Last week, I saw the following slogan on a church sign: “The Spirit don’t follow He leads” – I wish I had been ready with a camera!  My first reaction was to laugh at the grammar.  My second reaction was to think to myself that a public testimony like a church sign really ought to have correct grammar.

Although it might make for some funny mass-forwarded from your uncle email content, I’d recommend that if you ever put together a church sign, you ought to check your spelling and grammar!

Picture courtesy of churchsigngenerator.com

Picture created after the fact at churchsigngenerator.com.

A couple days ago, I watched online a sermon preached at a large contemporary church not too far from where I live.  The pastor is in a series of topical messages answering questions from the church and this message was about alcohol.  Definitely a controversial issue!

Unfortunately, the pastor did not do right (toward the Lord or toward the people).  Rather than giving a practical, Scripturally-informed “theology” of alcoholic beverages, he created a straw man out of weak arguments for the position opposite his and poked holes in it.  I was disappointed.

One meaningless “argument” he made was as follows (and noting it is practical for other issues beside this one):  In arguing (wrongly, in my estimation) that Bible wine is just like wine today, he responded to the historical and archaeological research about the dilution of wine in the ancient near east with an utterly illogical comment.  He claimed that such a position is based on information not in the Bible (true) and therefore, those who incorporate that information into their position on alcoholic beverages are “adding to the Word of God” (he quotes the curse of Rev. 22.18) and are like the Pharisees (his choice of labels).

Besides the obvious non sequiters between his labels and the actual biblical contexts, his choice of those condemning terms is inconsistent.  Is it true (as this pastor claimed) that anyone who allows (or seeks) extra-biblical historical information as he interprets Scripture is cursed and Pharisaical?  No.  I saw the congregation in the crowd and not a single one of those ladies was applying I Cor. 11.3-16 by “just taking what the Bible says without ‘adding’ to it.”  In fact, during another part of the sermon, he characterized Christians who have a stricter application than he has as “men wearing suits all the time, our women with doilies on their heads, churning our own butter, reading the King James Version and praying for the Lord to come back because we’re all so miserable!”  It is sad to see this pastor backing himself into a corner of blatant inconsistency – all for the sake of providing a “message” that people are comfortable hearing.

The Bible is sufficient.  It meets spiritual needs fully without addition or change.  Praise God for that!  But understanding historical background (even information that’s not printed on the pages of Scripture) is very helpful for weeding out potential wrong interpretations of difficult passages.  It is a shame to hear such silly “logic” being used to protect a wrong interpretation from extra-biblical correction.

May God grant all his servants the diligence to study his message thoroughly, the illumination to understand it accurately and the humility to preach it unashamedly!

A week ago, I spoke at Mission Prayer Band about camp ministry – focusing on how to pray for those who serve at Christian camps.  In preparation for this, I put together a pamphlet of specific requests from several Christian camps I’m familiar with.  I’ll put the text below; you can download & print the pamphlet here, if you’d like.

AMAZING GRACE BAPTIST CAMP
Ottawa, KS            Aaron Burton, Director
www.agbcamp.org        agbcamp@agbcamp.org

1. Please pray for our staff (there are about 35 of us total, including both operational and counselors), that the Lord will glorify Himself through us and that His strength will be perfected in our weakness. Please pray for spiritual wisdom and sensitivity. Pray that our motivations will be completely to glorify God and not seeking our own pleasure.
2. Please pray for our campers (we typically have between 40-80 each week), that the Lord will work in each heart and that their hearts will be tender to God’s Word and that they will not just have a good time here at camp, but that they will grow to know and love Christ better. Please pray for spiritual and physical safety.

CAMP JOY
Whitewater, WI        Scott Hatchett, Director
www.campjoy.org        staff@campjoy.org

1. Construction work is in progress on the hillside cabins, which are in need of siding.
2. There has been much bad weather that could hinder a relaxing week for the attendees here at camp, so pray that the Lord would provide good weather.
3. Pray that the Lord would prevent any injuries during this week and summer.
4. We have room for more campers for the following camps: Junior Camps, Teen Camps, and Wilderness Camp.
5. Pray that the Lord would strengthen our staff – some have had health problems.
6. Pray for our staff to be a spiritual strength through their testimonies to others.

NORTHLAND CAMP
Dunbar, WI            Steve Pettit, Director
www.northlandcamp.org     office@northlandcamp.org
For our Speakers

• They prepare and preach the word, for clarity of speech and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
• Also, our speakers obviously have many other duties, so special prayer for them as they prepare and juggle all those responsibilities is greatly appreciated. Also most of them travel in Evangelism, so carry that burden of preparation as well.

For our Staff

• Servant-mindedness
• Good Health and Rest (when possible)
• Wisdom and discernment in counseling campers

For the Campers

• Salvation Decisions
• Understanding the teaching of the passage, that in salvation, the old man has been put off and the new man has been put on.  Understanding that now, they need to ‘Renew the mind’.
• That God would work in the family campers in salvation as well as the restoration of family relationships.
• Encouragement in the Christian walk/ministry.

SOUTHLAND CHRISTIAN CAMP
Ringgold, LA            Todd Sasek, Director
www.southlandcamp.org

1. Purchase of 160 acres of land to expand camping ministry.
2. Wisdom for our young staff this summer as they minister.
3. Financial provision for our staff to go back to school.
4. We are understaffed a little this summer. Pray that we will be effective and get needed rest on the weekends.
5. Pray for our evening services that begin each night at 8:30 (central).
6. Pray for godly, qualified staff for our future summers.

THE WILDS
Brevard, NC            Ken Collier, Director
www.wilds.org        info@wilds.org

1. CampsAbroad, the missions arm of THE WILDS, takes our camping philosophy to the foreign fields.
   Ken Hay and Dan Brooks are finishing up a camp in India this week (6/21). The roads out of the camp have been shut down and there is a possibility that they will need to leave by helicopter. This is very expensive.
   Matt Collier will be going to Uganda from June 30-July 7. He will spend the first week training the staff and the second week helping the missionary and nationals run camp.
2. We have over 1,000 campers and sponsors coming each week of this summer. Please pray for the summer staff to have opportunity to minister to them individually.
3. Pray for daily safety of our staff and campers.
4. Pray for hearts to be prepared to hear the various evangelists throughout the summer and that many will come to Christ or take the next spiritual step.
5. Pray for our one week of junior camp in New England in August. We are trying to establish a camp in New Hampshire and have had years of wading through permits, etc. We are presently renting a camp for one week in the summer.

On Wednesday, the youth group of my church gave testimonies about their recent week at the church’s teen camp.  It was an exciting service!  I arrived early and read through the bulletin pages that listed several teens’ answers to questions about favorite activities, games, lessons learned, etc.  Testimony time during the service was a contagious joy – hearing the teens’ spiritual fervor from their own lips, listening as they praised God in song, watching their excitement on the camp DVD.  The focus of the week was on “perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (II Cor. 7.1).  You can see some photos from the week, read the daily newsletters and listen to the sermons on the Youth Ministries page of Mount Calvary’s website.

I recently moved to Greenville, SC, to work on my Ph.D. in New Testament Interpretation at Bob Jones Seminary.  I’ll start classes in the fall; right now, I’m beginning a new job as a Graduate Assistant working at BJU Press.  It’s quite a change from life at camp!  I’m re-adjusting to a schedule with 8-hr days and regularly scheduled meals and evening free time.  Not that I’m down on camp – on the other hand, I miss the busy-ness and the campers and the outdoor activities and the ministry!  There are good things about both places. I am thankful for where the Lord has put me now, though.  Through several surprising provisions, He put everything in place for my return to school – from the job, to the ride, to the timing, to temporary housing – everything!  And He did it all in a way that reminded me that He is the One in charge, the One equipping me with everything good so that I can do His will (Heb. 13.21).  What grace!

In keeping with my return to school, I expect that posting will either speed up or slow down.  Either I’ll be too busy to post more than once a week, or I’ll have plenty of material for regular posts – we’ll have to wait and see.  I did recently have some extra work pop up that will provide fodder for posts.  I’m taking advantage of an opportunity to read and review potential materials for the Campus Store – on a book-by-book basis.  Today I checked out a DVD and two books to critique for the Campus Store.  As I have opportunity to continue this job, I’ll be posting a review of each item I examine.  Just a disclaimer: anything I post here is my own opinion, not the University’s position.

Well, it’s a new year and there’s a big change on my website – since life in these here parts is getting so busy, I’ve decided to cut back to WordPress only.  Yep, that’s right – none of my own code or CSS or anything.  I kept finding browser compatibility issues with my own code but I couldn’t seem to find time to fix anything, so I figured I oughta do the efficient thing and use something great that’s already available.  So here it is!  I’ll be getting a fancy theme and my own color scheme and all that soon.  Everything will be categorized by blogposts so all the stuff I had on my old site will be available here too.
It’s been a loooong couple weeks, so I’m gonna sign off for now and come back when I’ve got time later…

This is the first post since I got this blog correctly configured on line.  I had it on a server on my laptop and transfered files and today, I got everything fixed and running on the web (thanks to a LOT of help from a good friend who knows what I should have been doing).
Well, that earlier post about “going to spend the next two years working at Camp Joy” – those two years have begun!  I’ve been up at camp for a little more than a week now.  Most of what I’m doing is working on the new website (www.campjoy.org).  It’s already built (mostly) – I’ve been updating and adding pages, as well as some optimization work to get it loading quicker – it’s a fairly graphics-intensive site.
While I’ve been working up here, I’ve been seeing first-hand the pressure of full-time ministry.  It is definitely challenging work!  But the Lord is greater than the pressure or the work!  His grace is sufficient and His strength is perfect when I am weak and insufficient.  It is so good to know that His plan for my life is perfect.  Even already, the knowledge that He led me here to Camp Joy has been a source of strength and encouragement when things are going roughly.  The ministry here is a joy as I serve the Lord – a busy joy sometimes, but a joy all the same!  It is good to serve a great God!
“Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God?” ~ Ps. 77.13

Yes, I should be studying a little harder for my Systematic Theology exam.  But I haven’t posted for a bit and thought I’d stop in and drop a quick note.  Only one exam to go and I’ll have my M.A. – an exciting thought.  The fact that I’m graduating hasn’t really registered yet, but hopefully will soon.  Probably when I put on the fancy suit :^) But I better make sure I pass this test – I do want to wear that fancy suit on Saturday!

Today I got my domain name and a live site running: www.graceandknowledge.com.  Right now, it isn’t much – just a “Coming soon…” screen and the stylesheet.  It’ll grow, though.  As I get time, I’ll get this all transfered over there.  I’m not quite satisfied with going live with what you see at this site now, though.  I’d like to give it some serious thought and better organization before letting the whole wide world see it.  So if you have thoughts or suggestions, please email me.

I’m James Steinbach – graduating in May 2007 from Bob Jones University with my M.A. in Bible.  I’m going to spend the next two years working at Camp Joy in Whitewater, WI, administrating program activities, the website and various and sundry other things.  I enjoy reading, playing baseball and soccer, monkeying around with my web stuff, studying Greek, and spending time with my wonderful girlfriend.

Now, I really don’t claim any special merit to myself; I can’t think of any reason why I should have a website or bother blogging, but I do hope that something I write can be an encouragement to someone who reads it.  I don’t want this as an avenue for me to vent on current issues, harshly critique people I’ve never met, or fan the fires of hot controversies.  All I want to do on this site is to record personal testimony to God’s grace to me and to share things I’ve learned from God’s word – thus my title: Grace and Knowledge.