Church Leadership Training Conference a Big Success

The Church leadership Training conference held on Saturday 9-11-2010 was very successful.  Over 500 Church leaders, Bible study teachers and those who just wanted to learn more about the Bible attended.  This marks the third year in a row that attendance has increased.  The conference got underway with the conference goers lifting their voices in worship.

For the second year in a row, Pastor Bill Peters, founder and President of "In The Beginning Ministries" was asked to present a Genesis based creation message.  This year's class "Can You Defend What You Believe"was the result of last year's response to the class.  Last year the class was presented in a 50 minute format for a lunch time elective class.  The Lord blessed the day with a standing room only class of more than 60 people.  A request was made to the conference organizers to bring the class back as a full day class.  We were honored and privileged to be asked to teach this important information in a full day format.

The class went very well, as Pastor Peters presented information on how to defend the Word of God regarding six days, Noah's Ark and the flood, creation, the beginning of life, fossils and dinosaurs.  Pastor Peters also dealt with the subject of young earth creationism vs old earth creationism and why young earth is more in tune with the statements of the Scriptures.

The day ended with a fun PowerPoint Jeopardy style game.  The class was divided in four teams and the four categories and twenty-four total questions went very fast.  All the teams had excellent answers, but alas, there could be only one winner.  The categories and questions were taken from the day's class and was meant to reinforce what the attendees had heard and written down during the day.

We were blessed with excellent evaluations from  those who attended the class.  It was a blessing to be with these Christian leaders who wanted to learn more about how to defend Jesus Christ and the Holy Scriptures to the world with reasoned and thoughtful answers.

1 Peter 3:15-17

15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; 16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. 17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.   NKJV

Christian Leadershhip Training Conference

Just putting the final touches to the Can You Defend What You Believe presentation for the Christian Leadership Training Conference in Milpitas this coming Saturday, September 11. We are also going to break the class up into six teams at the end of the day to play a Jeopardy type PPT game to see if they remember what they have been hearing all day.

I will be teaching on the topics of Six Days, Evolution/Millions of Years, Origin of the Universe, Origin of Life, the Fossil Record and the Origin of Dinosaurs, Noah's Ark and the flood, and Old Earth Creationism.  I am real excited about the class and can't wait for Saturday.

I would also like to express my thanks for all the work done by and education provided by Answers in Genesis which allows me to share the true and accurate foundational message of God's Word

August Creation Series Comes to an End

The August Creation/Genesis series of Can You Defend What You Believe came to an end last light Wednesday, August 25, 2010. The series of four Wednesday evening presentations to the teens at Family Heritage Church concluded with "Creation, the Best Theory".  In this presentation Pastor Bill Peters, the founder of In The Beginning Ministries provides ways to begin a creation conversation using secular evidences.  Many times when talking with unbelievers, if we immediately begin by telling them that Genesis says this, they will stop talking or change the subject.  But by introducing secular evidences that support the Biblical concept of creation, you can keep the conversation going.

By using secular evidences, such as the scientific law of Biogenesis (that states that life only comes from life and of its kind), or the second law of Thermo Dynamics "entropy" (that states that all things tend to disorder), we can challenge the evolutionary and millions of years beliefs of the non-believer and even those beliefs of Christians who hold to Old Earth and evolutionary ideas.

"The time I spent with these young people at Family Heritage Church was very exciting. They were engaged, and had a lot of questions.  More importantly, they had a lot of answers. It was a great month that went by to fast".

Tolerance

Interesting word.  Tolerate, tolerance, basically means to allow the beliefs of another without interfering, to recognize and respect others beliefs without sharing them.  This is where it gets interesting if you are a Christian.  The effort to build a mosque near ground zero in New York is being met with a great deal of negativity.  It is the wrong building,at the wrong time, in the wrong place.  However, the Main Stream Media tells us that we must be tolerant.

I would like to ask, where is the media's great concern for tolerance when the attacks are against Christians and Christianity.  Where was the main stream media when the Creation Museum was being planned and attacked, being built and attacked, opened and attacked, and to this day, there are almost constant attacks by the media.  Check out this blog by Ken Ham, President of Answers in Genesis.
http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2010/08/23/crowds-keep-pouring-in/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+KenHam+%28Around+the+World+with+Ken+Ham%29

The battle is never ending and we as Christians need to stand fast and defend what we believe.  We need to remember as the Apostles did, who it is we serve;

Acts 4:18 - 20  And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. "For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."(NKJV) Italics mine

This is why it is so important to read and understand the Word of God.  So that we can also speak the things which we have read and understand. This starts with a belief and understanding of Genesis and the Creation message. Why do we need Jesus?  Because of what happened in Genesis chapters 1 through 11. 

The world demands that we tolerate the very things that oppose Christ and the Word of God.  And like the Apostles, we must not bend to their demands.  We need to stand on the Word of God using the power of God to share His message with the world.  Matthew chapter 28: 18 through 20  Then Jesus came and spoke to them saying, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the earth" Amen (NKJV)

The message is that we are to be about God's business.  Don't let the world threaten you or scare you or belittle you into compromising the Word of God with the word of man.  There is only one infallible word and that is the Word of God!

Week two of August Creation Classes

This evening will be the second of four August Wednesday's at Family Heritage Church in la Quinta.  I have the privilege of speaking to the Church's youth group about Genesis and creation.  Tonight, we will be talking about defending what you believe.

It is interesting that we tend to go to great effort to defend our close friends when they are lied about or verbally attacked.  But it seems that we are reluctant to defend the closest friend we have in salvation, Jesus Christ who died for our sins.

Tonight we will be discussing the beginning of creation, life, and dinosaurs or dragons as they were called before the word dinosaur was invented back in 1841.  I'll bet you didn't know that dinosaurs were less than 200 hundred years old.  :)  We present the concepts of creation based on the foundation of God's word, particularly the book of Genesis.

Family Heritage Church Presentation

Pardon our mess for awhile, as we are just beginning to build our new blog site.

Pastor Bill Peters, founder and President of In The Beginning Ministries will be presenting creation based classes every Wednesday through the month of August at Family Heritage Church.  The church is located in La Quinta, California. The class times are from 7 to 8 PM.

Tomorrow, August 4th begins with Genesis 101: a basic look at the creation, flood, Noah's ark etc.

Wednesday, August 11 is "Can You Defend What You Believe" which gives a general presentation on how to defend the message of creation using biblical and scientific evidences.

Wednesday, August 18 is "Can You Defend What You Believe 2.0" drills down a bit further in the four areas of six days, Noah's Ark, dinosaurs, and the beginning of life.

Wednesday, August 25 is "Creation, the Best Theory" which takes a look at the secular evidences that support biblical creation.  This is a good way for people to find evidences that they can use to talk to non-believers or believers who are unsure about creation.

Family Heritage Chirch is located at 78-998 Miles Avenue, La Quinta, CA. 92253