Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Resources for Lust Talk This Sunday

Our next talk in the "Count It All Garbage" series is our conversation about Lust.  For the past month we've examined different garbage areas that can interfere in our relationships with God and with one another.  So far we've considered anger and busyness.  When we come to the topic of lust, we can make the mistake of thinking it a "worse" garbage area, but in reality anything that separates us from God and from one another is a big deal.  In this respect, lust is no worse than anything else.  Without correction, our lust - the evil desires we all possess, sexual or otherwise - is very isolating.

The question is what should we do about it?  As I write this on the Friday before I give the talk on Sunday, I urge everyone to come to the Church Requel service.  At the very least check back here next week for the notes, the audio and/or video versions of the talk.  As I've done with the other sermons in this series, the talk includes references to several resources that could be of help.  I don't want to be guilty of preaching against something without providing available resources for assistance.  In the case of lust - especially when dealing with pornography - there is much help available.

Books that Can Help.  Let's consider two categories of books here.  First, there are two excellent books if one is interested in understanding how pornography "rewires" the brain.  Consider The Drug of the New Millennium by Mark Kastleman as well as Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain by William Struthers.  The second category of books would be what to do when lust invades the relationship of marriage.  Again, there are two books in this category I would recommend.  I Surrender All: Rebuilding a Marriage Broken by Pornography by Clay and Renee Crosse would be my first choice.  It is written in such a way that it grabs the reader right from the beginning - a very personal story.  Also excellent is Hope After Betrayal: Healing When Sexual Addiction Invades Your Marriage by Meg Wilson.

Documentary Film.  Another resource, especially valuable for those not as oriented toward reading, is a 62-minute documentary, Somebody's Daughter - A Journey to Freedom from Pornography.  Three men and a husband and wife share their personal struggle with pornography confronting the lies and darkness of this addictive force with compelling honesty and hope. The DVD also contains four music videos and eight vignettes.  A 55-minute bonus CD is also available, which contains 9 original songs, stories, poetry, and scripture readings.

Accountability Software.  Finally, for those who would like to seek accountability with either a spouse or other accountability partner, x3watch.com is a website you should definitely check out.  Founder of XXXChurch, Craig Gross has made three products available on this site that can help you.  The first one, x3watch, is absolutely free.  It is an accountability software that will monitor all the websites you look at and then will send a report every week to your partner, either a spouse or a friend who has agreed to hold you accountable.  Knowing that someone else will be watching what you watch may be the key to keeping you from going to places on the internet you'd like to avoid.

These are only a few of the many resources that are available.  Remember that we can never do this on our own.  Our first step is always to call a C.A.B. - Confess to God our sin and inability to do what is right, Ask God for his help, and then Believe that He will help us.  I hope this as been of some help.  Looking forward to talking with you in person Sunday evening!  Pastor Mark

"Knowing" Good for One Hour Forty-Two Minutes

Knowing was really a good flick for the first hour and forty-two minutes.  Unfortunately the movie runs for an hour fifty-five minutes before the credits roll.  I can't remember the last time I ever hated an ending to a movie with such intensity.  The ending was so terrible, so out-of-character with the rest of the story, so... outta left of left field, that my next thoughts were: "I'm glad I have a blog so I can write about it!"

I was really enjoying the movie up until that final 13 minutes.  The movie had a Alfred Hitchcock, Outler Limits, psychologically thriller feel to it.  The story and the soundtrack kept me glued to my seat.  The Nicolas Cage character and his son come across a fifty year old document filled with numbers that correlate to every global disaster which had occurred in the past 50 years.  The last three set of numbers clue the main characters into upcoming disasters.  They must figure out what the code means and what they should do about it.

Allow me to code you in to what you should do if you decide to rent this DVD.  Watch the first hour and forty-two minutes.  (Seriously, I went back see EXACTLY when the movie went so horribly wrong... Remember... one hour and forty-two minutes!)  Then when you get to the hour forty-two spot, stop and turn off the movie.  Get out a sheet of paper and write down your own ending.  Trust me, ANY ENDING you write down will be better than the one that this movie chose to use.

I'm sure there will be those who love the movie and will tell me that all along this was supposed to be a disaster flick.  Yes, I should have seen it coming... but I must admit it completely surprised me.  Oh I'm not talking about the disaster at the end of the world.  No, I'm talking about my surprise of the disaster at the end of this movie.  I've never watched a movie that good end that badly before.  The disaster was so total and unexpected that I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep tonight! 

Christianity Today: Most Redeeming Films of 2008

Before you jump over to Christianity Today, which one film did you watch last year that you thought was the most redeeming?  CT has taken a vote and now has a list of the top ten.

I have to admit that I'm really behind in my movie watching.  Most of these flicks I haven't even seen yet.  (why do I have that Netflix account again?)

Ok, once you've written down in the comment section your vote for most redeeming film, you have my permission to go see the list of the top 10 most redeeming films.

Lewis and Clark for Today

I finished viewing Ken Burns' documentary on Lewis and Clark Monday evening.  I highly recommend it.  Not only is the scenery simply amazing, but the documentary is an excellent resource for leadership and team building.  I especially liked this quote from Dayton Duncan, one of the writers and co-producers of Lewis and Clark:

One of the intriguing things about the Lewis and Clark expedition is that when they
worked together as a team they were better than the sum of their parts. They
were E pluribus unum. The E plurabus was a motley collection of people and the
unum was the Corps of Discovery that did amazing things that they could only do
if they worked together.

E pluribus unum - "Out of many, one" is definitely the goal of any leader of staff.  If done right the church staff has the greater advantage of a different take: In ONE are the many!

John Adams Bonus

I just finished watching the HBO series, John Adams.  I'll repeat here what has now been said in so many other places: Watch this and learn from it. Some quick takeaways for me:

1) Leadership comes in many styles Adams was not today's version of a smooth, polished politician. He was just the opposite. But through sheer bullheadedness he got the job done.

2) Vision counts.

3) it is impossible to overestimate the value of a great mate.

4)Thank God for modern dentistry!

BTW, don't miss the great special bonus feature on disk 3 on David McCullough - It's inspirational