No Sunday School Answers

NSSA is moving!

Anthony — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 13:20:04 +0000

Just wanted to let you know that we are changing the URL for the blog here at No Sunday School Answers. The new web address will be: anthonystephens.wordpress.com. This address (www.anthony-stephens.com) will be shut down at the beginning of September. Make sure that you update your feeds and all. Also, let me know what you think about the new (more simple) site.

New Crimson Tide Intro

Anthony — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:37:53 +0000

Check out the new intro that will be played before Crimson Tide football games this fall…

Correct Priorities

Anthony — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 15:30:21 +0000

Earlier this week I had heard about the news that San Francisco 49er running back, Glen Coffee, was retiring from professional football. Why has this story made the headlines all over the sports world? He’s 23 years old. I won’t even go into the thought of how great it would be to retire at the age of 23. but I will get into why he stepped away from the game.

Glen Coffee was on a local radio show this week talking about this decision to walk away from arguably the greatest game on the face of the planet (along with millions of dollars). He shared about how his heart was not with the game anymore… even at the college level. He thought that if he got paid, it might make it all more tolerable. He has since seen that this is not the path for his life. It was amazing to hear him talk about his faith in Jesus Christ and following Him. Glen talked about sharing his decision to walk away with his coach Mike Singletary (also born-again Christian) and the encouragement that Coach Singletary gave him to follow His Lord.

The whole reason that I bring any of this up is not that here’s a former Alabama Crimson Tide running back (though that’s a cool part), but that it’s good to see someone who has their priorities straight. Glen Coffee was able to set aside the fame and fortune that the NFL has to offer to do what he knows is God’s path for him. I greatly respect him for this decision and pray that God would use him in a great and mighty way to shape the future of many people to come.

Pray for Krista

Anthony — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 03:55:08 +0000

Today, I made a visit to a local hospital to see an old friend. Krista McCarty has played many roles in the years that I’ve known her. She was first the little sister of a friend of mine growing up. She transitioned into a student of mine in my first full-time ministry role. After I stepped away from that position, Krista became a friend and someone I admire.

One interesting fact about this 24 year old young lady is that she has Cystic Fibrosis. She has had to battle this sickness for so long. The whole 14 or so years that I’ve known Krista, she has been a warrior and a half. I truly admire her strength and faith in Christ.

She is in the hospital now intubated and awaiting a lung transplant. She has fought with her lungs about as far as they can go. She is on the list here in Birmingham for a lung transplant. There is also a possibility of a living donor transplant. Please join me in lifting this warrior for Christ up in prayer. Pray for God to open the doors for a transplant to happen quickly. Pray for her family as they are by her side every hour through this all. Let’s see what our awesome God can do (Ephesians 3:20)!

Remedy For Worry

Anthony — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 05:03:16 +0000

At our local church fellowship, we have had Dr. Talley as a guest speaker. He has been sharing with our fellowship about the importance of having a personal prayer ministry. For the times I’ve been, it’s been some pretty good stuff.

Tonight was really cool. I’ll admit that when I saw the title (something like “how to be emotionally strong through prayer”), I wasn’t all that excited. As we unpacked Philippians 4:6-7, a few things stood out. One thing that I thought I’d share was the “bologna sandwich for worry”. Here’s how it goes (from Philippians 4:6):

First piece of bread: praise. When we take the time to praise God, it helps us greatly to deal with the junk that tries to knock us off course.

Second piece of bread: thanksgiving. It is hard to be focused on the junk when you’re offering thanks to God for His many blessings.

The bologna: supplication. Supplication is our “worry list” or all the junk that tries to get us off course. The truth is that when we gather up all the things that worry us so, they amount to about as much as bologna.

Worry can rob us of so much life. Jesus came to give us abundant life (John 10:10). Part of this is providing a way to deal with the worries of life. Maybe a sandwich is just the thing to help with those worries.

Book Review: “Insights on John”

Anthony — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 04:11:44 +0000

I was given by Zondervan Publishers a copy of Charles Swindoll’s “Insights on John” in return for a honest review of what I thought about it. I am not one to turn away a free book and give my opinion on something, so I gladly agreed.

Here are some strengths that I saw from this book…

Good charts. Who doesn’t like a visual aid to assist you in studying? I sure do. This book has a bunch of them to help put the information in a visual form to easily understand.
Very devotional. Swindoll’s use of the narrative is a style that does well in helping people understand the truth’s of God’s Word. This style of writing helps the sometimes confusing language of interpretation more clear.
Notes from the author’s journal. It was neat to see how different passages have spoken to Swindoll over the years. It made the resource more personal and seem like you were sitting down to share thoughts on a passage together with a friend.
Application sections. Having a little review at the end of each section helps to pull together the different points that you have studied.

I think that Swindoll’s work in Insights on John is a good tool to help people to get a better understanding of the Bible. I don’t think that it should be the only tool that a person uses, but it is definitely a good one to use.

Great Resource for Worship Needs

Anthony — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:56:48 +0000

Last night in our student ministry, we did not have anyone available to lead worship for our student worship service. This is not a good situation to be in. I was glad that a friend of mine let me know about a great resource for just such situations. It is LifeChurch.tv’s open resources. I have been amazed at the heart of LifeChurch.tv. They truly want to help out fellow believers around the world. They have created many great tools that are free for churches who might not be able to get those resources if they were charged the normal value. This open resource page of LifeChurch.tv has so many tools that you can use: messages (for kids, youth, and adults), small group studies, worship sets, and more.

As I was saying, last night we had no one to lead our group in musical worship. We actually used one of the worship sets (which you can download as a .mov or .wmv file) and just played it on the screen. It was like a live simulcast of a worship service. The leaders made it seem as if our group was right there in the room with them. Not to mention that the talent of these worship leaders is off the charts.

Next time you get in a bind and need a little help, check out LifeChurch.tv’s open resources that are available to churches around the globe… for free!

A Father’s Joy

Anthony — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 03:45:05 +0000

There are just times that occur in life that blow your mind and make you say, “Wow!” I am the father of two incredible boys, Drew (almost 3 yrs old) and Sam (just turned 7 weeks old). Those two boys are a couple of the greatest things that ever happened to me. God has taught me so much about Himself (and myself) through these boys. Today was another one of those lessons.

I had taken Drew out fishing this morning before the rain came in. We had gotten back about time for lunch, so we were eating a sandwich and some chips at the table. Naomi had Sam and was playing with him at the other end of the table. Drew begins to play with Sam and mess with him. You can already tell that these guys have great potential of being really close as they grow up. Sam begins to smile and almost laugh at his brother’s “playing with him.” Now Sam is not one to smile nor laugh much at this time in his life. Something about his brother just brightens him up though.

It was in that moment, as I was scarfing down my sandwich and chips that the Holy Spirit whispered to my heart, “You feel that joy welling up inside of you because them two boys are playing well with each other? That’s what I feel when Christians live together in love with one another.”

We may have different opinions on certain aspects of our faith, but if we are what the Bible calls “brothers and sisters in Christ,” then we had better be loving one another as family because in glory, we’re going to be doing that anyways. Jesus’ prayer for us (John 17) was that we might be “one”. This “one” is unity. We don’t have to see things exactly the same way in every tiny part of our beliefs (though there are some essentials).

How are you and I doing with helping Jesus’ prayer become a reality?

Summer Camp 2010

Anthony — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 19:21:27 +0000

I now sit at home finding myself recouping from our student ministry’s summer camp. It was an amazing 4 days of fun and worship with the students of First Baptist Church of Birmingham, Alabama. We went to a camp in East Tennessee called Whitewater Express. If you are looking for a great camp to get away with your students that will treat you right and provide some great activities, I highly suggest you check out Whitewater Express. Some of the fun activities that we did was rafting on the Nantahala and Ocoee, paintball, high ropes course, and more. The staff at this camp is awesome.

We brought in Ryan John to lead us in worship through music. I had met this young man about 6 years ago as I had him lead worship for a summer camp for another church I was with. Ryan is one of the best worship leaders that I have ever used. He has some amazing talent in singing and guitar. More importantly, he has a great heart for the Lord and students. He hung out with our students all week and participated in most of the activities. I knew that our kids would love Ryan and that God would use him in a great way to minister to our students… and that is exactly what happened.

Gary Permenter was our camp pastor. If you’ve never heard Gary speak, you are truly missing a blessing. God has His hand on Gary in a very special way. I have found few people who will put so much time into building relationships with people as Gary does. Gary brought some great messages about the life of Joseph in the Old Testament and challenged us all with how to position ourselves to be used greatly by God. If you are looking for a speaker for camp, retreats, special nights, or whatever, you really need to check out Gary.

As I reflect on this summer camp, I am thinking about a couple of things…

Forgiveness is a vital part of the Christian’s life. It is the number one need of every person because of sin in our lives, but also something that we need to be sure that we’re dishing out to others.
Times away from the normal routine are vital. The past 4 days have been great to get away from the hustle and bustle of life to focus on some key things that God is wanting to do in my life and ministry. Sometimes you have to remove yourself from the noise to hear God clearly.
Great adults are a must in student ministry. I had a couple who have 3 teens in our student ministry (all who were at camp). This camp would not have been possible if they would not have gone. Their loving on the students and helping them (and me) out made this a week that will not soon be forgotten. (Big thanks, Mike & Joyce!)
God will use anyone that will make themselves available. This was the theme of our last service at camp, and it is so true. The only special thing about Joseph was that he had made himself available by decisions that he made to be used in great ways by God.

I look forward to seeing the fruit of this summer camp. God was definitely doing some work on people’s lives (not just the students either).

Book Review: “Searching For God Knows What”

Anthony — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 03:58:44 +0000

Searching For God Knows What is the first work that I’ve read by Donald Miller. I’ve seen some of his stuff before but never taken the time to sit down and read it all the way through. This book seeks to show that “relationship is God’s way of leading us to redemption.” Miller seeks to deal with an issue that in today’s world many have just taken a formulaic view of God, and this is not good.

I personally thought that this was a pretty good read. Miller does have a humor about him and can easily bring that out in his writing. Who doesn’t want something that can make you chuckle every now and then? I will say that this book seemed to be a slow start for me. I appreciated the stories and all that were contained in the first few chapters, but it didn’t seem to kick into gear until you almost got to the end. When it did kick in, Miller had some great things to say. One of my favorite quotes from the book was…

“It would be most tragic for a person to know everything about God, but not God; to know all about the rules of spiritual marriage, but never walk the aisle.”

If you are looking for something that will entertain you and give you a few things to really think about and ponder, I would recommend checking out Searching For God Knows What.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”