Controversial Church coming to the Lowcountry

Tweet Westboro Baptist Church is coming to the Lowcountry to picket and spew hateful speech all around. Pastor Trey, my pastor, has a very helpful blog about it. I encourage you to check it out below. I will say that they are not Christian, Baptist, or even a church. Pastor Trey goes much deeper and has a lot more to say about it. It's awesome.

Pastor Trey's blog

You can also listen to his sermon where he talks about it.

-Pastor Ivey Rhodes

Quentin is Almost Here!

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Allie and I are very excited about Quentin coming soon. Allie went in for her weekly doctors appointment and all is well. We're just over 3 weeks away from the due date now and I can tell you Allie is ready (and me too)! I feel God has this amazing thing built into women. Just a few weeks ago Allie was really nervous about the delivery. Yesterday she said, "I'm ready for this to happen!" The bigger women get the more accepting they become of the painful contractions to come. It's kind of like getting a spanking. Let's just get it over with.

The doctor says it's any day now so we're packing our bags tonight to prepare. If you would lift up Allie as she is determined not to take any pain meds. When I say no pain meds I mean, like, not any Tylenol. Yeah, she's crazy like that. As for me I'll be taking plenty of Tylenol and maybe getting a spinal tap. I have to deal with Allie's hand squeeze of death again [Tongue in cheek].

Maggie and me waiting in the car for mom to finish with her doctor's checkup. Those are some killer blue eyes.

Maggie in our Walmart brand paper towel fort. It was awesome.

One interesting thing that has happened, that I only assume will increase, is the time I've gotten to spend with Maggie recently. As she gets older she has become more fun. She even plays some video games with me, and wakes me up so I'll go turn on the Wii. Good times.

-Ivey

40 Days of Love... Let's do it.

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We're learning to be first class lovers! That phrase makes me laugh, but it's true. Learning takes listening and action. This past week and a half has been helpful and challenging. In this weeks Small Group lesson Pastor Trey challenged us to love those who hard to love. He asked us to show patience to that person who grits our nerves, and he asked us to affirm someone with low self-worth. That last one was a challenge for me. Not because I can't affirm people but I had a hard time thinking of someone with low self-worth. After I prayed about it for a minute the Lord gave me a student at Reality. God then worked it out where I could offer this student a gift and affirm her. It was amazing to see her eyes light up when I gave her some iPod headphones after her's broke. A simple gesture. That same night a middle school student came up to me at Reality and told me how she struggled to be nice to a hard to love person, but this week she has been making an extra effort. She's even gone as far as buying this person's their favorite cookie and giving it to them at lunch. I was impressed. And that's where this 40 day journey makes a difference. We have to take action. I encourage you to take action the day after your small group, because it's fresh on your heart. Offer that person forgiveness, demonstrate trust to someone, affirm another, and accept those her are not accepted by most. Yes, it takes effort, but loving like Jesus loved will be impossible. It's our job to take the steps we need to get there. James 1:22 tells us, "Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!"


Below is Pastor Trey's message from Sunday on the Father's love. It's a good one! Don't miss it.

And this is the video we showed that's in the podcast, but you can actually watch it. Pastor Trey conducted the interviews. Thanks to everyone who participated. Enjoy :)

-Pastor Ivey