A New Acronym… the SSV

I had the pleasure of teaching our Women’s Ministry today and ran into a dynamic alive in women’s ministry that has no root in men’s ministry… the SSV.

Still Small Voice: the rather quiet and shy “special” voice employed during group prayer, particularly among a group of ladies.

just had to share

Me: a poor confused man

Well, it has been a long time since my last post, but here it is.  I have decided to drift out a rough draft of an assignment a wise friend gave me.  I have a good friend named Jeff Kornoelje, who challenged me to write out my own mission statement… all for the purpose of thinking clearly… establishing my ultimates and finding all things in their rightful place.  So, here it goes… probably woefully incomplete…    But to start, I must start with God, then mankind, then myself.

The mission of God

• Generally: to glorify himself
• Specifically: To glorify Himself through condemnation and abolishment of sin and the conquering mercy and love of the Cross

The human mission

• To bring glory to God by Gospel-transformed individuals (clear, driving message and character) rightly functioning in the Church (relationships and role) to adore and obey their King and to represent the plea of the King to the unbelieving world (rebellion and the Cross).

The mission of Scott Burns:

• To rejoice in the mission of God and embrace the human mission
• To glorify God by personally clinging to the clear and sufficient message of the Cross in all areas life, thought and belief.
• To strive to be an excellent husband and father.
• To function rightly within the Church in order to function rightly in the world.
• To be a faithful and blessing friend to those who have been close to my heart and a servant to all others.
• To seek the rightful advance of the Kingdom, aggressively attending to the stepping-out in faith and the cautious watching of the health of the church.
• To be an excellent leader by
  • To keep myself and the leaders around me focused and continually refreshed in our personal and corporate attention on the Cross of Christ in all of its effects
  • To keep myself and the leaders around me driven by the mind of God as expressed in Scripture and discovered by prayerful study, meditation and conversation.
  • To keep myself and the leaders around me toiling hard at the Shepherding of the Church and the individual reaching of the lost.
  • To keep myself and the leaders around me aware of the big picture at all times in light of the Gospel.

well, there it is. Probably needs about 34 rounds of editing, adding and subtracting.

Photos So Hot it Burns

Well, prepare yourselves, i believe my blog is about to become more active with a mixture of entries. Some devotional, some photos, and other things.

But today, i want to invite you to check out a sincere blessing to the Burns house. Our good friends, Billy and Cory Blakey took pics of my family this past Friday. I absolutely love them. Check them out. I am so blessed by these fantastic pictures of my fantastic family that God has blessed me with.

billblakeyphotography.blogspot.com

Ode to the DMB

I write briefly today to bless my world-famous father… Douglas MacArthur Burns.  Yet again the wisdom that drips from him has saved my bacon…. or enough money to buy a bunch of it.

A long time ago, in Palmdale, Ca… near the intersection of 10th st west and palmdale blvd, my dad gave me his systematic first moves with any car having a starting problem.  Step #1- check the battery terminals.  Step #2 Go get a hammer or excessively large screw driver and beat the heck out of something called a solenoid (pronounced like sil-o-noid).  Steps from that point on were either lost in time, my memory or my fathers slight issue with mumbling…. but alas … enough was given.

So, this weekend, before removing the starter off of my Isuzu rodeo, i proceeded to get under there and whip the crud out of my solenoid.  Wouldnt you know it…..   It worked! 

So, this one goes out to you dad.  Thanks for the man-training and the sparing of my wallet.  I love you.

Gospel in 6 update

If you get a moment, go to the side bar and check out my latest version of the Gospel in 6 Snapshot.  I have spent quite a bit of energy rethinking how I state the Gospel in a way that is clear, does not feed misconceptions and provides a simple framework for living.

More than ever, I dont think people are rejecting the Gospel.  They are rejecting something … but it is not the Gospel of the Scriptures.  They cant reject what they dont understand.  My hope is to make an understandable explanation of the Gospel… so that people run to God by the Cross or , sadly, consciously evade God and the Cross.

A lesser vote

ok, for those of you who love us and have a few minutes on hand, I would encourage you to go over to Ken Flower’s blog (www.kenandbeth.wordpress.com) and vote on our annual pumpkin carving contest.  The Kids and I worked hard on the pumpkin and my beloved wife worked hard on getting a good “candle light” shot of our unique gourd in the middle of the day.

I also updated our Gospel page.  As some around me know, I have spent a lot of time in the past year working on my ability to think through and explain clearly what the message of the Bible is.  The new page uses some of that work, though i could not get our nifty graphics to load up with it.

I will also be loading a new and improved version of our “questions” (aka catechism) in the near future.  I have added a bunch to it, refined what was already there and have made some material for older kids.

Finally, keep your eyes out on melissa’s blog as she has really pumped out a bunch of sweet pics lately, including her latest session with June Flower, which I imaginge will be posted late tonight.

Melissa’s new venture

So, I am proud of my wife.  I thought I would bask in the glow of her awesomeness.

Introducing Melissa’s new photoblog and budding photography business….

http://www.mburnsphotography.blogspot.com/

Now that’s what i am talking about

My lovely wife sent me an email with a link for the site below.  It has a little video that is definately worth watching.  Be sure to watch and ponder if you have not already.

http://www.adventconspiracy.org/

A trip of a lifetime

I recently got to go on a trip of a lifetime to Deadhorse, Ak to hunt Caribou with my good friend Jr Gates.  I had an absolute blast and was able to come home with more than just memories.

http://picasaweb.google.com/madburns/CaribouHunt08

A little message to my family.

I love you guys. Melissa, I look forward to coming home and seeing you. Madison, I am looking forward to giving you a big squeeze. Kale, I am ready to wrestle you and do some beating down! Avery, daddy misses you much and I can wait to “nuggle”. Chloe… just keep drinking… thou shalt bounce on my knee soon. here are some pics for you guys. I will try to put some more up soon.

love you

scott