Ministry Archives - Wil Ramsey

Why I Don’t Give Mother’s Day Sermons

May 10, 2013 2 Comments

There are two sermons Pastors can give each year that pretty much write themselves. They come on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

The first of these sermons go like this.

Mom’s are kind and generous and self sacrificing. They are the first person to teach you what love is. Let’s take a look at Hannah . . .

I refuse to give that sermon. Because, while not always a lie, it isn’t true.

I’ve sat up all night with kids whose mother beat them with a broom stick after the umbrella she had been using broke.

Now apply that easy Mother’s Day sermons to these kids lives. Is that what love is?

Why Does This Crap Keep Happening? Sex Scandals and the Church

March 6, 2013 8 Comments

This week the completely unsurprising happened: a high profile Christian resigned his position because of inappropriate sexual relationships. This time it was Keith O’Brien, but he wasn’t the first and he (unfortunately) won’t be the last. In fact, if I optimize this post to show up on google as “church guy resigns because of sex” it could very well be my most viewed post ever because this happens so unbelievably often.

In this particular case, O’Brien has had some pretty ugly things to say about the LGBT community. But, as it turns out, he himself has had a few sexual encounters with young priests.

Why does this happen? And why does it always seem to be person who has taken a strong stand against the very thing they are exposed as doing?

That stance is actually exactly why it happens.

Baseball and the Church

January 10, 2013 2 Comments

Growing up two things were for certain: we would play baseball and we would go to church.

Although both of my parents supported and encouraged each of these activities, it became natural for us to identify baseball with Dad and church with Mom. After all, it was my dad who always shared stories about how he struck out a guy who ended up playing in the Series. It was Dad who taught us to sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” before we were 2. It was Dad out in the yard with us showing us how to throw a curveball. And it was mom who made sure we were dressed and in the car. It was Mom who encouraged us to sell fundraiser crap to go to camp. It was Mom who bought us the complete sermons of Martin Luther for Christmas (true story).

Book Review: Deep and Wide by Andy Stanley

January 4, 2013 22 Comments

Andy Stanley’s Deep and Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend is part memoir and part instruction manual on how to create churches for those outside the church. Deep and Wide is divided into five sections, “My Story” is Stanley’s personal background, “Our Story,” is the story of the planting of North Point Community Church in 1995, “Going Deep,” covers North Points’ spiritual formation technique “Going Wide,” is about how North Point structures its programming for outreaching and “Becoming Deep and Wide,” is about helping churches to transition to the type of church Stanley advocates. My thoughts on what Deep and Wide gets right and what it gets wrong are detailed below.

The Church Is Not a Community Center

December 8, 2012 2 Comments

I’ve lost about 20 pounds this year. I plan on losing more next year.

I lost weight as a direct result of my growth as a Christian. In youth group last spring we were talking about giving back to God because he gives so much to us and we asked, “What is something God gave us that we don’t always act thankful for?”

One girl said, “Our bodies.”

And like that I knew I had to take better care of my body. And so I do.

I’m telling you this story because I want to establish that I think that there isn’t a single part of life that isn’t influenced by our decision to follow God. Even the way we eat should be.

Why I Lead Worship (even though I can’t sing)

September 7, 2012 Leave a comment

For the last three semesters our Youth Group was blessed to have a student who was able and willing to lead us in worship through song. But, as happens in Youth Groups, she graduated leaving us with nobody currently willing to lead us. My wife asked me if I would be willing to lead a few songs each week. I am a poor guitar player and and even worse singer, but I agreed to do it. I did it because it is important and because it is necessary. But I also did it, despite my lack of musicianship, for three main reasons.