Goin' Green?

Remember the Drury Reunion this summer? I thought we could all use a little reminder of warmer days...actually, I was cleaning out my files and found these pictures that I had meant to post this summer! There they are: the Fantastic Five in all their glory.

More Pics

Christmas Pictures

Thank you to all who made the Martin Christmas gathering possible...and to all who made it there! : ) We all had a great time!

Cancun photos..finally!

Yes, here we are 1 month later, and we are FINALLY getting around to posting a few pictures. As you can see, we did a whole lotta nothin'! (So we did not have too many exciting things to photograph.) One day on the beach was pretty much the same as last and the next. (Except different swimsuits!) It was just marvelous to have nothing to do all week. Ahhhhhh...good times!

The Bixby's Christmas

Christmas at Parkers Lake

Church Discussion - Part 1

As Stacy and I have been going through the church search process, a few issues have come forward as we seek to evaluate whether or not a particular church is “right” for us.

Issue #1: In all church ministries should the leader be a member of the church? Why? Are there any scriptural references to support your answer? Ministries being defined as Sunday School, VBS, youth group, small groups, nursery, hospitality, etc.

Issue #2: I think in our family circle it’s safe to assume that we would not support a church having a female pastor, but where do you draw the line for women having a leadership role in the church? Should a woman be allowed to teach an adult Sunday School class containing both men and women? How important is this to you; would you leave (or not join) a church that does this? Again, are there any scriptural references to support your answer?

I’ll stop there and let the discussion be on those two issues. I have more and, Lord willing, I will post them in the future. Let’s see how this goes first. Thank you for your thoughts.

Joel Ham

P.S. We were given a book (What is A Healthy Church by Mark Dever) as a gift from one of our elders at Eden Baptist before moving to Kentucky. This book has served as a good reminder of the essential marks and important marks of a healthy church and helped put us in the right mindset to assess each church. I highly recommend it.

Fall is finishin'

...at least in Minnesota. But we've had fun, and I thought you'd enjoy some pictures the kids took the other day. It was all fun and games until Elise lost her head:

First Vote

Yesterday was my first time to vote!!! Although it is tempting to think that my vote really didn't do much in the way of contributing to the cause I was voting for, I am still grateful for the opportunity to be involved with national politics and to have a voice, however small, in choosing my country's leaders.
Being on a very liberal campus has made me thoroughly sick of politics, and I must say I am glad that all the campaign ads and candidate endorsements by professors are (hopefully) ended. I can't help feeling melancholic about the results of the election though.
With a vague sense of despondency, I wonder, "What America will be like by the next time I vote?"

Ham Halloween