Marriage Resources

We wrapped up our series yesterday on Marriage. I thought it was a really great series. I have to admit that it has really challenged me personally. I have also heard a lot of folks talking about their own marriages and so I wanted to throw out a few resources that you might want to consider in your own marriage.

1) Read one or both of the following books. "Boundaries in Marriage" Which we have available at the information booth for $11. Also, another helpful book that went along with our series is "The Five Love Languages."

2) Begin a Regular date night. This should be weekly or worst case bi-weekly. Decide on the format. I suggest that you both take a turn planning on of the date nights per month. If you are dating weekly then the other two date nights can be more spontaneous.

3) If you have not done this already do it SOON! Meet and discuss each other needs. Understand what your spouses needs are and begin to meet them TODAY.

4) Also, consider going to counseling. I highly recommend Grace Life in Charlotte, NC. They are located on south side of town and right off I-77. Their website is http://www.glionline.com/

5) Start with you! The only person that you can change is yourself.

Help me Not Look Like a Dork!!!! Summer Vacation Help... Continued

I wanted to update everyone on my summer vacation ideas. I have several concerns... Why are more people not trying to help me out? Either you do not care about my potential disaster for summer vacation (which will result in my children being scarred for the rest of their lives) or maybe we simply do not have many creative people who read the blog. If you are wandering what I am talking about... click the following link and read my blog from last week.

http://www.chrisruppe.com/2008/06/help-my-summer-vacation-is-in-trouble.html

Here is where we stand... Camping or a trip to Houston. Both are great ideas.

Camping... It was cool to see my cousin Patrick reading my blog in Minnesota... and he gave great advice to help my prissy wife work through her fears of camping by staying in a pop up camper. I think this is a strong possibility. Our original plans for the summer were to go RVing but that got tossed with a new baby, no money, and gas prices. So this would be a nice compromise. My only hesitation is that I am taking Cameron (my middle child) camping for man talk. That may be too much of the wild for me. (Thanks Pat for the advice and reading my blog!)

Houston... This is a great offer!!!! By no other than our good friends who loved us so much they moved nearly 20 hours away!!!!! How awesome is that! We love Texas. We could stop and visit our other friends in Mississippi who also loved us so much they moved to Mississippi. (Come on... something has to be wrong if you willing move to Mississippi.) :) Anyway... this would be great. It would be a good road trip for the family. The downsides are... if my wife goes shopping I might as well go RVing. Do the Watson's really want to have 5 crazy Ruppes in their home? It might ruin the new friendships they are trying to develop. However, did I hear golf? That could change everything.

Where do I go from here? Here is the deal. I have decided I am going to pick our vacation based on some recommendation that we get on this blog. It will be fun. Before we choose I want to beg one more time for other ideas. So chime in. What cheap and creative ideas do you have to help me become the most popular dad ever!!! I will be using your ideas for my vacation so please help. Click on the link below or simply respond to this post. Thanks!

http://www.chrisruppe.com/2008/06/help-my-summer-vacation-is-in-trouble.html

Church Planter Intern

I wanted to introduce to you our Church Planting Intern. He will be hanging out at NRHC for the next 3 to 6 months. He is participating in our Church Planting Center. He is preparing to launch a new church in the Boiling Springs, SC area next Spring.

Details:

Church Planter: Ryan and Lisa Bishop

3 Children - Blake 11, Jaden 6 and Aubree 18months.

They are Originally from Lake City, Florida and Planted North Point Church in Gaffney almost 4 years ago.

He attended Florida State University Bachelor of Music Education and also attended SWBTS and Liberty University.

He Started serving in his first church @18.

His favorite hobbies are video and building and His wife Lisa works as a speech language therapist in two nursing homes.

The New Church will be called Threshold.

I hope you will be praying for Ryan and Lisa as they prepare to plant.

HELP... My Summer Vacation is in Trouble

OK... I am going out on a limb. I am going to see if I can actually get some people to cross the line from reader to participant. I NEED YOUR HELP. I am trying to decide what my family should do for a vacation this year. It is more complicated than you might think. Let me give you my parameters.

1) I have a new baby that we adopted last September.
2) She also cost me a lot of money. So I am looking for an economical vacation.
3) I am also looking for something a little creative.

I know this might be pushing it... baby, little money, and creative. However, I thought some of you might be brilliant. So I am putting myself out here. I NEED YOUR HELP.

Two things... What are you doing for a vacation and What suggestions do you have for me. HELP! No really... I need your help. Click on the comments tab below. :)

Prime Time Comedies!

Time for more Prime Time movies... If you are new to the blog follow this link and it will explain Why I decided to look at some movies. It explains my Rating System as well.

http://www.chrisruppe.com/2008/05/movie-preview-iron-man.html

Comedies... I don't know why but I am very picky about comedies. It is hard to make me laugh sometimes when it comes to movies. Here are some of my Prime Time Favorite Comedies.

Meet The Parents

It is hard to find decent movies. This is one movie that usually classic comedy techniques and goes down as one of the greatest comedies ever. Great Movie!


Christmas Vacation

Come on! This is a much watch every year to get into the Christmas Spirit.

Dumb and Dumber

I have no idea... but this was really funny to me. It has some crude stuff... but overall is a really good movie.

The Wedding Singer

The 80's Rock! This was the greatest decade. This movie brought back such great memories... It makes my Prime Time List.

Monty Python and The Holy Grail

Listen... I know what some of you are saying. You think I have lost my mind. However, when I was in college and watching a movie at 2 am with a bunch of friends... This was a Great Movie. Stupid? Absolutely! Funny? Absolutely! Just make sure you watch very late at night with a bunch of really dumb friends.

Honorable Mention...

Napoleon Dynamite

I have no idea how this makes my list. But I have watched it 5 or 6 times. I hate watching most movies more than 1 or 2 times... it has to make the list. It is a cultural classic. Just make one note... you have to watch it at least twice. The first time is not near as funny as the 2nd time. Every time after the 2nd you find yourself quoting the lines with the characters. Very Funny to watch others do this.

This is my list... What is yours?

A Biblical Man... What is that?

As you might have noticed I took a week off of blogging. Three reasons... 1) no time 2) I got sick last week 3) I don't want this to become a job. It is suppose to be a fun tool.

Anyway, I want to blog today building on the series we are doing on Sunday's. We are talking about marriage and yesterday we talked about sex... That was really cool! Just think I got paid to talk about sex. :) Wow! What a great job. Today I want to talk about Men. What in the world does a Biblical Man look like? If we ever get that figured out and start acting like Biblical Men... then our homes will be really awesome!

Let me give you three keys to a Biblical Man: (Not sure where I got these... but I have used them a lot. So I am not able to give credit. But just for the record. I did not come up with these titles.)

1. Cultivator - Men like to build things with the purpose of improving them. (Ex. cars)

Here is the basics for men. Get a job, Get Married, and then make babies. For men we often get things out of order. Men need to figure out what God is calling them to do and be doing it. For a living. Our jobs should not be random but based on who we are and what God is calling us to do. This then allows a woman to see that we are able to care for them and that we are pursuing God's plan for our life. This is very attractive and a woman likes this. They get married and have babies.

How do we pervert God's plan: Avoidance

We don't work. We find ways to avoid working. We are lazy. Boys would rather be distracted with video games and silliness. Men work and find meaning and purpose in it.

Bottom line: Work is really good. When you find the sweet spot in God's will... It is awesome! Work hard with the purpose of improving whatever God has given you to do.

2. Warrior - Protector. Warring against injustice.

Men are to fight for what matters. It is wired in us. However, we waste much of our warrior spirit on things that might be ok but don't matter in the big picture... sports, hunting, etc... However, we are to wage war against injustice and evil. What does that mean? We need to know the truth. Wage war against injustice.

How do we pervert this? Abuse

This happens one of two ways: Being Passive... Not fighting.
This is good stuff. Adam was given instructions before Eve was ever created to not eat of the one tree. Why did Adam not step in and protect her when she started to eat? He was perverting His calling as a man by being passive and allowing her to commit this evil. It was his responsibility to protect her. He did not. WHAT A WUSS!

The Second way we Abuse is by force. Using our strength intended to war against evil for evil. We intimidate, bully, and cause fear in those we say that we love.

Bottom line: We are to wage war against evil... not use our strength for evil.

3. Sage - Gaining wisdom from God and passing it along.

We are responsible as men to pass along our learned wisdom first and foremost to our children and then to those who are fatherless. Our young men are looking for someone to look up to and will learn from us if we will take the time to mentor them and share with them our learned wisdom.

How do we pervert this? Abandonment

Before you get all excited and feel like you have won a medal for not leaving your wife and kids like many have in this culture. Don't pat yourself too quickly. The worse form of abandonment is the "Man" (used loosely) who lives at home and has no time for his family.

Bottom line: Your greatest legacy will not be what you accomplish at your job or carrier... It will be your children. Shame on you if you gain great success in every area of life but fail as a Husband and a father.

You can now see why in culture we have perverted God's plan and have a bunch of lazy, abusive, and deadbeat men. However, let me challenge everyone us who are striving to be Men. Are you a Biblical Man? If not, Why not?

Random Thoughts...

It is Friday and I have several random thoughts that I want to toss out.

**Started a series on Marriage. Week 1 focused on the key to a successful marriage... The husband and wife should submit to Christ. Then they will have no problem Loving and Respecting one another. The Hammer for Last Sunday = If you have a problem respecting your husband or if you have a problem loving your wife... then your problem is not your relationship with your spouse but your relationship with Christ. Wow! That is good stuff.

**I have a lot of people asking me... "What about people who are single?" That is a good question. This Sunday we will discuss that... so don't miss it.

** Yesterday we had "The Cypress Project" at NRHC. If you are wandering what that is... it is our Church Planting Center we started in January. We are currently training 7 Church Planters. What are we training them to do? To find a city and become a missionary to a city. We have some really awesome guys that God is allowing us to partner with. I cannot wait to see what God is going to do in the churches these guys start.

** School is out. Now all my kids are at home. This should be fun.

** Cadence (my 8 month old daughter) had a doctor visit and had 3 shots. Not good! She screamed. :) Just like her Daddy!

** We have 4 interns for the summer. They are working with our church plants. However, I gave them a summer project that we all can look forward to. Movies in the Park. Coming at the end of the summer. Should be fun! Hey... they are looking for meals... anyone interested in feeding poor college interns? Let me know.

** Finally, What a week... I got quoted in someones blog. Check it out. It might not be glamorous but it is true! :) http://dinosenesi.blogspot.com/2008/05/boxer-briefs-thank-you-points-and-g.html

What A Weekend! One Word... WOW!

I was so tired Monday that I decided to wait til today to blog about the weekend. I am left with just one word... WOW!

It all began Friday when we had a bunch of our folks volunteer at India Hook Elementary School. We had a great opportunity to love on the kids there during their field day.

Then we spent the weekend cleaning, moving, and preparing the new building to meet on Sunday. I am still overwhelmed by how many people showed up to help us move. All week it was just awesome. I truly cannot say Thank You enough to everyone that helped make this weekend such a success.

Then Sunday we moved into the new building. We ran out of parking and felt like we were at the old building parking in the dirt, grass, and anywhere we could find a spot. We had more people show up for our 9:45 am service than we had in all three of our services the week before. A capacity crowd. The second service was just awesome. We had 670 people at our first service! Wow! Just overwhelming.

However, The highlight of the day was not the new building. It was not even on our new campus. It was at Bowater Park... at the Lake. We had hundreds of people show up and we baptized 24 people. This is what being the "Church" is all about! We got to see people profess their faith and commitment to Christ through baptism. It was so inspiring to see some really awesome stories. We had fathers baptizing their children, a uncle who had a big impact on his nephew baptize him, we had someone baptize their brother, and one guy gets baptized and turns around and baptizes a close friend that he had a tremendous influence in coming to Christ. These are just a few of the 24 stories that played out on Sunday.

There are many days that it is tough being a pastor... but this is not one of them.