Making and Maturing

Disciples of Jesus

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Ryan serves as the Lead Pastor of Green Pond Bible Chapel in Rockaway, New Jersey. He is married with four children.
  • H-Town Update & Relief Mission from GPBC/HBC

    H-Town Update & Relief Mission from GPBC/HBC

    Many of you know that my parents live in Houston, and you have been asking for updates. Here is the latest:

    Addicks Reservoir Flooding

    As the rain continues, the Addicks Reservoir will continue to over-flow. My parents live directly on the north edge of the reservoir, which means as the water backs up their neighborhood will flood. They left their house yesterday, and are praying that the water levels won’t rise much more. For inquiring minds, here’s a clear explanation of the flooding situation related to the reservoirs.

    Houston map-Annotated

    Christ Community Church

    My dad serves as the lead pastor of Christ Community Church (C3) in West Houston. As of this morning, the church hasn’t flooded.  Even so, they have a growing list of families in their church and community who have been flooded out of their homes. We cannot overstate the degree of devastation to the city of Houston. We need to pray that the body of Christ would rally together to care for our brothers and sisters and then show love to the lost around them. This is a tremendous challenge and opportunity for the church to shine.

    Possible Relief Mission Trip

    The families who have been flooded out will need help cleaning out flood damage from their homes. Working with C3, we have the opportunity to send a team to help some of these families start to clean up. As the flood waters recede, this will be an immense practical demonstration of love to a city in crisis.

    If you are interested in traveling to Houston for 5-7 days to help with this clean up effort, please contact me as soon as possible. We are hoping to send a team this weekend or perhaps leaving Sunday after church. The type of work will be pulling out carpet, disposing of ruined furniture, taking out damaged drywall, etc. We will also have opportunities to encourage these hurting families.

    Why Would People from New Jersey Help People in Texas?

    Why would we bother to engage and help the people of Houston? Because of the love of Jesus Christ.

    “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” -John 13:35

    The eternal Word of God became flesh for us, and he calls us to this same kind of love. We can’t solve the problems of Houston, but the people of Houston are hurting, and we are in a position to do something about it. So let’s do it, and demonstrate the love of God to those in need.

    PS- Our friend Gunner recently became the pastor of a church in the same part of Houston. Gunner has spoken at our Winter Retreat the last few years.  Check out his website for helpful thoughts from someone in the midst of the crisis.

  • The Erosion of Parents’ Moral Primacy

    The Erosion of Parents’ Moral Primacy

    The news coming out of California and Minnesota regarding the agenda of educators is not good for parents. The operating assumption on the part of at least two charter schools is that parents do not have the right to be informed of when their children will be exposed to gender transformation instruction. I recommend that you read the CBS news story here, but even better is Rod Dreher’s analysis here.

    Two mutually exclusive beliefs are at war here, and they will continue to tear our culture apart:

    1. Parents Have the (God-given) Right and Responsibility to Teach Their Children Morality

    vs.

    2. The State Educational System has the Right and Responsibility to Teach Children Morality

    Parents who push back against the state as the primary moral educator will continue to hear responses like this: “We will not exempt your child from classroom instruction on gender identity, and marriage.”

    Regardless of your religious beliefs, if you are a parent this should send chills down your spine. What happens when the majority of our culture embraces euthanasia but you don’t? Fear not, the state will teach your child when it’s appropriate to kill off the sick and elderly. It’s a sci-fi nightmare that isn’t sci-fi anymore.

    Parents, God Calls You to Be the Spiritual Teacher of Your Children

    Looking at the issue as a Christian parent only heightens the sense of urgency. God calls us to instruct our children in the fear of the Lord. The bedrock Bible passage for this truth is Deuteronomy 6:4-8,

    Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  8 Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead (Christian Standard Bible, emphasis mine).

    No matter what a board of education says, issues like gender identity, sexuality, and marriage are all moral issues directly related to faith.  The Bible teaches on these issues, and because of the cultural confusion over them our church recently added clarification on them to our doctrinal statement.  Parents, you are the ones who should instruct your children in these matters based on the Word of God.  This is a responsibility that you cannot and should not outsource.

    On the one hand, we can be glad this isn’t policy for most schools. On the other hand, we can see the direct attack on our parental right to moral primacy in the lives of our children. As American citizens, we have the right to pursue other schooling options should the need arise. I can’t believe we have to say this, but a future campaign platform may be whether or not parents have the right to parent their children. Time will tell.

    In the meantime, let’s be the parents God has called us to be and teach our children what matters most.

  • On the Untimely Death of a Believer

    On the Untimely Death of a Believer

    This week many in our church body suddenly lost a dear friend and sister in the Lord who had moved away years ago. Her death was the result of a crime. She leaves behind a husband and grown children. I did not know her, but the loss is grievous to those who did.

    I would not offer a trite slogan or cliche at a time like this. But God’s Word does speak directly to his sovereignty over all death. Indeed, in Psalm 116:15 the Lord reminds us,

    “The death of his faithful ones is valuable in the LORD’s sight.”

    This reminds me of Charles Spurgeon’s famous sermon on God’s providence, given in April of 1858. The text of the sermon was Matthew 10:30, “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”  Towards the end he applies the truth of God’s providence in all things, including small things, and his intricate care for us. Spurgeon quotes another preacher’s memorable parable, which perfectly fits the situation. I offer it here as well as Spurgeon’s comments as a help to those hurting:

    Suppose you are a gardener employed by another. It is not your garden, but you are called upon to tend it, and you have your wages paid you. You have taken great care with a certain number of roses; you have trained them up, and there they are, blooming in their beauty. You pride yourself upon them.

    You come one morning into the garden, and you find that the best rose has been taken away. You are angry: you go to your fellow servants and charge them with having taken the rose. They declare that they had nothing to do with it, and one says, “I saw the master walking here this morning; I think he took it.” Is the gardener angry then? No, at once he says, “I am happy that my rose should have been so fair as to attract the attention of the master. It is his own. He has taken it, let him do what seems good.”

    Spurgeon elaborates:

    It is even so with your friends. They wither not by chance. The grave is not filled by accident. Men die according to God’s will. Your child is gone, but the Master took it. Your husband is gone, your wife is buried—the Master took them. Thank him that he let you have the pleasure of caring for them and tending them while they were here. And thank him that as he gave, he himself has taken away.*

    May those mourning find comfort in the care of the Master.

    *Text taken from Spurgeon’s Sermons (electronic ed., Vol. 4). Albany, OR: Ages Software.
  • Our Race Has a Problem

    Our Race Has a Problem

    Our race has a problem. By “race” I don’t mean ethnic group, I mean our race—the human one. We have a problem. Descendants of Adam and Eve have consistently acted in self-interest rather than selfless sacrifice. The Biblical word for this is sin, and from Genesis 3 on we see it clearly and repeatedly described and condemned. Of course, we don’t have to look to the Bible to see sin, or to Charlottesville, we can just look in the mirror.

    It’s maddening to think that we’re still dealing with racism, or adultery, or drug addictions, or greed, or gossip, or pride, but we are. Sin isn’t new; we’re just good at creating new ways of expressing it. Hate someone and want to hurt them? Use a car. Even though the problem is old, we should still be shocked and appalled when sin rears its ugly head.

    We Desperately Need Help

    Consider the first described act of sin after Adam and Eve. Cain and Abel offered sacrifices, but the Lord wasn’t pleased with Cain’s. We are not told why, and it doesn’t matter. The Lord said to Cain, “If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It’s desire is for you, but you must rule over it” (Gen. 4:7). He proved he couldn’t rule over sin, and he murdered his brother in anger, jealousy, and pride. This is our problem. We prove we can’t rule over sin every day.

    There Is Only One Solution

    We cannot cure the root cause of ethnic conflict apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ. People repenting of their sin and turning in faith to Jesus Christ is the only means of an eternally lasting peace. God has always been interested in solving conflict between ethnic groups. The mission of God to save sinners is a mission that transcends any division between people. God states this explicitly throughout the Bible for our benefit:

    Ethnic division is a result of sinful pride and self worship.  In Genesis 11:4 we said, “Let us make a name for ourselves…” Thus, to prevent self worship, God scattered humanity through the confusion of languages. Not all sociological divisions are language based, but many are.

    Blessing all ethnic groups is the mission of the Messiah.  In Genesis 12 we find out that God has selected one particular ethnic group, the Jewish people, to bless and use as a vehicle of blessing every “family.” He promises Abram in Genesis 12:3, “…all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” This is a reference to the work of Jesus, son of Abraham.

    Believers need to embrace God’s heart for all people groups.  This is the point of the book of Jonah. Jonah is angry over God’s grace to the repentant people of Ninevah. In Jonah 4:4 God asks Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry?” The answer to this rhetorical question is an emphatic no. God loves them, Jonah should too.

    The testimony of God’s work is intended for evangelism among all nations.  In Psalm 67:1-2 the author writes, “May God be gracious to us and bless us; may he make his face shine upon us (Selah), so that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.”

    Christians are called to make disciples of Jesus from all people groups.  In Jesus’ great commission to his followers in Matthew 28:19 he commands us on the basis of his authority to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…”

    The gospel is effective for all people groups.  Paul argues this point explicitly in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.”

    By faith in Jesus, the gospel removes hostility between people groups. In Ephesians 2:14 the Apostle Paul says, “For he [Jesus] is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility.” “Both groups” refers to Jews and non-Jews.

    In the New Earth, believers from all people groups will worship the God of the Bible.  In Isaiah 2:1-2 the prophet describes all nations coming to worship, “In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s house will be established at the top of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. All nations will stream to it, and many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us about his ways so that we may walk in his paths.’”

    Also, in Revelation 14:6 the Apostle John describes an angel delivering the gospel to all the earth, “Then I saw another angel flying high overhead, with the eternal gospel to announce to the inhabitants of the earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people.”

    These passages just scratch the surface of the multi-ethnic, global scope of the church.

    From this Biblical line of thought we can make several points of application:

    1. Sin is the great equalizer. Because of the universality of sin, no ethnic group is superior to another. Any claims to the contrary are anti-gospel and false teaching.
    2. Anti-gospel or gospel-less solutions to ethnic conflict cannot ultimately succeed. They are a bandaid for cancer. We must not place our hope in politics and programs. Even so, we are called to act with wisdom and seek to live at peace with all men. We have serious work to do here.
    3.  Because sin is the problem, the transformative power of the gospel is the only lasting solution. The only way we can actively contribute to the lasting solution to ethnic conflict is to make and mature disciples of Jesus Christ.
    4. Christians must consciously and explicitly pursue the expansion of the gospel in all ethnic groups. We usually think of this in terms of spreading the gospel overseas, but we must also think in terms of spreading the gospel to other people groups in our own communities. Ideally, the mix of people in our churches will match the mix of people in our communities.
    5. Christians must consciously and explicitly confront the sin of claims to ethnic superiority (in all its forms, not just the ones in the news). Every people group struggles with this expression of sin, and God won’t give anyone a pass. We must first humble ourselves and look to our own hearts. Do we need to repent of exalting our group over another? Of not being sensitive to other people groups?

    Hatred between ethnic groups is one of the very few sins that our culture is still generally sensitive about. But because we are Christians, our solution will be radically different than those proposed by our culture. As Paul argues in Romans 5:19, “For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”

    The best remedy to ethnic conflict is the advancing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us pray and act to that end.

  • These Are the Days (or Happy Anniversary Lindsay)

    17 years ago today Lindsay and I got married. Those, as they say, were the days.

    Those Were the Days


    When people say “those were the days” they usually mean that times were better in the past because of this or that. Sometimes they just mean those days were good days. For us, those really were good days.  

    Back then Lindsay agreed to marry me with a fair amount of uncertainty. Where would we live? Couldn’t say. Would we have kids? No promises there. If we did what would they be like? ! How hard would being a pastor’s wife be? To quote Coldplay, “Nobody said it was easy, but no one ever said it would be this hard.” Would we be millionaires? Firm no on that one.  

    Lindsay is a remarkable woman in many respects. We lived in a one bedroom apartment in a senior living complex in Santa Clarita. We used a card table for everything, and we had to save up for two Ikea Billy bookcases to hold my library. Did I mention Lindsay was still a college student and playing soccer on scholarship and working part time at the Coffee Kiosk?


    She was always positive, always worked hard to find solutions to our complex schedule. She always made it a priority to be involved in ministry together. She was a living example of content faith every day.  

    These Are the Days

    “…so that the proven character of your faith more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”                -1 Peter 1:7

    Those were the days. But the phrase that fits for today is “these are the days.” By it I mean that these days are better than those first days were. Without 17 years of changes and challenges, I wouldn’t have been able to see the proven character of Lindsay’s faith so clearly. Hear me out on this:

    In the past 17 years God has moved us from California to Texas to Florida to New Jersey. He has blessed us with ample provision, one dog, and four small humans. We have faced significant challenges, and yet we have experienced tremendous blessings from God. 


    Lindsay still amazes me. In all those ups and downs, her faith and character have been shown to be of the highest quality. She works hard taking care of the kids, and especially as we transitioned to home schooling. She ministers faithfully to the women in our church body. She worked hard to put me through seminary. She keeps up with our families and friends. She’s always looking for ways to serve others and meet needs. She graciously encouraged me to use my Fridays as a study day so I could pursue another degree.  

    You can imagine our house can be “moderately active.” Although I’m sure she doesn’t feel like it, she shows remarkable patience with our littles. She still finds time to invest in our families and friends. She now leads our homeschool community, requiring her to use many precious hours after the kids are in bed to plan and get stuff done. In all of this, she seeks to do it in a way that honors Jesus.  

    Proven character. 17 years later I can tell you without hesitation that’s Lindsay.  

    These are the days. Happy anniversary babe. I love you.