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Author Archives: barrydean

Guitar project (Part 1)

I have been chomping at the bit all winter to get started on my guitar project. I have sanding guitar been waiting for the weather to warm up so I can get outside and do some sanding. I have been playing guitar off and since I was a teenager and I have always wanted to create an electric guitar myself.

Over a year ago I found some information about how to paint your own guitar using spray cans. I did some research and found some glowing reviews on this method of guitar building. The method I found can be found at this web site. I purchased their electronic books and I received a ton of information including instructions with pictures, video, guitar graphics templates, and so many more resources.

Armed with these resources I proceeded to get online and find an electric guitar body, neck and hardware (electronics and such). Ebay here I come. I selected a Stratocaster type body made of Adler wood which is a decent type of wood for sustain which is important for some of the music I like to play. I found a nice looking Yamaha Stratocaster type neck where the fret board looked barely worked in. I purchased two Mighty Mite single coil pickups and a Seymour Duncan Screamin’ Demon humbucking bridge pickup. It will scream! I got all chrome hardware that will go nicely with the color I intend to paint my guitar.

The color and pattern is going to be orange and white checkerboard just like the end zones of my favorite college football team. Over the winter I put the body and neck together and installed all of the electronics and hardware to see how it would all sound together. I can honestly say it really sounded great. The Seymour Duncan humbucker screamed through some Van Halen, and when I selected the neck pickups the blues had some really great tone.

So this past Saturday I pulled the guitar out of my basement and removed all of the hardware, took apart the body and neck and began sanding off the original paint from the guitar body. I will be reporting several of the stages of the project on my blog. Hopefully it won’t bore my regular readers. Yeah all two of you. Above is the first picture. I can’t wait to rock.

5 Comments

Posted by barrydean on April 18, 2007 in guitar building, Personal

Biblical motherhood and the news

14 Apr

I am borrowing a bit from Dr. Mohler’s radio program from this past Tuesda Captured Brits y. I do this because it is so pertinent to a study I attended in this week’s IBS class. IBS stands for Institute for Biblical Studies. (The link will give you info from our church web site)

This past week we discussed the biblical roles of men and women. You may have heard some of the details surrounding the kidnapping ordeal of the 15 British troops captured by the Iranian military and their subsequent release. Some of those details involve the exploitation of the lone female soldier. During his usual denunciation of Western policy in the Middle East, Iranian president Ahmadinejad, made this observation.

“You will know that among the detainees there is one lady who is a mother of a child. Why is it that the most difficult work like patrolling at sea should be given to a woman?” “Why is there no respect for motherhood? Why does the West not value its women?”

This telling observation in the whole scene stood out for me, especially in light of the recent study of women’s roles. It does cause me to ponder the question. Is it really biblical for a woman, especially a mother and wife, be in the military?

In our IBS class we discussed three main attributes of a biblical woman. Those three attributes are:

Women are Helpers
Women are Nurturers
Women are Submissive

I’d just like to focus a bit on the second attribute, women are nurturers. I think that providing some scripture would help at this point. If you read 1 Timothy 5 you will understand that the apostle Paul is providing Timothy with guidance toward dealing with women’s roles in the church and in the home. Several verses in this chapter deal with the women’s role of nurturing. Titus 2:3-5 also depicts women in this nurturing role. Paul writes in verse 5 that women should be “working at home” (ESV).

This one attribute is the one attribute that provides an answer to my question above. If a mother or wife is serving in the military can they also fill their womanly role as a nurturer? Now I know some folks may say that they can if the husband is also in the military. But I would have to disagree because being married in the military is no guarantee that you will be stationed or serving together. If the couple have a child, who would provide the appropriate nurturing for the child? The military demands a lot from those serving and a mother would not have the necessary time to fill this biblical role. I believe the bible teaches throughout that it is the responsibility of the mother to provide the training and the passing on of the gift of Christ.

Please understand I am not saying that I agree with the way the Iranian president Ahmadinejad used this situation to point out the so called flaws in Western culture. Like I said before this was unashamedly an exploitation ploy for the world media. But the words he used did strike a nerve within the body of Christ.

Kudos and citations go to Dr. Albert Mohler for covering this in his radio show and blog seen here.

Also kudos to Todd Swift one of our elders at OBC who lead our IBS class and provided the scripture for me to use.

3 Comments

Posted by barrydean on April 14, 2007 in Family, news, Women

Trusting in future grace

11 Apr

I am currently involved in a bible study surrounding a book written by John Piper. The book is titled Future Grace. We’ve been doing the study for about 4 weeks now and it is great. The first thing Piper educates us on is this thing called future grace. Piper contrasts future grace with gratitude. He challenges us to find anywhere in the bible where believers were motivated to obedience out of gratitude. He contends that this good deed behavior out of gratitude is called debtor’s ethic. It says that since you have done something good for me I am indebted to do something good for you. This is contrary to what God intended. God intended for true gratitude to be a spontaneous expression of pleasure in the gift and the good will of another. There is a good quote in the very first chapter that kind of describes it with clarity for me.

With true gratitude there is such a delight in the worth of God’s past grace, that we are driven on to experience more and more of it in the future. But this is not done by payments of debt in any ordinary sense. Rather, it is done by transforming gratitude into faith as it turns from contemplating the pleasures of past grace and starts contemplating the promises of the future.

This future grace is grace provided by God in the next day, in the next hour, in the next minute. We have confidence from past grace to trust God for His future grace. It is an awesome thing to behold and trust in.

In our study we recently discussed chapter six. It contains one of the most convicting things I’ve ever encountered. Faith in future grace versus pride. The chapter discusses three competitors to God for the human heart. Wisdom, might and riches. We think these can be obtained by our own self reliance. It is radically humbling to confess that the source of all our joy resides outside of ourselves. Pride is such an obstacle to future grace it opposes the hope and trust in the promises of God because we trust in ourselves, or others, or material things. But when we trust in God and His future grace we put away this human pride and walk in the second, the minute, the hour, and the day of God’s future grace.

As we continue in this study I will post some more information about it and review it as a whole. More to come.

6 Comments

Posted by barrydean on April 11, 2007 in grace, John Piper, Personal, Praise, Theology, Trust in Lord

John Calvin on worldly wisdom

06 Apr

John Calvin Now it’s time for a quote from:

John Calvin:

Man with all his shrewdness is as stupid about understanding by himself the mysteries of God, as an ass is incapable of understanding musical harmony. – Calvin on 1Co 1:20.

2 Comments

Posted by barrydean on April 6, 2007 in Calvinism, quotes

Opening day and remembering “The Slide”

02 Apr

I’m taking this opportunity to blog about something a little on the lighter side. Today The Slide is opening day for the 2007 Major League Baseball season. I am a baseball fan from way back. Growing up in Ohio I was a big fan of “the Big Red Machine”. If you aren’t a baseball fan then I’ll tell you that this was the name given to the Cincinnati Reds during the 1970’s. They won four national league pennants and and two World Series. They produced many great players such as Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Pete Rose, Ken Griffey, and Tony Perez. The Reds were my dad’s favorite and they were my favorite team for quite a few years.

After I moved south to Tennessee I started to follow the Atlanta Braves. The Braves were always playing on television, airing on the Turner Broadcasting Network which is owned by Ted Turner who also owned the Braves. I remember going to many of the Atlanta Braves games. Traveling the two hours to Atlanta from Chattanooga, Tennessee. My friends and I would have our choice of seats during the 1980’s when the Braves were losing more than they were winning. I did get to see Dale Murphy play which was a great thrill. Then came the 1990’s and the unlikely 1991 season for the Braves. They went from worst the previous season to first by winning the national league pennant. They lost to the Minnesota Twins in the World Series in seven games in one of the best World Series in several years.

The next year the Braves dominated their division with dominating pitching with future stars like Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Steve Avery and reliever Mike Stanton. They won the pennant against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a game that will be forever remembered with one of the most exciting finishes. In the bottom of the ninth inning the Braves were behind 2-1 with two runners on bases, David Justice was on third and Sid Bream on second. The Braves brought in Francisco Cabrera to pinch hit. Cabrera lined a single to left easily scoring Justice and then came Bream with less than mediocre speed rounding third and heading for home. Barry Bonds, playing left field for the Pirates, fielded the ball and threw it home. The ball and Bream got to home plate at the same time but Sid Bream’s foot slid under the would be tag scoring the winning run. Home plate became a mound of Braves players as the Braves announcer proclaimed, Braves win!! Braves win!! Braves win!! It was an exciting game to watch and one especially thrilling for Braves fans such as I.

For many baseball fans the season of 1994 really turned fans sour toward the game as it did for me. I have never been much of a baseball since then as my interest in baseball waned more and more as the years have gone by. I have become more of a fan of college baseball so I still love the sport but a lot more at the college level. With the controversy of pro players using steroids and earning huge mega millions baseball fans have been left behind. Hopefully someone can turn the game around. It is a great game.

5 Comments

Posted by barrydean on April 2, 2007 in Baseball

Theology from an ex-president

30 Mar

If you listen to any of the Christian talk radio shows or read any of the blogs, you will have heard about the latest opinion about Jesus and salvation from former president Jimmy Carter. If you haven’t heard about it. His comment on the subject appeared in an article at beliefnet.com. Former president Carter was asked “Do you believe that god’s grace will save even non-Christians?” His reply was “yes” and then goes on to try and support this theology ….excuse me, opinion, using some biblical texts out of context and using pluralistic meanings.

One of the verses he uses is one so many folks use and misinterpret as I did many years ago and that is John 3:16. Former president Carter uses the first part of the verse “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” to substantiate his claim that everyone will be saved. His interpretation would be that God’s loving the world would also represent saving the world. Nothing could be further than this interpretation. Yes, God does demonstrate His love for the world by sending His only Son to die for those who would believe. Former president Carter neglects to use the following two verses and they follow:

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

If he would have included these verses he could not have argued for his kind of universalistic teaching. He would have to have aknowledge that it is only through Jesus that people are saved. We should be praying that former president Jimmy Carter would come to understand the true knowledge of scriptures so he will no longer spread this false teaching. I would also go so far as to say pray for his salvation as well.

You can read the Carter interview here. Be sure to check out some of the video as well. His body language reminds me of the body language I’ve seen of Joel Osteen when trying to articulate the gospel. It looks more like they are appealing to the interviewer and not proclaiming a truth. Reading about these people and those like him give me opportunity to thank God and give him the glory for calling out men to proclaim the truth that matters. Men like Patrick Abendroth, Mike Abendroth, Dr. John MacArthur, Dr. Steven Lawson, Dr. Albert Mohler and many others. Seek out messages by men such as these or those listed in my blog roll.

Salvation comes from sola Scriptura, solus Christus, sola Gratia, sola Fide, and soli Deo Gloria. Which means all through Scripture alone, through Christ alone, in grace alone, through faith alone, all to the glory of God.

2 Comments

Posted by barrydean on March 30, 2007 in news, Theology

Highlights of the 2007 Shepherds’ Conference

27 Mar

Tonight I went to the Shepherds’ Conference web site to view the pictures they had Shepherds' Conference posted from this year’s conference. Viewing them prompted to to remember some of my personal highlights from the conference. I will list them out as I try to remember them in order of each day.

Arriving Tuesday afternoon we all headed to the traditional OBC tour stop to eat lunch at the Fish Market Outlet in downtown LA. This is always an experience. We then headed to the Santa Monica Pier which for a few hours of shopping, walking, and Starbucks coffee, and seeing Mike Abendroth at the same spot we met him last year. I did get quite a bit of sun that afternoon. We then checked in to our hotel in Valencia (yes 24 fans, it’s still there) and went out to dinner. Wednesday morning we headed to the conference, verified our registrations, got our authentic fountain pen gifts and settled in on the Grace Community Church campus for a day of great preaching and seminars.

Highlights for Wednesday were John MacArthur preaching on premillennial theology in the morning and CJ Mahaney spoke on humility in the evening. Sitting with most of the guys at Starbucks and talking about the days events.

Highlights for Thursday were Q&A session with John MacArthur in the morning and Dr. Albert Mohler spoke on Greeting Card Theology from 1 Cor. 1 & 2. Getting our stack of free books and hanging with John Slack and eating In-N-Out burgers at lunch.

Friday was a busy highlight day. They include Mark Dever preaching on Daniel and our only hope is in God. Meeting Tim Challies from Challies dot com. Eating dinner with Hank, Bob, Steve, Dean, and Walter at the California Pizza Factory. Listening to Dr. John MacArthur speak on Luke 18:9-14 about the Pharisee and the tax collector who went to the temple to pray. Listening to Dr. Mohler during the “soapbox” sessions. One of my favorite highlights was and hanging with the pastors and elders on Friday night drinking some brews and listening to Pat, Todd, and Bu talk about their days in seminary.

Saturday highlights were eating breakfast at Mimi’s, seeing Master’s College, driving down to West Coast Choppers, conversations with Chris along the way. More highlights were speaking of salvation with someone I met at the Crystal Cathedral, attending the evening service of the potentially self proclaimed “healthiest” church in America. The speaker presented an anger management seminar under the disguise of a sermon. More on that in a later post.

The highlights for Sunday our final day were, Dr. MacArthur and his sermon on Luke 18:35-43. This was Jesus’ last healing. The healing of blind Bartemaius. Flying home, conversations with Chris on the flight. Seeing my wife waiting for me at the airport gate. Sleeping in my bed.

3 Comments

Posted by barrydean on March 27, 2007 in Ministry, Personal, Praise, Preaching, Shepherds' Conference

Who has clean hands?

23 Mar

While thinking about a song by Third Day, which is literally the lyrics from Psalm 2 clean hands 4, I made a note to look up the Psalm and read it again. I found some interesting stuff in verses 4 and 5.

4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart ,who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. 5 He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Who has clean hands? In verse 6 the question is answered….well kind of.

6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

Who are those that seek the face of God? I would have to use scripture to answer both of these questions. Romans 3 tells us that none is righteous, and no one seeks for God. So who has clean hands? No one has clean hands. Psalm 14:3 tells us as well that no one does good. Who seeks the face of the God? No one seeks the face of God. Only God can give us the desire through His grace to seek His face. Only God can declare us to have clean hands. He does this through justification. Justification that happens when God give us the faith to believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of His son Jesus Christ. God then declares us righteous.

Our senior pastor Patrick Abendroth has been leading us in a study of justification for the past few weeks. Ah….justification is such a sweet word that explains the believer’s position before a holy God. Pastor Pat has expressed that there is nothing he desires more to read about or study than justification. I would have to agree. It is amazing when it is foremost in your thinking how much it comes out in scripture. For when the psalmist asks in Psalm 24, who has clean hands, the believer can reflect that only through justification he has clean hands.

The recommended audio for the justification messages can be heard from the links below. Give them a listen.

Justification part 1

Justification part 2

Back in black

21 Mar

I have been away from posting anything for quite some time. As the title says I’m back in black …and white actually (the printed text). I was away because I have been busier and to some degree a bit discouraged by something someone said. But I thought about it and prayed about it and decided that God has allowed me to find this medium for me to think through things, personally and theologically. So I am returning, to the glory of Christ I will be posting my thoughts again.

Quite a lot has happened since my last posting. I have been to Shepherds’ Conference in sunny, southern California. I will post some thoughts about that trip in the days to come. Right now I am finishing up a book by Mark Driscoll. He is a very controversial person who has some controversial ideas about evangelism. Driscoll suggests that Christians invest into getting to know the culture in which God has placed them in. In his situation God has placed him into a culture in Seattle, Washington where folks are pretty culturally diverse. He describes some of his members as body pierced, gothic, and fully tattooed. A culture which would most likely be foreign to us Midwesterners. There are some of Driscoll’s ideas that I think are just too radical. I think he gets a bit too extreme with the movies, and television shows he consumes in order to understand his culture. But as a whole I agree with the things he writes about. If you think about it where did Jesus go with His ministry on earth. He associated with those who needed a doctor not the ones who were healthy. He associated with the sinners such as tax collectors and prostitutes. He went to places most religious people of that time would not be caught dead in.

Christ has given me a heart to reach folks for His name so I have been reading about reaching folks in the culture. We have a place, where folks similar to what Driscoll describes, congregate. Our local church has a ministry leader who regularly goes there. I am challenging myself this spring and summer to go there with him and engage folks for Christ.

3 Comments

Posted by barrydean on March 21, 2007 in Personal, Praise

Praying for ministry

15 Feb

What does your prayer life look like. If it looks a Prayer nything like mine, it consists of prayer for your spouse, family members, local church leaders, leaders of our country, missionaries, sanctification, the unsaved, the return of Christ, and so on. I’m not saying I pray for these all of the time but when I pray these folks almost consistently come to mind. Are you in ministry together with other believers in your local church? If so, I would like to encourage you to pray for the ministry and for the individuals as well. Pray that God would be glorified in the ministry and bless it. Pray that God would watch over and care for those whom you serve with. That God would meet their needs no matter how trivial. I am writing this because I have not been praying for my fellow laborers in ministry. I was prompted to repent of this by an article I read at the Grace To You website. The article pointed out that Paul prayed for those in ministry with him at all the churches he had visited or helped to establish. The book of Philippians chapter 1 contains much about Paul and his thoughts and prayers with those who labor with him. I would encourage everyone to read this chapter and become very intimate with it. Especially if you are serving in a ministry.