of young guys (and some older guys too) tell me they have been helped by this content and if God uses it to help some guys I would be overjoyed with that. So, let the critics fire away and I’ll gladly take the shots for the guys who are walking wounded in an effort to help them get their shield up and sword sharpened.
Until we see Jesus,
Pastor Mark Driscoll
Porn Again Christian e-Book
Life, My Thoughts, Spiritual Application
Sep 23
I vote for Life
Posted by Josh
This is something I recently read concerning Obama.
David Freddoso:
When Barack Obama spoke on the Illinois Senate floor in 2001 against Illinois’ born-alive protection bill, did not say that a pre-viable baby is not a “person.” He argued, rather, that even though the state should perhaps provide care for these babies, any recognition of their personhood would create unacceptable consequences. Again, his words, at length, so there’s no uncertainty about context:
There was some suggestion that we might be able to craft something that might meet constitutional muster with respect to caring for fetuses or children who were deliever in this fashion. Unfortunately, this bill goes a little bit further, and so I just want to suggest, not that I think it’ll make too much difference with respect to how we vote, that this is probably not going to survive constitutional scrutiny. Number one, whenever we define a previable fetus as a person that is protected by the equal protection clause or the other elements in the Constitution, what we’re really saying is, infact, that they are persons that are entitled to the kinds of protections that would be provided to a – a child, a nine-month-old – child that was delievered to term. That determination then, essentially, if it was accepted by a court, would forbid abortions to take place. (Taken from the transcript of the Illinois 92nd Assembly, Mar. 30, 2001.)
Wow. Did you catch that? Since Roe vs. Wade is threatened, then we are allowed to commit murder? You would think it would be the other way around, right? We should not be allowed to kill babies that are born alive from survived abortions and if Roe vs. Wade is threatened, then so be it. Does that logic not follow? But Obama’s stance is as follows: If we have to sacrifice some born alive infants to make sure “women have the right to choose” then that’s what we’ll have to do. How backwards is that?
Read this again: “Number one, whenever we define a previable fetus as a person that is protected by the equal protection clause or the other elements in the Constitution, what we’re really saying is, infact, that they are persons that are entitled to the kinds of protections that would be provided to a – a child, a nine-month-old – child that was delievered to term…”Â
You would think that if you read this paragraph in isolation that what would come next is, “so we need to do exactly that. Protect these persons.” But sadly, it’s not. For Obama, our personhood is not defined by anything specific other than the need to uphold Roe vs. Wade. I think the basis of our personhood should be rooted in ground that is much more solid than the pragmatic need to see the Democratic ticket upheld. Would you not agree? Does this not follow for you Obama voter?
Friends, this man has morally disqualified himself on this issue alone. Don’t drink the Obamalaide.
Life, My Thoughts, Spiritual Application
Sep 19
How do You Change a Church?
Posted by Josh
I snagged this post from over at church relevance I enjoyed it and wanted to put it up here on my site.
Scott Hodge of The Orchard (Aurora, IL) opened up day 2 of MinistryCOM with a keynote on change. Scott is not only the lead pastor but the communications director as well. Here are some “tweaked” highlights from his talk:
How do you change a church that has been doing things the same way for too long?
The biggest challenge is changing the way that people think about church. People want to reach people for God, but they like to reach them on their terms.
God can birth a new culture for your church.
A communication director’s job is not to decide or dictate the vision of the church. A communication director’s job to to translate and clrify the vision so that people can get it.
Sometimes whole visions live or die on the basis of the words the leader chooses for articulating the vision.
-Bill Hybels ::Â Axiom
When you have a clear and compelling mission, you have the opportunity to create alignment.
Vision is not sticky. you have to recast it and recast it and recast it.
-Andy Stanley
Ask Yourself Three Questions
- Who is God calling us to reach?
Who has God positioned us or uniquely equipped us with the ability to reach effectively?
- What is it going to take to reach them?
What is it that we need to stop doing in order to effectively reach the people that we are called to reach? Sometimes your clearest vision starts simply by knowing what you do not want to be and stopping those things that feed it. What do we need to start doing?
- Are we willing to pay the price?
When you start trying to reach the people God has called you to reach, some people will not like it. You will lose something (reputation, appeal, etc).
You have the opportunity to create culture. That culture is created by everything, including what you choose to celebrate as well as who and what you allow to have influence in your church.
Communicate the why behind the what. Do not just tell people what is happening. Explain why you are doing it.
Life, My Thoughts, Spiritual Application
Sep 17
What are we waiting for?
Posted by Josh
In my reading of “Confessions of a reformission rev.” I came across this.
I am still not sure if most pastors are aware that their churches are comprised of people they don’t yet know. Â Those people will never come to the churches so the Pastor must go to them.
This is definitely not the norm.  Rarely do we see pastors taking this to heart.  This is once again a difference between a missional church and other churches.  The missional church believes in the fact and clearly teaches that everyone is a missionary what more the missional church teaches how every member can be a missionary.  To often the pastor pawns it off on the people and the people pawn it off on the the Pastor.  However the Pastor and the people must work in concert with one another.  Both must be out meeting knew people.  People are not just going to show up at our churches anymore we have to go get them.
Here is a second quote I found
It was at this time that I realized that our church would never have a sign out front that said “everyone welcome,” because I did not want everyone.
Now perhaps we would say that Driscoll is wrong for this. Â But is he really? Â How many churches have this idea that everyone is welcome and sure they say that but in reality they do not mean it. Â In fact certain people show up and they quickly realize they are not welcome. Â What about the person that comes in and causes division in the church are they welcome? Â We can think of many circumstance where people may not be welcome cant we? Â Something to chew on.
Life, My Thoughts, Spiritual Application
Sep 16
I Shouldn’t be Alive
Posted by Josh
Last-night on “Hannity and Colmes” Gianna Jessen shared some of her story.  If Obama was president at her birth she would be dead.  She handles herself well.  Check out the video.  This issue is going to heat up in this election especially with the fact that Sarah Palin’s baby Trig being born with Down Syndrome.  It is estimated that between 80 and 90 percent of all pregnancies diagnosed with Down Syndrome are murdered.  Watch the video below.
Life, My Thoughts, Spiritual Application
keep looking »
by Josh Monda | Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
It has been a week since I have had a post so I thought I would get in gear. I have been watching some basketball games of the local High School here. The girls team is ranked numbers in the state for 3a ball and they are undefeated they have a good club I hope they do well. Well anyways I am not going write about basketball but continue my series from the book Why Guys Need God by Mike Erre. Today I want to share a couple of quotes from chapter 10 and talk about them a little bit.
When we come out of hiding in front of each other, relationship will take hard work and lots of grace. The church gets lots of criticism because of its imperfections.
So many times we hide who we really are. Sometimes it is like we have to put on some sort of facade so people do not see the real us. I am not sure what drives this perhaps it is fear of people seeing the real us or fear that we are not good enough. Rarely do we tell people our real struggles or the things that are keeping us from being all we want to be in Christ or all we can be in Christ. The truth is if we really do be ourselves then in fact it will take alot of hard work and lots of grace. Grace to forgive others even when we really do not want to and grace to ask for forgiveness even when we do not want to. But if we continue to pretend to be someone we are not then the church is just a place where we go to be fake. The church definitley is not perfect and we are indeed a bunch of reformed sinners going thorug the process of sanctification yet many times we act like we have already been fully sanctified and that we have no problems whatsoever.
I often wonder what would church be like if people were real. What if a man walked into Sunday school and said I am struggling with pornography and I need help, or what if a woman walked in and said I struggle with gossiping I need help, or how about I have bitterness in my heart I need help. The church is supposed to be a community loving each other and holding each other accountable but I am afraid we have become a community where everything is based on only what we want people to perceive us to be and not who we really are. We don’t want people to know our secret sins what will is take for us to stop being superficial and just be honest. It is so hard. Here us the second quote.
Most churches teach men how to pretend behind religious fig leaves. We learn to act in the right religious ways, look the right religious ways, sing the right religious ways, and so on. We usually are not encouraged to actually share how things really are. So even though we need to connect with other guys at a really deep level, the church actually often hinders this process.
Prayer isn’t a place to be good; it is a place to be honest.
I already spoke about this above. I do not think this is a problem for just men either. I think often we go to church to pretend. Pretend to be someone we are not and we rarely go just to be honest and admit our struggles.
by Josh Monda | Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
Jul 22
Posted by Josh
It has been a long time since I have posted. The primary reason for this has been related to my lack of funds. You see my hosting renewal came up and I did not have the money to renew my hosting. I pulled the trigger a few hours ago and purchased my hosting.
Not much new here in northwest Missouri. The job hunt still continues. I have updated my resume I can’t tell you how many times but I know the best way for your resume to be noticed is for someone else to deliver it. However I still keep plugging away. Some people have asked if I want to be a youth pastor or a senior pastor and right now I am kind of in the either one camp. I have 15 years of experience as a youth pastor and that is something I enjoy doing. So in the right circumstance I would take a youth pastor postion. However most of the churches I have submitted to have been senior pastor postions. All of this to say the search continues. It has been 2 years since I have ministered in a full time capacity and trust me I am ready. But it is God’s timing so i will continue to wait upon the Lord.
Life, My Thoughts
