Sep 14
We are called to live out an ancient faith in this modern world. This means we often have to use biblical principles to make judgments about what we should and should not do in this world. Christians often disagree on these judgements and controversy seems to surround these topics. We were discussing this idea in ladies’ …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.joshketchum.com/drawing-faith-lines-a-lesson-from-patton-shoes/
Jun 01
{NOTE: I wrote this article for an upcoming THINK magazine on Transgender issues.} On May 13, 2016, President Obama did what was considered unthinkable just a couple of years ago. He, along with Education and Justice Department officials, issued a letter urging school officials to accommodate transgender students by allowing them to use the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.joshketchum.com/how-transgender-bathroom-rules-are-flushing-our-youth/
May 05
America is growing more wicked! It is likely that judgment may come to this once great nation in the future. I am not a doomsday prophet, or one who seeks to be overly dramatic. But the sins of America will have consequences. The more we flaunt our sin before a holy God, turning our backs …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.joshketchum.com/your-generations-faith-may-delay-gods-judgment/
Mar 30
We just got back from our congregations first year to attend the Lads-to-Leaders Convention. I know your congregation may be considering this ministry. I wanted to write about our experience and how we went about it in the hope of helping you as a first-timer as well. I am going to use a bullet list …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.joshketchum.com/a-churchs-first-year-at-lads-to-leaders-convention/
Mar 29
Austin, my 11 year old son, was disappointed at not placing in his speech competition at Lads-to-Leaders. He rocked his speech! He delivered it the best he had ever done. He felt really good about it. He enjoyed the lesson, put his heart out there, and felt like he would get a trophy. He understood …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.joshketchum.com/you-are-the-trophy/
Oct 25
Some of our young men lead worship last night at Seven Oaks Church of Christ. While they all did a wonderful job, I wanted to share Caleb and Landon’s video. Austin did a great job on his lesson, which I may get loaded to Youtube later. If you want a smile and encouragement, then watch …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.joshketchum.com/caleb-and-lardon-lead-singing/
May 12
It is graduation time again, which means for lots of rural churches their home-grown kids will be gone soon. Most will not return except for visits. They go off to school, fall in love, and settle down in large cities where jobs are located. This is the case for most of the kids I grew …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.joshketchum.com/a-plea-to-big-city-churches-from-country-churches/
Jan 18
I grew up listening to country music. While I was driving a tractor though the summer it was a big chunk of my listening. I still listen to it some, but overall our family’s radio dial isn’t on country music anymore. One of the biggest complaints I have is the amount of songs that focus on …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.joshketchum.com/has-country-music-gone-drunk-and-party-crazy/
May 13
I wanted to share a list of ideas for your church to consider this summer. This is certainly not an exhaustive list and I welcome any ideas you may have that we could use here at Seven Oaks. You probably have heard of these before, but they may be a good reminder. Have some “Church/Eat/Church” …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.joshketchum.com/10-ministry-ideas-for-your-church-this-summer/
Sep 22
In the last post I shared some suggestions for children and their Bibles. In this post I want to share some of our experiences and make some book recommendations. Bibles I mentioned in the last post that you should get a child a Bible they can read. This link gives you the graded reading level …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.joshketchum.com/children-and-bibles-part-2/
