An Illustraion for the Message today that God Brought

Today was our 1st Message in our Stewardship Series on Time. One of the areas of time are opportunities that HE gives us to talk to others about the Gospel. One of the verses in the message was Colossians 4:5 which says:

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that
you may know how you ought to answer each person. ESV

The LORD sent us a illustration that went along with the aspect and the verse that was UNEXPECTED. A person was outside the front door of our church about the same time that the service was starting. One of our ladies approached them and asked if they needed help, as they were crying. They said they had been beaten up. The lady asked if she could call 911 or an ambulance. They said no. They came inside to use the phone, but didn't want to come to the service. They could not get in touch with someone, so two of our Elders took the person home.

The lady told me what happened during the meet and greet time, so we shared what happened at the beginning of the message. What an amazing thing that God did to get the message across!

Pray with me as I try to contact the person, this week, and share the Gospel with them!

CS Lewis: Don't be an Ass or a Buffoon!

I read some C.S. Lewis paragraphs this morning that made me laugh out loud. This quote comes out of his book, "The 4 Loves" where he divides love into 4 categories: 1. Affection. 2 Friendship. 3 Eros. and 4 Charity.

Here's the passage:

“Man has held three views of his body. First there is that of those ascetic Pagans who called it the prison or the ‘tomb’ of the soul, and of Christians like Fisher to whom it was a ‘sack of dung’, food for worms, filthy, shameful, a source of nothing but temptation to bad men and humiliation to others.

“Then there are the Neo-Pagans (they seldom know Greek), the nudists and the sufferers from Dark Gods, to whom the body is glorious.

“But thirdly we have the view which St Francis expressed by calling his body ‘Brother Ass’. All three may be – I am not sure – defensible; but give me St Francis for my money.

Ass is exquisitely right because no one in his senses can either revere or hate a donkey. It is a useful, sturdy, lazy, obstinate, patient, lovable, and infuriating beast; deserving now the stick and now a carrot; both pathetically and absurdly beautiful. So the body. There's no living with it till we recognise the one of its functions in our lives is to play the part of buffoon."

C.S. Lewis had it right. Our body is flesh and we have to keep it under control. Our Bible Verse for this week at Broadway is Gal. 6:8, "For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."

The battle is between our flesh and the Spirit!

Even Paul had a problem with the battle in Romans 7:15!

I don't know about you but, I don't want to be an Ass or a Buffoon. Let's not let the flesh win!

Broadway and Elev8

We are having a great time at Broadway. I just finished up the Message Series, "The Purpose of Broadway". We have adopted this Purpose Statement: Broadway exists to make disciples who glorify God by REACHING people for Jesus, RELATING them to other believers and growing them into passionate REPRODUCING followers of Christ.”

We've spent the last three weeks expounding on what the statement means. The three main words go along with three ministries of the church. We REACH people for Jesus through our Sunday Morning Worship Service. We RELATE those people to other believers through Small Group Ministry, and we help passionate believers REPRODUCE followers of Christ through the Discipleship Ministry. Since we are rebuilding here at Broadway, the last two ministries are not up and running just yet. Right now, we are focusing on the 10:30 am Worship Service to REACH people for Jesus.

Yesterday, we focused on the REPRODUCING portion of the Purpose Statement. The verses of Scripture we used was: John 15:1-16, 2 Timothy 2:2, and 1 Cor. 3:1-3. We had 7 people come forward to pray and 2 people approached me after church about how they were convicted about doing more to become MATURE believers. That really excites me!! I give all the praise to God for that.

We also introduced a Bible Reading Plan that as a church we can read and study the BIBLE together and we can be accountable together. We also have a verse of the week and every Sunday we encourage people to come forward and recite last weeks verse.

Also, our youth is called "Elev8"! We want them to rise to a higher standard. We've been averaging around 15 on Sunday nights and we look forward to seeing more teens come to Elev8. We've been teaching on "The 7 Principles that Every Teen Needs to Know".

1. Authentic Faith. Prov. 3:5-6
2. Spiritual Disciplines Romans 12:2
3. Moral Boundaries 1 Thess. 4:3-8
4. Healthy Friendships Proverbs 13:20
5. Wise Choices Eph. 5:15-17
6. Ultimate Authority Romans 13:1-2
7. Others First Phil. 2:3-11

If you know a teen that could benefit from this kind of teaching and have a great time while they're learning, come check Elev8 out. Elev8 is also on facebook. Click the icon on the left.

It's exciting to see what God is doing at Broadway. If you live in Pueblo and don't have a home church, we encourage you to come check us out and see what we are about. You can also visit us online at: www.broadwaypueblo.net
We're also on facebook! Just click the icon on the left.

March of Dimes-Jail and Bail

Ok, so someone put out a warrant for my arrest. The March of Dimes said that they were promptly put on the witness protection program. So I'm am supposed to "surrender" myself on August 11th at the Nacho's Restaurant. So if you would like to give me some "bail" money, I would appreciate it. The March of Dimes is a good cause. To support me and read up on the March of Dimes, please go to: http://jailandbail.marchofdimes.com/jskketch

Thanks so much!

Feels good to Lead Someone to Christ!

We had another great day at Broadway. Yesterday, I was honored to lead Malick Lewis to Christ yesterday.
Last Sunday, we took Elev8, the youth group of Broadway, up to Greenhorn Mountian to Mueller's Cabin. We got to fish, ride ATV's, worked some for Roger Mueller, the owner, and learn about the 7 principles that every teen needs to know. During the retreat, that lasted until Tuesday, Lavar, Malik's brother, asked if he could be baptized. I asked him if he'd accepted Christ and he said yes. So yesterday, we spoke to Lavar and his mom and I knew he was ready. Malick also wanted to talk, so we shared with him the gospel and he asked Jesus into his heart. AMAZING!

So today, we baptized four believers in Christ. Emily and Evan Peachee, who also went on the trip, was already planning to be baptized today. We had spoke the them and their parents last week.

But before we baptized, the teens helped me with my message this morning. We told Broadway about what we learned at the retreat.

I brought the teens forward and we asked them what we learned. Here is the first 4 of 7 principles that every teen needs to know. All the kids did great this morning, but congrats to Evan and Michael for quoting some verses word for word.

1. Authentic Faith--Proverbs 3:5-6
2. Spiritual Disciplines--Romans 12:2
3. Moral Boundaries--1 Thessalonians 4:4
4. Healthy Friendships--Proverbs 13:20

We had some guests visit today and 2 Connection Cards turned into that wants to know more about baptism and membership. We had 92 in attendance, which was our 2nd highest attendance since I've been at Broadway.

God is working and it's a great thing to be used by HIM!

Ck out our website at: www.broadwaypueblo.net

The Chieftain Article

The Chieftain writes profiles on new Pastors at church. They did one on Broadway today. You can click here for the Chieftain's web site.

Pray for Kaz!

Just wanted to ask you to pray for my sister and brother-in-law, Amy and Kaz Kato. They are missionaries in Tokyo.
Last Saturday, Kaz and Amy were riding their bicycles to Kaz's parents house, when Kaz was hit by a motorcycle. He has a broken shin, a broken hip joint (coxal/pelvic bone), and a fractured wrist with a lot of scrapes and bruises.
He will be having surgery on Wed. night (US Time).
He has also not been able to rest or sleep well.

Amy and Kaz have been in Japan for almost 2 years. They have been doing a great work there in Japan, especially since the earthquakes there. You can go ck out their website at: http://fimtokyo.com/

Amy's facebook page is here.
Kaz's facebook page is here.

Lead Pastor

As I sit here, I am so amazed at the things God is doing in my life. I would not have thought that God would have done it this way, but he did. On May 29th, we accepted the call from Broadway Christian Church to become Lead Pastor.
We had been in limbo for 5 months, not knowing what HE was going to do. It was an uneasy time, but in God's way and in HIS timing, he worked it out.

We are excited about serving at Broadway! On May 29th, 31 members voted and 29 said yes. The next Sunday, we had 60 in attendance and last Sunday, we had 63! The Student Ministry had been meeting on Friday's. The first time I attended there were 9 students. We moved it to Sunday night's. Last Sunday, we had 15 students! We watched the movie, "To Save A Life" and then went and had some yogurt. It was great getting to know the kids. Ain't GOD Good!

Ya know the Lord works in mysterious ways, sometimes in ways that makes you just say, "WOW"! I've lived in Pueblo for eight years. After coming to Broadway, we've encountered about 8 contacts of Broadway members that knew somebody else that I've known in the past. I believe that's amazing and I don't think it's a coincidence!

We are excited about what God is doing and HE has confirmed that this is the place that the Ketchum Family is supposed to be. THAT IS SO KOOL!!

I asked that you would pray for us in the finance area. Our income has dropped substantially. Sherry is looking for a teaching job, so pray for her as she continues the search. I'm continuing to pursue a license for Primerica Financial, but the online testing is a struggle for me.

Thank you for your prayers. It's amazing what GOD is doing!

The Lord Didn't Come Back Yesterday and Sunday Setlist

The Lord didn't come back yesterday. Go Figure! I read 1 Thessalonians 5:1-5 this morning. He's coming like a thief in the night, folks. We can't predict when He's coming. Humans have been trying for years and they haven't got it right yet.

Anyway, today I'm preaching for a second time at Broadway Christian Church. Today's text will be James 1:1-5. I am also administering the Lord's Supper today for the very first time. We are really excited about how the Lord is working in our lives.

We have been waiting on God around 4 months and just let me say: In our situation, God waited to move, but when He started to move, He started fast. Broadway will be voting, next Sunday, May 29th, on us to become their new Pastor.

Today, we're goin' "Old School" in the worship. I'm also leading the music with Pam on Piano, Charlotte on the Organ, Patty, Mary, and another lady, her name has left me, will be singing with me.
Here are the songs we will be singing:

This Is the Day
We Have Come Into His House
There Is Power in the Blood
Are You Washed in the Blood
As the Deer
Communion Song-Cause Me to Come
Closing Song-God Is So Good

Some Leadership Advice

I want to share with you a piece of advice to those of you that are in leadership. This is awesome if you own your own business, if you have a group of people under your supervision, if you pastor a church, or you may be on staff at a church. If you are in any type of leadership role, this piece of advice if for you.

You may not hear this from the best-selling book on leadership. That's not where I received this "golden nugget". I got this piece of advice from one of the best men that I have ever met, my DAD! Of course I might be biased.

I've known my Dad all of my life. No, really, it's true. Let me tell ya about him. He owned an automotive repair business for 25 years. He's a mechanic by trade. Before he opened his business, he worked at Alabama Power Company. He worked on the big bucket trucks.

My dad is also a Man of GOD! He's been a Christ-follower for close to 50 years. He's been a deacon, a treasure, a trustee, he's a Sunday School teacher, and when the Pastor is away, he has even preached on occasion. He knows his Bible very well. I've been known to encourage believers to read their Bible everyday. My dad is one of the reasons why I continue to do this. He is an example to me for which I am very grateful!

Anyway, back to the leadership advice. When I graduated from Baptist Bible College in 1995, my dad took me aside and gave me this nugget. You see, he has worked with a lot of different pastors over the years (at the same church) and he watched them. The mistakes they made and the things that they did right. He knew that I was going into ministry and he didn't want me to make some of the mistakes that he had seen others in ministry make, even though he had never been in ministry.

He said this: "Don't burn bridges with people". In leadership, there are times that you have to make a decision that will make someone upset. Everyone will not be happy all the time, but be careful about making someone upset for no reason. Once you "burn a bridge", it's very hard to rebuild that bridge.

So what kind of bonehead moves could a person in leadership make that would burn bridges with people?

Here are some examples:

1. Lying to cover your own hide. Just be honest and tell the truth.
2. Say your sorry. "Fess up" to your own mistakes. Fine, you made a mistake, say your sorry and move on.
3. Be a team player, not a dictator. Even if you are the leader, there may be others under you that just might have a better idea than you. Realize that you don't have all of the best ideas.

These are just a few examples, but remember this:
If you are the leader and you have these issues, you are "burning bridges". Turn around, there might be nobody following you!