We had an earthquake hit the east coast yesterday.  I was at my house with my wife and fam, and it certainly unnerved us.  But Balitmore Ravens rookie receiver Torrey Smith's reaction to the quake is just pure comedy.  Absolutely hilarious....

His departure has a bit of a cartoon quality doesn't it?  LOLOLOLOL  There was no prayer or deep contemplation.  My man was just gone.

Sometimes, people ask “what is there for youth to do at CRCC?”  Or maybe some assume we have “nothing” for children.  Dear friends, nothing could be further from the truth.  MUCH of what we do at CRCC is FOR the discipleship and instruction of children.  In fact, we changed our entire church because we love children so much!  So, I wanted to post this so when this question comes up, you are better equipped to answer.

Family Integration is about bringing families together naturally and biblically.  It is true CRCC doesn’t have youth programs or many events for youth.  The truth is we believe youth and teens spend FAR TOO MUCH TIME with their peers already!  But for those who haven’t yet seen how our vision connects with discipling young people, it might look like nothing is going on.  In fact, many things are happening that directly attack the 70-88% failure rate of most youth discipleship and ministry efforts. Why in the world would we keep doing the same thing over and over and getting this result?  We simply do youth ministry from the Deuteronomy 6 perspective.  If you look at our vision (http://www.crcchesapeake.org/church/more-on-our-vision), you see that “discipline and instruction” of children and youth is embedded.  Our goal is to ensure that CRCC youth are some of the most ministered to youth around...primarily by the people who love them most...their parents!  So here are...

10 Things for Youth to do “at” CRCC:

1. Attend church with their parents. Here, mom/dad/guardian hears the Word and receives connection points to teach and discuss during the week, which leads to other questions and conversations and brings families together.

2. Attend Care Group with their parents. Here, there are more opportunities for youth to meet and interact with other youth of different ages, as well as adults, which helps fight the “generation gap” mess we’ve got ourselves in. But in this supervised environment, there is less of chance of “immaturity promoting immaturity.” Even so, youth are also free to invite their friends!

3. Serve in ministry with their parents at church. Singing, dancing, ushering, playing instruments, cleaning up, lawn care, upcoming neighborhood outreach, etc.

4. Serve in ministry with their parents outside the church. This is a big one. Although it’s not within the church four walls…well…that’s the point! Serving the homeless together, doing personal evangelism together, taking care of an elderly neighbor together, serving at the Red Cross together…the possibilities are endless. Yes, this is not “in” CRCC, but it is “at” CRCC and will teach young people (and us older folks) more about the heart of Christ than any program, especially for a family who is doing the complete CRCC vision process.

5. Attend Sisters in the Spirit (once per month) or the Brotherhood meetings (once per month) with their parents. For youth 12 and up, these ministries are available and encouraged! Valuable training on the Bible, prayer, worship, faith, parenting, marriage, holiness, money, etc. is offered. When more mature material is being presented, parents will be notified.

6. Have fun times of family worship and catechism! Again, this isn’t held at the building but it’s still “at CRCC” as almost nobody in our church did family worship until they got here! LOL. And what’s stopping families from doing “catechism trivia nights” or family challenges for the last chicken wing? Nothing!

7. Begin a family or Care Group project/outreach! What’s stopping youth and adults alike from impacting their communities with the gospel through their families or Care Groups? Nothing! Car washes just to show the love of Jesus, free lawn care, etc? Maybe even encourage youth to get some “family industry” going with a small business? Hmmmmm…..

8. Serve during times of family hospitality. Biblical hospitality is something we do at CRCC. I love how my daughter is learning to serve our guests at our home and then goes to play with their children. Learning and play! And since CRCC families are encouraged to be hospitable at least monthly, my daughter has lots to do at CRCC!

9. Supporting our Missions efforts by writing letters, raising money by working, doing a missions car wash through Care Group or another ministry, or some other idea I haven’t thought of. Hey…why not?

10. Attend the quarterly “Pizza with the Pastor” Movie Night, which will begin soon. This meeting is designed to support what parents are teaching their children, answer hard bible questions, and will be followed by a movie!  (Yes….CRCC Movie Night is coming back!) Parents are encouraged to come too of course! We are Family Integrated after all….

In addition to these ten “to dos”, what’s stopping CRCC youth from getting together to play basketball, football, etc.? Nothing. Or forming a family prayer group or catechism club? Nothing. Or creating a “Catechized and Loving it” Facebook page or website? Nothing!  Or sending assistance to orphans in another country along with their parents support? Nothing. Or inviting their friends to anything in this post? Nothing but maybe their parents!

Many of these things are already going on; it’s just that CRCC doesn’t get “youth ministry” credit for them! LOL. And by the way, a family coming into our church could jump right in to these things with a little help from their Care Group and the Brotherhood/Sisters. Remember, there are VERY important reasons we restructured for the sake of children and youth: http://www.crcchesapeake.org/church/reaching/family-integration.

So spread the word to all CRCCites…CRCC loves youth! That is all, over and out….

UPDATE:

The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy

Preface

The authority of Scripture is a key issue for the Christian Church in this and every age. Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are called to show the reality of their discipleship by humbly and faithfully obeying God's written Word. To stray from Scripture in faith or conduct is disloyalty to our Master. Recognition of the total truth and trustworthiness of Holy Scripture is essential to a full grasp and adequate confession of its authority.

The following Statement affirms this inerrancy of Scripture afresh, making clear our understanding of it and warning against its denial. We are persuaded that to deny it is to set aside the witness of Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit and to refuse that submission to the claims of God's own Word which marks true Christian faith. We see it as our timely duty to make this affirmation in the face of current lapses from the truth of inerrancy among our fellow Christians and misunderstanding of this doctrine in the world at large.

This Statement consists of three parts: a Summary Statement, Articles of Affirmation and Denial, and an Exposition. It has been prepared in the course of a three-day consultation in Chicago. Those who have signed the Summary Statement and the Articles wish to affirm their own conviction as to the inerrancy of Scripture and to encourage and challenge one another and all Christians to growing appreciation and understanding of this doctrine. We acknowledge the limitations of a document prepared in a brief, intensive conference and do not propose that this Statement be given creedal weight. Yet we rejoice in the deepening of our own convictions through our discussions together, and we pray that the Statement we have signed may be used to the glory of our God toward a new reformation of the Church in its faith, life, and mission.

We offer this Statement in a spirit, not of contention, but of humility and love, which we purpose by God's grace to maintain in any future dialogue arising out of what we have said. We gladly acknowledge that many who deny the inerrancy of Scripture do not display the consequences of this denial in the rest of their belief and behavior, and we are conscious that we who confess this doctrine often deny it in life by failing to bring our thoughts and deeds, our traditions and habits, into true subjection to the divine Word.

We invite response to this statement from any who see reason to amend its affirmations about Scripture by the light of Scripture itself, under whose infallible authority we stand as we speak. We claim no personal infallibility for the witness we bear, and for any help which enables us to strengthen this testimony to God's Word we shall be grateful.

A Short Statement

1. God, who is Himself Truth and speaks truth only, has inspired Holy Scripture in order thereby to reveal Himself to lost mankind through Jesus Christ as Creator and Lord, Redeemer and Judge. Holy Scripture is God's witness to Himself.

2. Holy Scripture, being God's own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God's instruction, in all that it affirms; obeyed, as God's command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God's pledge, in all that it promises.

3. The Holy Spirit, Scripture's divine Author, both authenticates it to us by His inward witness and opens our minds to understand its meaning.
 

4. Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God's acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God's saving grace in individual lives.
 

5. The authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this total divine inerrancy is in any way limited or disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible's own; and such lapses bring serious loss to both the individual and the Church.

Articles of Affirmation and Denial

Article I

We affirm that the Holy Scriptures are to be received as the authoritative Word of God.
We deny that the Scriptures receive their authority from the Church, tradition, or any other human source.

Article II

We affirm that the Scriptures are the supreme written norm by which God binds the conscience, and that the authority of the Church is subordinate to that of Scripture.
We deny that Church creeds, councils, or declarations have authority greater than or equal to the authority of the Bible.

Article III

We affirm that the written Word in its entirety is revelation given by God.
We deny that the Bible is merely a witness to revelation, or only becomes revelation in encounter, or depends on the responses of men for its validity.

Article IV

We affirm that God who made mankind in His image has used language as a means of revelation.
We deny that human language is so limited by our creatureliness that it is rendered inadequate as a vehicle for divine revelation. We further deny that the corruption of human culture and language through sin has thwarted God's work of inspiration.

Article V

We affirm that God's revelation in the Holy Scriptures was progressive.
We deny that later revelation, which may fulfill earlier revelation, ever corrects or contradicts it. We further deny that any normative revelation has been given since the completion of the New Testament writings.

Article VI

We affirm that the whole of Scripture and all its parts, down to the very words of the original, were given by divine inspiration.
We deny that the inspiration of Scripture can rightly be affirmed of the whole without the parts, or of some parts but not the whole.

Article VII

We affirm that inspiration was the work in which God by His Spirit, through human writers, gave us His Word. The origin of Scripture is divine. The mode of divine inspiration remains largely a mystery to us.
We deny that inspiration can be reduced to human insight, or to heightened states of consciousness of any kind.

Article VIII

We affirm that God in His Work of inspiration utilized the distinctive personalities and literary styles of the writers whom He had chosen and prepared.
We deny that God, in causing these writers to use the very words that He chose, overrode their personalities.

Article IX

We affirm that inspiration, though not conferring omniscience, guaranteed true and trustworthy utterance on all matters of which the Biblical authors were moved to speak and write.
We deny that the finitude or fallenness of these writers, by necessity or otherwise, introduced distortion or falsehood into God's Word.

Article X

We affirm that inspiration, strictly speaking, applies only to the autographic text of Scripture, which in the providence of God can be ascertained from available manuscripts with great accuracy. We further affirm that copies and translations of Scripture are the Word of God to the extent that they faithfully represent the original.
We deny that any essential element of the Christian faith is affected by the absence of the autographs. We further deny that this absence renders the assertion of Biblical inerrancy invalid or irrelevant.

Article XI

We affirm that Scripture, having been given by divine inspiration, is infallible, so that, far from misleading us, it is true and reliable in all the matters it addresses.
We deny that it is possible for the Bible to be at the same time infallible and errant in its assertions. Infallibility and inerrancy may be distinguished, but not separated.

Article XII

We affirm that Scripture in its entirety is inerrant, being free from all falsehood, fraud, or deceit.
We deny that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and science. We further deny that scientific hypotheses about earth history may properly be used to overturn the teaching of Scripture on creation and the flood.

Article XIII

We affirm the propriety of using inerrancy as a theological term with reference to the complete truthfulness of Scripture.
We deny that it is proper to evaluate Scripture according to standards of truth and error that are alien to its usage or purpose. We further deny that inerrancy is negated by Biblical phenomena such as a lack of modern technical precision, irregularities of grammar or spelling, observational descriptions of nature, the reporting of falsehoods, the use of hyperbole and round numbers, the topical arrangement of material, variant selections of material in parallel accounts, or the use of free citations.

Article XIV

We affirm the unity and internal consistency of Scripture.
We deny that alleged errors and discrepancies that have not yet been resolved vitiate the truth claims of the Bible.

Article XV

We affirm that the doctrine of inerrancy is grounded in the teaching of the Bible about inspiration.
We deny that Jesus' teaching about Scripture may be dismissed by appeals to accommodation or to any natural limitation of His humanity.

Article XVI

We affirm that the doctrine of inerrancy has been integral to the Church's faith throughout its history.
We deny that inerrancy is a doctrine invented by Scholastic Protestantism, or is a reactionary position postulated in response to negative higher criticism.

Article XVII

We affirm that the Holy Spirit bears witness to the Scriptures, assuring believers of the truthfulness of God's written Word.
We deny that this witness of the Holy Spirit operates in isolation from or against Scripture.

Article XVIII

We affirm that the text of Scripture is to be interpreted by grammatical-historical exegesis, taking account of its literary forms and devices, and that Scripture is to interpret Scripture.
We deny the legitimacy of any treatment of the text or quest for sources lying behind it that leads to relativizing, dehistoricizing, or discounting its teaching, or rejecting its claims to authorship.

Article XIX

We affirm that a confession of the full authority, infallibility, and inerrancy of Scripture is vital to a sound understanding of the whole of the Christian faith. We further affirm that such confession should lead to increasing conformity to the image of Christ.
We deny that such confession is necessary for salvation. However, we further deny that inerrancy can be rejected without grave consequences, both to the individual and to the Church.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

Dr. MacArthur sums it up nicely.  More thoughts to come....

I've been asked a few times why CRCC does the things we do and why we hold to some of the positions we hold.  It's really quite simple; it's the way we view Scripture!  CRCC "madness" flows from our love of the Word of God!  We just refuse to allow culture to be the primary interpreter of what God says!  In our church, we have learned a few rules:

Three Basic Hermeneutical Rules:

Rule 1: A text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its author or his or her readers.
Rule 2: Whenever we share the same context with the original hearers, God’s Word to us is the same as His Word to them.

• In addition to Context (the “C” in CLIGHTS), at times we must also consider the following areas: Literal principles…interpreting Scripture within the correct literary genre, the need for Spirit-led Illumination, the Grammatical construction, the Historical setting, issues of Typology (especially in the Old Testament), and Scriptural Synergy…how all Scripture works together.

Rule 3: The clear must interpret the unclear.

• Here is the process (and btw, what makes us seem so odd at times!). Keeping all the rules in mind, we start with the most clear: biblical precepts (commands). Then we move to principles and then to patterns…in that order. In the absence of one, we move to the next.
• Precepts inform principles and supersede patterns. The patterns themselves must be considered in light of both precepts and principles. When we have a precept in context, we have God’s Word on an issue and other passages must be interpreted in light of what is clearly stated. This is a HUGE point.
• Harvey Bluedorn has rightly written, “An obscure passage of Scripture is one which does not directly teach on a particular subject with one clear meaning. It is a very fallacious and unsound hermeneutical method to simply choose - with one’s one authority, from among the many possible interpretations of an obscure passage – to simply choose one particular interpretation, to anoint it as the true doctrine, and to use this chosen interpretation to invalidate a contrary teaching found in other clear passages which explicitly teach on the subject. The clear sheds light upon the obscure, not the other way around. To put the obscure passage in control is to stand all methods of understanding on their head. This is a classic method of twisting Scripture.”
• In the absence of precepts we then look to principles, and we do so considering those principles that are overarching. These include God's power (His sovereignty), God's person (His character), and God's plan. This also includes viewing passages through the lens of Christ…His Person, His Gospel, His Work, and His New Covenant. This is especially helpful in understanding the Old Testament.

A Useful Methodology we learned from the Christian Research Institute: C.L.I.G.H.T.S.

• Context - One of the greatest errors we can make is to take a text out of its intended context. It has been said that “a text without a context is a pretext”, which is an incorrect assumption or interpretation. We are commanded to be diligent in Bible study (2 Tim 2:15), and to test ALL things in light of Scripture (1 Thes 5:21). This requires proper interpretative methods. Taking a text out of its context can result in false doctrine, poor decisions, and leaving the will of God!
• Literal Principle - This means that we should interpret the Word of God in its most natural and normal sense, taking into account obvious metaphors and figures of speech. We must be careful not to over-spiritualize passages and therefore compromise the meaning. Also, let me add this very important point: there is a difference between didactic (teaching) passages and narrative passages. They both are different from poems and prophetic passages with apocalyptic imagery. Interpreting a Scripture in light of the literary genre in which it is placed helps us arrive at the truth of its application.
• Illumination - A true understanding of Scripture can only come from the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit, the author of the Bible (1 Cor 2:12; 1 Jn 2:27). It is helpful to ask Him to help you understand the Word in truth as you study. This does not mean that we listen to "inner voices" while we study; it means we trust Him to guide us.
• Grammatical Principle - This principle means that we seek to have a "basic" understanding of the original languages to help avoid mistakes and in order to dig deeper into the text (Mk 12:44).
• Historical Principle - Having knowledge about the customs and cultural themes of the day can also help us to avoid mistakes in learning Scripture and while applying them to today. But care must also be taken here to not throw out tough passages where God may be requiring obedience regardless of cultural norms by saying, “that was for then not now.” Our interpretive rules really help us here.
• Typology Principle - Typology is the idea that people, places, things, and events of the Bible are really just types or shadows of bigger spiritual truths. All the types of the Old Testament find their culmination in Jesus Christ. This one truth really helps us when teaching in the Old Testament.
• Scriptural Synergy - This means that individual passages of Scripture must always harmonize with Scripture as a whole. One text can never be interpreted in a way as to conflict with another passage. The Bible never contradicts itself! Some examples include comparing OT passages concerning forgiveness of sin, ceremonial issues (food, cleansing, etc.), and civil matters with the NT. They appear contradictory if one doesn't understand that those commands were fulfilled in Christ.

Reading the Bible this way in our view allows God to speak into our lives and transform us.  It helps strip away our human tendencies to want things our way so we might do things His way.  The goal is to remove the fallible (us) so we might hear the infallible (Him) and get to the truth.  And this method makes us confront the fact that God might just want a few things that look really odd to us who are immersed in this culture.