Hello everyone, If you remember, I said that I was working on a new site for Contemplations of my Belly Button and IT IS FINISHED!! You should all visit www.anthonymendoza.org and check out the site. It is way more interactive and I will be improving things more and more as I learn the coding. If you are subscribed to my rss feed you need to visit the new site and subscribe via the orange rss button. If you do not do this you won't get any new posts. I hope to hear from all of you on my new page.
God bless,
Anthony
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Unite for Purity
I received a comment on my recent post and began to reply in the form of a comment but as you can see below, it turned into something longer than what could go in a comment form. This is in response to Nicks' comment as well as extra thoughts. :
I understand your point but the main objective of my post was not so much the topic of girls getting 4 weeks off (I agree they should have a way to graduate) as much the fact that instead of worrying about how to help pregnant girls, parents should be trying to teach purity.
I am in no way condemning pregnant girls as that I commend their courage for their decision to raise their child. I was attempting to show that instead of trying to fix things by assisting the mothers(while it is good), our society should be focused on trying to stop the high amount (and apparent approval of) fornication among teen-aged kids.
I realize that some parents are against this behavior and I applaud them for their efforts, but society as a whole seems to show that this type of conduct is acceptable and this needs to be changed. Parents and students who believe in purity should unite in order to change this society.
As teenagers, we should no longer consume the high amount of sexual perversion in the form of movies, TV, music and even advertisements ( I recently saw sex used to sell red bull and pizza). If this generation were to stand against the current marketing schemes, advertisers, producers and record labels would be forced to change their current practices. As for our friends who do not choose purity, we should tell them about their sin and share the Gospel.
As parents, you should support your child and continue to teach the importance of purity and Christ. I realize that I am not a parent but I think that parents should stand with their children that choose purity. As for the children that choose not to follow purity, parents should stand strong and attempt to monitor their child's activity. I realize this is easier said than done but if parents stand strong it could help.
I do not have the answers or do I claim to have them but I know something has to be changed in this society. I apologize if I offended anyone by anything I said. I was attempting to make a point
God bless,
Anthony
PS. Be sure to Check out the girls over at Purity: Fully Clothed. They have made purity their mission.
I understand your point but the main objective of my post was not so much the topic of girls getting 4 weeks off (I agree they should have a way to graduate) as much the fact that instead of worrying about how to help pregnant girls, parents should be trying to teach purity.
I am in no way condemning pregnant girls as that I commend their courage for their decision to raise their child. I was attempting to show that instead of trying to fix things by assisting the mothers(while it is good), our society should be focused on trying to stop the high amount (and apparent approval of) fornication among teen-aged kids.
I realize that some parents are against this behavior and I applaud them for their efforts, but society as a whole seems to show that this type of conduct is acceptable and this needs to be changed. Parents and students who believe in purity should unite in order to change this society.
As teenagers, we should no longer consume the high amount of sexual perversion in the form of movies, TV, music and even advertisements ( I recently saw sex used to sell red bull and pizza). If this generation were to stand against the current marketing schemes, advertisers, producers and record labels would be forced to change their current practices. As for our friends who do not choose purity, we should tell them about their sin and share the Gospel.
As parents, you should support your child and continue to teach the importance of purity and Christ. I realize that I am not a parent but I think that parents should stand with their children that choose purity. As for the children that choose not to follow purity, parents should stand strong and attempt to monitor their child's activity. I realize this is easier said than done but if parents stand strong it could help.
I do not have the answers or do I claim to have them but I know something has to be changed in this society. I apologize if I offended anyone by anything I said. I was attempting to make a point
God bless,
Anthony
PS. Be sure to Check out the girls over at Purity: Fully Clothed. They have made purity their mission.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
You want what??
I found this article about Denver High Schools being asked to institute a four week maternity leave for students that were new mothers because the current policy is they must return to school the day after they are released from the hospital. While I understand the point trying to be made, we are talking about teenage girls here. The entire group in question would range from ages 14 to 18 and they all are unmarried. According to the Denver Post, "Denver has one of the highest teen-pregnancy rates in the state. Of every 1,000 girls ages 15 to 17, 54.5 will become pregnant in the city, compared with 24.3 throughout Colorado, according to state health statistics.". So instead of finding a way to stop the fornication, school officials rather just find a way to make things easier for the mothers.
I am glad that these girls choose to keep their babies and didn't get an abortion but shouldn't the parents be finding a way to stop this problem at the root. This all goes back to sex and how schools are preaching that it is ok to have sex whenever. The parents of Denver should be worried about changing those statistics rather than just dealing with them. Whats next, childcare in the schools?
Pray for this country and it's youth.
God bless,
Anthony
I am glad that these girls choose to keep their babies and didn't get an abortion but shouldn't the parents be finding a way to stop this problem at the root. This all goes back to sex and how schools are preaching that it is ok to have sex whenever. The parents of Denver should be worried about changing those statistics rather than just dealing with them. Whats next, childcare in the schools?
Pray for this country and it's youth.
God bless,
Anthony
Monday, January 7, 2008
You're so vain......
.....you probably think your testimonies about you, YOU'RE SO VAIN.
Although I started this blog on a fairly funny note, your testimony and who it focuses upon is a very serious subject. I listened to the testimony of pastor Paul Washer (you can find it on way of the master radio) and instead of him focusing on how horrible he was for the majority of it and just barley mentioning Christ and His saving grace like most testimonies these days are he instead spoke briefly on his sin and spent most of his time on Christ and the Gospel.
Whats your testimony like? I was greatly convicted by this because every time I have shared my testimony it was always about me, me, me and all my sin. everyone knows that we are sinners. Next time you are asked to share your testimony, bring the glory to Jesus Christ and the cross rather than glorifying your past sins.
God bless,
Anthony
Although I started this blog on a fairly funny note, your testimony and who it focuses upon is a very serious subject. I listened to the testimony of pastor Paul Washer (you can find it on way of the master radio) and instead of him focusing on how horrible he was for the majority of it and just barley mentioning Christ and His saving grace like most testimonies these days are he instead spoke briefly on his sin and spent most of his time on Christ and the Gospel.
Whats your testimony like? I was greatly convicted by this because every time I have shared my testimony it was always about me, me, me and all my sin. everyone knows that we are sinners. Next time you are asked to share your testimony, bring the glory to Jesus Christ and the cross rather than glorifying your past sins.
God bless,
Anthony
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Hollywood: America's Idol
Like any other person in the world, I always look at the magazine covers on the racks at the grocery store. This got me to wondering why our society is so obsessed with celebrity. Do we really care how Brittney screwed up this time or what is going on with the latest celebrity couple? We have to know whats going on to make our lives seem less horrible and instead of dealing with our problems we deal with Hollywood's'. If you didn't know, the way that American society views Hollywood is extreme idolatry, Rather than studying Gods' word we would prefer to rush out and find out if Lindsey Lohan is still sober. I recently posted a clip from Mark Driscoll about idolatry and its worth another listen.
What do you put first, Christ of the newest 'it' girl? Lets tell Hollywood to shape up and we need to focus on our lives and walk with Jesus.
God bless,
Anthony
What do you put first, Christ of the newest 'it' girl? Lets tell Hollywood to shape up and we need to focus on our lives and walk with Jesus.
God bless,
Anthony
Blogs you should read in 2008..... besides mine
These are a few blogs and podcasts that I read/ listen to often and you should look at them as well because they have some good content. These blogs are in no particular order:
The Fire of New Desire- Great blog by my friend Joey. He writes on some of the same stuff I do but he writes a whole lot more eloquently (and less sarcastically).
Abandon Image- Blog by a lady named Tia. She is fairly emergent and I disagree with some of what she has to say but has some interesting opinions and is one of the more polite people when it comes to discussing controversial topics.
Purity: Fully Clothed- Thoughts on purity by two teen-age girls. Real talk about sex and abstinence from girls living in this crazy sex-obsessed generation. Some really great poems and analogies on purity.
Desiring God Blog- The official blog of Pastor John Piper's Desiring God Ministries. Deep insight from Piper and others on Christianity from a fairly conservative point of view. Also, you can find a link to John Pipers sermons which are entertaining and very informative.
Mars Hill Church Podcasts- Sermons by Pastor Mark Driscoll. Most people think he is emergent but his theology is actually very conservative. He does sermon series by going straight through the books of the Bible. Probably one of the funniest Pastors I have ever heard yet he explores the scriptures well. Starting soon, He will be doing a nine sermon series on questions submitted to their website.
I listen to and read a whole bunch of stuff so if you would like some more leave a comment and I will give you some more.
God Bless.
Anthony
Abandon Image- Blog by a lady named Tia. She is fairly emergent and I disagree with some of what she has to say but has some interesting opinions and is one of the more polite people when it comes to discussing controversial topics.
Purity: Fully Clothed- Thoughts on purity by two teen-age girls. Real talk about sex and abstinence from girls living in this crazy sex-obsessed generation. Some really great poems and analogies on purity.
Desiring God Blog- The official blog of Pastor John Piper's Desiring God Ministries. Deep insight from Piper and others on Christianity from a fairly conservative point of view. Also, you can find a link to John Pipers sermons which are entertaining and very informative.
Mars Hill Church Podcasts- Sermons by Pastor Mark Driscoll. Most people think he is emergent but his theology is actually very conservative. He does sermon series by going straight through the books of the Bible. Probably one of the funniest Pastors I have ever heard yet he explores the scriptures well. Starting soon, He will be doing a nine sermon series on questions submitted to their website.
I listen to and read a whole bunch of stuff so if you would like some more leave a comment and I will give you some more.
God Bless.
Anthony
The pastors are in high school
This new years eve, My church was involved in the second citywide new years service. Last year, we hosted it but this year another church took charge. Before I get to my point, you need some background on my church: We are a church of about 300 or so people and are currently in the process of building a 600 seat sanctuary. We are non-denominational, independent but are of the charismatic, pentecostal type. All this makes us one of the largest Spirit filled church in Reno. My Pastor and youth pastor meet with this group of pastors every week and have been working on this new years service for quite some time. There is prayer every month at a different church from the group each month. Our church usually brings about 100 people to those prayers but the other pastors can barely get their wives to attend. (I tell you all this for context only not to brag)
Every one (as far as leadership, worship team etc...) was fine with not being in charge of the service, especially me because it was a ton of work last year. The way they set up the service was there were four worship teams (including mine) and it was broken into a series of worship service type stuff broken up by performances (songs, drama and such).
This is where my title comes into play: My churches worship team (of which I am a member) was the first on stage and opened the night. About a week prior to the service, the worship leaders all met and were instructed that they had a certain amount of time for their songs. The service was moving as we played, people worshiping and praising God but as we reached middle of our first of two slow/'worship' songs, the Pastor that was MCing the event was on the stairs of the stage looking almost frantic and checking his watch frequently. We finished in the time we were given and just kinda figured that this was going to be how the night would go but when the other worship teams got up to preform, they went substantially over time. This didn't bother me in the sense that it was unfair or anything (when the Spirit moves, He moves). What did bother me however, is that the other churches had this sense of "look Spirit Filled Church, we don't need you".
These other churches are all relatively small (one particular church is the pastor and his wife) and the entire night seemed to be a showcase of how the little churches could gang up and be more important than the bigger church. Why do these pastors see the need to show us up. The entire time these pastors where talking unity but they didn't give that feeling. I guess you had to be there to fully understand the feeling I had. Over all it was a good service but there was this overtone of a showcase of how much my church was not needed.
As Christians, we should be above this and should have true unity. It seems as if pastors are worried about people from their church going seeing another church at some type of unity service and going to that church instead. If a person decides to go to another church then they were probably not supposed to be at your church. Stop trying to show up the other pastors, get out of the high school drama and start praising Christ.
God bless,
Anthony
Every one (as far as leadership, worship team etc...) was fine with not being in charge of the service, especially me because it was a ton of work last year. The way they set up the service was there were four worship teams (including mine) and it was broken into a series of worship service type stuff broken up by performances (songs, drama and such).
This is where my title comes into play: My churches worship team (of which I am a member) was the first on stage and opened the night. About a week prior to the service, the worship leaders all met and were instructed that they had a certain amount of time for their songs. The service was moving as we played, people worshiping and praising God but as we reached middle of our first of two slow/'worship' songs, the Pastor that was MCing the event was on the stairs of the stage looking almost frantic and checking his watch frequently. We finished in the time we were given and just kinda figured that this was going to be how the night would go but when the other worship teams got up to preform, they went substantially over time. This didn't bother me in the sense that it was unfair or anything (when the Spirit moves, He moves). What did bother me however, is that the other churches had this sense of "look Spirit Filled Church, we don't need you".
These other churches are all relatively small (one particular church is the pastor and his wife) and the entire night seemed to be a showcase of how the little churches could gang up and be more important than the bigger church. Why do these pastors see the need to show us up. The entire time these pastors where talking unity but they didn't give that feeling. I guess you had to be there to fully understand the feeling I had. Over all it was a good service but there was this overtone of a showcase of how much my church was not needed.
As Christians, we should be above this and should have true unity. It seems as if pastors are worried about people from their church going seeing another church at some type of unity service and going to that church instead. If a person decides to go to another church then they were probably not supposed to be at your church. Stop trying to show up the other pastors, get out of the high school drama and start praising Christ.
God bless,
Anthony
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