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National Signing Day: Not Just A Football Story

February 1, 2012 in Christian Life, Sports with 1 Comment

For college football fans, today is one of the best days of the off-season. It is National Signing Day. Leading up to this day, high school recruits have been making verbal commitments to the universities who have been wooing them. These verbal commitments, however, are non-binding. Some recruits have changed their minds and their verbal commitments.

If you ask me that is really not a commitment, is it?

Commitments really are not commitments until players sign on the dotted line. College coaches will stand around their fax machines awaiting these signed documents. Once the fax sheets roll out, then the players are committed.

Our Church Covenant

January 31, 2012 in Church Life with 0 Comments

Church Covenant Wordle

Last night Suzie and I met with our pastor and his wife for dinner. We enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship and took the final step in being members at First Baptist Church of Boynton Beach. We love Dr. Buz and Sandy McNutt.

Church membership is taken seriously by the church. The final step we took was to sign a copy of the church member covenant. I am sharing it here as an encouragement for those who might wonder if a Christian should be a member of a church. We are joining together with fellow believers to function as the body of Christ in our community.

Top Ten Tweets – Past 24 Hours

January 30, 2012 in Christian Life with 0 Comments

Easier for a rich man to get to heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a mule. -Kaitlyn, 7, quoted in my msg

— Ed Stetzer (@edstetzer) January 29, 2012

“How can we love sin, when we remember that because of our sins Jesus died?” ~ J.C. Ryle — J.C. Ryle (@JCRyleQuotes) January 30, 2012

64 people attended an “interest” meeting tonight for a mission trip to Kenya.Grateful to see God working! — Timothy Hight (@TimothyHight) January 30, 2012

The Odor of Mendacity

January 26, 2012 in Christian Life with 0 Comments

There ain’t nothin’ more powerful than the odor of mendacity…You can smell it. It smells like death.

–Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

"The Odor of Mendacity" Burl Ives as Big Daddy

Recently I watched the old classic movie Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman put on memorable performances of the Tennessee Williams piece. Another character was Big Daddy played by Burl Ives. Ives has one of those voices that resonates in the mind as well as the ear.

Big Daddy was a dying, self-made man. Family members and even a church deacon poured on the flattery as they anticipated the passing along of Big Daddy’s fortunes. He was keenly aware of this when he spoke his words about mendacity.

5 Old Prayers and 5 New Prayers

January 24, 2012 in Prayer with 2 Comments

Old Prayer #1: ~~Lord, please give me health.~~

New Prayer #1: Lord, honor your name in my sickness or in my health.

Old Prayer #2: ~~Lord, please give me wealth.~~

New Prayer #2: Lord, enrich your glory through my resources whether many or few.

Old Prayer #3: ~~Lord, please defeat my foes.~~

New Prayer #3: Lord, may your kingdom come and let me be on your side.

Old Prayer #4: ~~Lord, please give me ease.~~

New Prayer #4: Lord, for your sake give me hardship or ease.

Old Prayer #5: ~~Lord, please protect me.~~

New Prayer #5: Lord, be famous whether I live or die.

Unreached, Unengaged People Groups of Europe

January 23, 2012 in Missions with 3 Comments

I love missions. God is doing some amazing things around our globe. He is drawing people to himself from every nation and every tribe. I want to be a part of what He is doing.

Several factors play into my own love of missions journey. These factors work together to especially ask for God to do a mighty work amongst European people. Here are some of these factors:

1. My heritage – my branch of the Gantz family can be traced back to a city in the eastern part of Germany.

2. My history – with a military family background, I have lived in Okinawa, Italy and Germany.

52 Lessons from 52 Years

January 12, 2012 in Christian Life with 5 Comments

Yesterday was my 52nd birthday. As I told others – I am finally playing with a full deck. I spent a good part of the day thinking and reflecting. In no particular order and with no elaboration, here is a list of 52 lessons I have learned along the way.

1. Nothing satisfies like Jesus.

2. Relationships matter so much more than profits.

3. A happy greeting from a grandchild warms the soul.

4. Sin did cost much more than I wanted to pay.

5. I can genuinely love people with whom I disagree.

6. Sports is a good outlet but a terrible master.

7. A good wife is good to find.

I’m not sure who to give credit for this. I snagged it off of a Facebook status update. Talk about contextualization.

The Hillbilly 10 Commandments

January 10, 2012 in Christian Life with 1 Comment

Flourish Like The Palm Tree

January 9, 2012 in Christian Life with 2 Comments

A web site called One Word 365 has attracted much attention at the beginning of 2012. Instead of making and breaking a list of resolutions, this web site encourages people to choose one word as a focal word for the entire year.

Even before seeing this site, I encountered my word while reading my Bible a few weeks ago. While reading the 92nd Psalm, my attention zeroed in on the phrase that now sits in the header to this blog just under the FrankGantz.com. (If you are reading this via email or in your RSS reader, you will need to click through to the actual website to see it.)

A Critique of a Critique of Worship Music

January 8, 2012 in Church Life with 1 Comment

In my 50+ years of congregational singing in churches, I have participated in numerous styles of music. From hymns, psalms, southern gospel to Jesus People music, contemporary Christian music and indie band music, I have heard it and sung it.

In what has been dubbed “the worship war”, people often choose sides on what is the appropriate or best way to sing in a worship service. I do believe that critics of bad theology have raised a necessary voice. Worship music should reflect a solid biblical theology. However, criticism has a way of rolling along that can lead to petty criticisms.