Author: nick

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An Open Letter to Dr. Terry Jones

Dear Pastor Dr. Terry Jones,

I write this letter with little hope that #1 you would read it and #2 that it would make a difference, but I feel something should be said, whether the advice is heeded or not, that sir, is your choice.

As a fellow Christian pastor, I urge you to stop your blatant disregard of the Christian faith. Your continuation of your planned burning of the Koran, not only makes you a disgraceful American it disgraces the core teachings of the faith you claim to follow and represent.

I do not make my case based on personal feelings. I base it through Scripture which is strong enough to stand alone:

I make my case through…

Jesus

  1. Where in Scripture did Jesus ever destroy (in any way) the holy books or the temples of worship for any other faith or religion?
  2. Matthew 5:9-12 Jesus said the “Peacemakers” will be called the Sons of God – You do not make peace by inciting violence with your actions of burning the Koran. It goes on to say,  “Rejoice and be glad” when persecuted for righteousness sake, not go seek revenge or go make a “statement” when you feel others have done you wrong.
  3. Matthew 5:38-42, Jesus tells us to “turn the other cheek” and to go out of our way to accommodate those who seek to harm us. I’m curious, how does your burning of the Koran fit with in these instructions?
  4. Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus tells us to love our enemies. He asks, what reward is there in only loving your brother? Even the Pagans do that. How is inciting our enemies loving them? How do you open the door for the Good News of Jesus Christ, by angering them? I don’t know, maybe the word “enemy” from Jesus’ day meant something else…I’m sure it did.
  5. Luke 17:11-17, Jesus performs a good deed, a miracle. One of ten men came back to thank him, it was a Samaritan. I am sure you are aware that the Samaritans worshiped differently than the Jews, this Samaritan could have looked at Jesus with great disdain, but he didn’t, maybe it was because Jesus didn’t incite him to violence and hatred, he loved him, healed him, did good to him. I wonder, how are your actions on September 11, 2010 in burning the Koran, follow in Jesus’ example? Where did Jesus burn the Samaritan’s holy book? Where did he “take a stand?” Um, maybe I missed something, either way, Jesus’ method led the man to faith.

Paul

  1. Look at 2 Corinthians 11:23-33, now go study the rest of Scripture. For every “act” of violence, hatred, or wrong done against Paul, where did he one time respond with a “protest” or “standing up against his foes” or any other demonstration of what was “right” in his eyes? Where? He preached the Gospel. His life was for Christ not his own.
  2. Check out Acts 14:19-22, Paul was stoned and left for dead outside of the city. I bet Paul got back up and made a protest against them for burning his Bible and attacking his fellow believers, don’t you? No, he went back into the city, preached the Gospel and encouraged the believers, declaring that one must suffer many hardships as a believer. It sounds to me that Paul did not need to “act” out in order to “stand-up” for his beliefs. He just lived them out, whether it cost him his life or whether he got to keep his life.
  3. Furthermore, check out Acts 17:16-34, Paul goes to Athens and is encountered with a people who followed many gods and different religions. I bet we see here where he goes and destroys their temples and their idols and their holy books. Oh, man, once again, a peacemakers approach. He actually “preaches” against them and uses them to contrast the Truth and the Gospel.
  4. We are instructed in Colossians 4:5-6, to be careful with how we deal with non-believers, to be full of grace and to be seasoned with salt, so that we may have an answer for everyone. I wonder how your approach on September 11, 2010, falls within these instructions?
  5. In Acts 16:16-40, Paul and Silas are in prison. They have the opportunity to escape, but they know that in doing so it would cost the guards their life, so they stay and because of that the guards come to faith. Unlike you, they were unwilling for their faith to cause another person their life. You sir, make a mockery of the Christian faith when General Petraeus warns that our American soldiers will have the risk on their life increased by your actions and you ignore it! You may be willing to die for your faith, but you are not a peacemaker when you are causing & increasing problems for others on your behalf. If one attack happens because of your actions and any soldier loses their life, their blood will be on your hands, so I guess you might be very proud of them sacrificing their life for your right to be foolish.
  6. In Romans 12:14-21, Paul urges us to BLESS those who persecute us and to not pay back evil for evil. How does your plan fit within that instruction?

The honest truth sir, there is no Biblical foundation for which you can say your actions are in the name of Christianity. What you are doing is in the name of Dr. Terry Jones and the Dove World Outreach Center. Maybe its your way of getting a little fame and a little bit of news coverage, but you in no way are promoting the Savior Jesus or his teachings. You can twist Scripture all you want to make your point, people have done so for centuries, but you will be hard pressed to present grace and love through your actions. Our instructions are to go into all the world to make disciples (Matthew 28:19) as Christians we are called to represent Christ. You are not doing that and you are not paving the road for the Gospel to be preached, in fact, you are perverting the gospel, with a gospel of hate. Here’s a novel idea, arrange a massive prayer meeting not a Koran burning service, but then again, that may mean you think God is big enough to change the hearts of those you disagree with.

Sincerely,

Nick Carnes

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The Space Between

Check out this video from Pete Wilson, lead pastor at Cross Point Church, in Nashville, TN.

This message (Relentlessly Dedicated) is from Cross Point’s 3D DNA series.

If you are a Christ Follower and it doesn’t inspire you…I truly don’t know what to say. Watch it. Be inspired. Do something!

I pray God would use our community of faith at New Passion to make the kind of impact Cross Point has locally and globally in our area.

Reflections from the message:

  • The reference Pete made about 6 pennies, are you okay with that?
  • Pete referenced the average missions giving from the church was 2% and the average from individuals to the church was 2% – Are you okay with that?
  • Are you bored?
  • Do you buy into the consumerism approach to church? It’s got to fit within your mileage, its got to fit within your schedule, all of the programs, the style, the music has to fit you like a glove? Has church become about you?
  • How do you look at missions? Is it a program of the church? A great idea? Something you do when it fits your schedule and your budget? Or is it a part of your DNA?
  • How would your opinion about your problems change if you knew God would use it for his glory in the life of another person? (I.E. God used shadrach meshach and abednego in the fiery furnace to open the eyes of Nebuchadnezzar)
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New Passion is Moving to Patriots Park

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Hey New Passion Friends!

We’ve been talking over the last three weeks about our move to Patriots Park on Sunday, September 12. I can’t wait! Many of you have expressed to me your excitement for this opportunity we have as a church. To make it even more exciting, we are also celebrating our 1 year birthday as a church on this same Sunday!

To be honest, I was worried at first because typically when a church makes a big decision that God is leading them to, there are those detractors who let their displeasure of the decision be known to the world, and since we didn’t have any detractors within the church, I was a little worried whether or not this may be the opportunity from God that I thought it was. But then I was encouraged by Joshua 1. (vs 1-9) God gives specific instructions to Joshua (vs 10-15) Joshua passes those instructions on to the people and then in verse 16 the Scripture says this, “They [the people] answered Joshua, “We will do whatever you command us, and we will go wherever you send us.” I now believe that you, our New Passion family, are like those Israelites, and are simply in-tune to what God is leading us to as a church!

Here’s Some of the Important Stuff You Need to Know:

  1. We are throwing a Birthday Bash for our people and the Community after service on the 12th to celebrate what God has done in and though New Passion in our first year. We want to highlight the memories while looking to the future of what God’s going to do next!
  2. We need you to sign-up to help with the Birthday Bash! This is one opportunity that we have to represent Jesus to our community. Go Here to sign-up as a volunteer, to loan us equipment, or to send us a birthday gift to help with the expenses.
  3. Our promo door hangers will be in very last minute as I said in our previous emails due to confirmations we had to wait on. When they arrive I am sending out a Red Alert Email with the various opportunities where you can meet us and hit the neighborhoods between their arrival and the 12th. It is vital, if you can help, to come and help us get the word out.
  4. Just-in case anyone else is wondering: We are not moving due to problems (a) in attendance (b) financially or (c) Fill in the Blank.
  5. In fact, we’ve grown 260% since our launch on September 13, 2009 and 13% over the last 5-weeks. If anything, that made the decision to move a little tougher!

The Pros

  • We can set-up some Saturday evenings (if we need to) and we can set-up earlier on Sunday mornings for one set price. At the school we had to pay for each hour and for every room.
  • Patriots Park is going to allow us to utilize some of their storage space and leave one of our trailers on the property, this will eliminate the need to carry two trailers on Sunday, everything will be at the location.
  • All of our PassionKidz areas will have A/C and heat. The Grove, our worship environment for birth – PreK, had to utilize the hallways at the school where there  is no A/C or Heat.
  • Cheaper. Yes, we’ve grown, but we were still limited on what we could do as a church. The rent at the school was extremely expensive and due to our limited start-up funds, we’ve used everything extra to get where we are today in equipment and supplies (Praise God we have been able to pay the rent and do the missions we’ve done throughout our first year – it’s been amazing!) – This will free us up to start saving towards a building (down the road), adding staff (down the road), and increase our missions involvement (Right Away!).
  • We believe the change in location will help open new opportunities to lead more people to a passionate relationship with Jesus!
  • The larger meeting space allows us to grow without having to add a second service too soon.
  • The contract with the school had one more year, which means we would have had to have a new location picked out within about 6-9 months, now we are set longer term if we need it until we can find a more permanent location in the future.
  • Padded Chairs 🙂

The Cons

  • Our worship service will be held approximately 6 miles outside of where we desire to minister long-term, in the city of Grovetown (we’re still in G-town, just on the outskirts now), however, God is bigger than 6 miles and one small overpass. Our local missions focus will still be in the city, so our team is not concerned with the short distance (God’s brought us this far, and if you asked a lot of the people who knew we were starting a church 12 months ago, if we’d survive, if they were honest, they would probably tell you they didn’t. We’re cool with that. And that is why we keep trusting God and not the opinions of man!).
  • That’s all….

So, there it is! If you have not done so already go ahead and subscribe to this blog via email so you can get any additional updates on our move directly in your inbox, as well, any additional thoughts on life, leadership, and ministry from Nick!

Year 2, here we come!

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The Attitude of Gratitude

We are in-between sermon series at New Passion, so yesterday I did a solo message on the Attitude of Gratitude. Generic, I know.

However, the title is all telling. I believe when we are grateful, it changes our attitude towards God and towards other people. I shared at the end of the message a list of people I am grateful for at New Passion, I also shared a video that convicted me in areas I had been ungrateful (It’s definitely a must see video by Pete Wilson: Watch  HERE – *Correction from the message: It was not India, it was a house in the Dominican Republic).

Think about it:

  • How would our attitude about the job we hate change if you realized there are millions of people without a job and became grateful that we at least have a job?
  • How would our attitude about our difficult children change if we realized that some people can’t have kids or have lost their child at an early age and were grateful that we’ve been blessed with the children we have?
  • How would our attitude about what God’s not given us change if we became grateful that he’s already given us everything we need?
  • How would our attitude about…Change?

So, if you were at New Passion this past Sunday or if you weren’t, continue the conversation and share a little of what you are grateful for: