Sun Stand Still Prayer
Joshua 10:6-14
What kind of prayers do we pray? Some things about Joshua’s prayer:
It was Bold:
Who prays for the sun to stand still? Our prayers minimize the power
of God.
Goals should be attainable….Our prayers should be impossible!
Take the opportunity for man to take credit for the answered prayer.
Joshua prayers this prayer publicly…it had to be God’s will.
Hebrews 4:16
It was a specific prayer:
Some specific Oak Leaf Prayers..(Join in these with us!)
Canton
50 biggest cities in US
House for church planting interns
Third Campus location
Be specific with our thanks!
It required action:
They marched all night….then he fought….then he prayed.
James 2:26
We are called to an active faith. Put some feet to your faith.
Work like it depends on you…Pray like it depends on God!
What is your specific prayer?
Tweet This Post
Posted on : 16-06-2010 | By : mattshultz | In : Politics
1
In many cases elections are about picking a candidate who is “not as bad” or the “least worst” among the group that we choose from. This years House District 14 seat is not like that at all. There are 3 very good candidates and more importantly even better men in this race. I know and respect each of the guys for all of the things that they do and have accomplished in their lives.
Having said all of that….. elections are about picking one person and I have done that in this race. I am supporting and fully endorse Greg Bowen for this State House seat. He has the most extensive business credentials of any of the candidates in this race and that is what we need in Atlanta right now. He is the business and fiscal conservative choice in this race. His record on the school board was one of cutting taxes and helping to shape a more streamlined budget. He will bring those same leadership skills to Atlanta!
Greg Bowen is a proven leader who has the executive experience required to move Georgia forward during this difficult time. As Chairman of the Bartow County Board of Education he fought for lower taxes while ensuring that our students continued to achieve. It was an honor serving with him and I can’t wait to work with him as our next State Representative!
Go check out Greg Bowen’s website and find out why we need his leadership to help pull Georgia out of this economic downturn.
Tweet This Post
Here are some notes I took yesterday from the message at Oak Leaf Church. We are in a series called Remix here we are looking back at messages from the past. This one is on parenting and here is what I re-learned 
1) Good parenting takes time!
- Kids want our time
- Time cannot be replaced with stuff
- It is OK for things to go undone
- Something has to get cheated don’t let it be family
- Primary job is to lead kids to Christ
- Ephesians 6:4
2) Good parenting takes a team
-Mom and Dad have to be on the same page
-Family and Church must work together
-Avg time at church 40 hrs/yr (The church cannot raise your kids)
-Parents get 3000 hrs/yr (what do you do with that time?)
-Check out resources at Oak Leaf Church Kids
-Get involved in church with kids
3) Kids don’t need you to be their friend they need a parent.
-Kids need discipline, punishment at times but teaching as well
Types of Parents:
Lifeguard Parent- always bails them out
Parents cannot protect their kids from every bad influence…their job
is to teach them how to respond to bad influences.
Etch a Sketch parents- the rules always change and aren’t consistent
Practical Tips:
-bedtimes are important
-teenagers need a curfew
-calendar needs limits
-less rules are better
3 simple all encompassing rules Obey, Be Kind, Respect
3) Parent Police
-Always want to catch them doing wrong
-Catch them doing something right!
-Have a reward tool
Tweet This Post
Posted on : 10-06-2010 | By : mattshultz | In : Christianity, Politics
0
Recently the organization Georgia Right to Life (GRTL) released its endorsements in the years gubernatorial election. The lone Republican candidate not to receive an endorsement was Karen Handel who is also the only women in this years contest. This group did however endorse at least one candidate with questionable integrity and documented morality issues. How does it make sense to do this but not support someone else on such narrow differences? Not only did she not get the organizations nod but the groups President Dan Becker made some pretty insensitive remarks in the process.
Karen and her husband have been unable to have children and support the use of invitro fertilization for couples wanting to be parents. She also believes that in addition to the life of the mother, rape and incest should be exceptions allowed under any abortion restrictions. As a result she is deemed unworthy by GRTL.
Let me just drop a little news flash on everyone…..I AGREE with Karen Handel. I think that abortions should be illegal except for rape, incest and the life of the mother. I would have also consider invitro if my wife and I would have had trouble conceiving. Here are the remarks from the GRTL president:
GRTL President Dan Becker said, “Someone’s desperate right to parenthood – because they’re infertile, they’re barren, whatever term you want to use – is an emotionally fraught subject that has our highest sympathy. But it should never be attempted to be addressed where a life is taken in the process.”
I am getting more and more convinced that this no longer even needs to be a political fight among Christians and conservatives. Finding a candidate who supports the elimination of abortion except for those 3 exceptions is a win across the board. When are we going to stop ripping each other apart politically on such a narrow difference of opinion? Rape, incest, life of the mother and invitro do not represent the problem area with abortions in this country anyway. The area where there in universal agreement among all groups is that abortions should not be used primarily for birth control. There is no debate on this between Christians and conservatives across this country. We should unite on this point and see if real change is possible. The left loves the fact that we are so busy trying to validate each others beliefs that we get NOTHING accomplished.
Groups like GRTL and others have been fighting the abortion issue for to long on the wrong side of the problem. Putting all of our money and efforts into curtailing abortions legally once someone is already pregnant has produced mixed results at best. I would like to see these groups do much more to support the re-emergence of the family unit. If we work more with young girls prior to them getting pregnant then maybe we can see the number of abortions drop without the fruitless political circus that this issue has become.
The time has come to reevaluate this issue as a litmus test for being a conservative. We are doing much more damage to the movement and seeing very little change take place. We should all be following President Reagan’s 80% rule on this and give our country the opportunity to see the conservative movement for the diversity that it truly offers this country.
Tweet This Post
Posted on : 09-06-2010 | By : mattshultz | In : Education, Leadership
0
Last night the board voted to shorten the school year by 3 days to 177 instructional days. Teacher contracts will be based on 185 days. When we originally discussed reducing days it was to give us room to be able to react to lost state revenue. Unfortunately our local property tax revenue dropped by 5% instead of the 2.5% we projected. This ate up the three days proposed and left us no ability to adjust to changes from the state in 2011. Dr Harper’s original proposal was to only shorten the school year by 3 days and re-evaluate where we are in January. I made the proposal to go ahead and take the 5 days now for the following reasons:
- This is over and teachers will not have the uncertainty about this issue for the 2010-2011 school year
- We will take no more days this year…THIS IS IT!
- Your pay will be STABLE
- By taking 5 days now we can divide the lost pay by 12 months instead of 6…Lowest monthly impact to teachers
- Teachers start back on August 4th instead of on July 30th
- Students come back on August 9th instead of August 4th (full week of instruction)
- Teachers will only have one post-planning day (May 23rd, 2011)
No one likes to lose any money but by taking this action now we have tried to create a situation where we have the least impact on our staff. Had we taken only 3 days most of us believed that we would have had to come back and take more days second semester. We are giving you all of this information now so that you can budget and plan for next year without waiting for some other shoe to drop. I hope that the extra time at the beginning and end of this years calendar will help ease the blow of the lost salary. The good news is that this is DONE….You know everything that we know and now you can just focus on your family and teaching your students.
Tweet This Post
Posted on : 07-06-2010 | By : mattshultz | In : Education
5
I was having a running discussion through twitter last week with a friend of mine on the topic of public education. In the course of our conversation we talked quite a bit about what the role of teachers and parents should look like. After a lot of thought I wanted to dive into this a little bit deeper.
There is a misconception in this country from soccer moms to conservative talk show hosts that education in this country is public. This in many ways is a myth and has done more harm to the process of children learning than any politician or political party. While it is true that the funding for education comes in large part from public sources the responsibility for education is inherently private. Too many parents have abdicated their responsibility to the institutions of education simply because they have paid their school taxes.
Education public or private is simply a conduit to provide information to students so that they can become more productive citizens in our society. Parents must ensure regardless of the funding mechanism employed that their children learn and grow as people and students in our schools.
Public education is a myth because it is a private responsibility of parents to be an active participant in the process. I worry much more about the children with inattentive parents and poor modeling than I do about the occasional bad teacher. Teachers only have students for a limited time and it is difficult if not impossible to overcome a marginal home environment.
Real improvement in education will come when we see families re-engaged with one another. The government can never replace the God ordained responsibility of parents. Show me a family filled with love and a nurturing environment and I will show you a student who will learn regardless of the funding source of the educational institution.
Public education is a Myth……Quality education begins and ends privately every morning and evening in homes all over this country. If we want better schools we all need to work on being and building better parents.
Tweet This Post
Posted on : 06-06-2010 | By : mattshultz | In : Personal
0
I have taken a planned hiatus from writing for a while but with everything that is going on in the world I can only be quiet for so long. I am in the process of finishing my Masters Degree and with my political life winding I am finding more hours in my life! I will be focusing on 4 key areas moving forward in my writing for the 3 of you who may actually read and care what I have to say. Those areas will be Christianity, Leadership, Politics and Education with a little Personal humor just to mix things up. Please get involved and keep me on my toes with comments and questions! Here are a few of the topics that will be dropping soon:
- The Myth of Public Education
- Georgia Right to Life….Got it WRONG
- House District 14 Comments
- Open letter to School Board Candidates
- Stand up….It’s time to get to work!
I am really looking forward to re-engaging in the topics of the day and I hope that you will begin to take the journey with me. It will be the unvarnished truth….Well at least from my perspective anyway!
Tweet This Post
This morning I announced on WBHF 1450am that I would not be seeking another term on the Bartow County school board. I am making this announcement now to give those interested in succeeding me plenty of time to prayerfully consider stepping into public service. I began my political journey volunteering for former Congressman Bob Barr as part of his campaign in 1994. That year we saw a conservative revolution sweep Washington, D.C. The climate was very much like the one we see captivating this country right now. Later, I would have the opportunity to intern for Congressman Barr and work with Catherine Brock who really taught me what legislative and constituent service was all about.
After completing college, I served in various leadership positions within the Bartow County Republican party and had a great experience running for the state legislature in 2002. Through all of these roles my belief has not wavered that government should be limited and accountable to the people.
I was first elected to the school board in 2004 to fill the unexpired term of Paul Bennett. I was later elected to a full four year term in 2006. I am proudest of the strides that this system has made in our graduation rate during my time on the board. Since 2004 we have seen about a 20% improvement in moving our students towards graduation. During my time on the board we have never raised the milage rate and have done our best to lower it every year that we could. The current rate dates back to the mid-1990′s. We built the best fund balance that this county has ever had and we have been using it to deal with this crisis (with minimal impact to employees to date). We also have the best bond rating that this school system has ever been able to achieve due to fiscally sound decisions. I am also very proud that I have stayed true to my convictions. Even when I had to stand alone or vote on something I knew would be unpopular I always did what I thought was right.
Public service no matter what form it takes should be about being part of something larger than yourself. I begin this final chapter in my school board service knowing that I have made a difference. I am also proud that I can say that I never used this position to benefit me or my family personally. For me, this has been and will continue to be about helping our children reach their full God given potential and purpose.
I would like to thank my wife Stephanie for her patience and love. The wife of an elected official is not always an ideal position. Stephanie you always handled my political life with grace and class. I love you very much! Thank you for allowing me to be away and serve for all of these years.
I am so excited about being able to spend more time with my 3 wonderful children Sydney, Austin & Anniston. They have always been my biggest fans and now I have more time to be theirs for a while.
Too often we look to our elected officials for answers to problems that they are incapable of giving. I know that many people are hurting right now and have serious questions about the future. I hope you find some comfort in knowing that Jesus Christ has a plan for your life. God sent him so that you could have a bright future free from the guilt that past sin often consumes in our life. If you need a church home to learn more about Jesus please stop by Oak Leaf Church and let us minister to you!
This bible verse has been a guiding force in my life for years and I hope you find strength and peace in it too.
Proverbs 16:9
In his heart a man plans his course,
but the LORD determines his steps.
Tweet This Post
