Who am I?

Just in case you're wondering:

I'm a husband, a father, and a pastor. I serve New Hope Baptist Church in Romulus, Alabama as pastor. I'm a graduate of Beeson Divinity School. I'm also old enough now to realize I don't know everything and that I'm not infallible. If you want to know a bit about my beliefs, you can read my application essay I wrote to apply to Beeson. I'd also recommend you read my sermons.

You can always read these articles I wrote for CMUG (Christian Macintosh User Group):

The Power of Calling, "Our Father." Jesus' model prayer remains the greatest act of faith and submission in a believer's life.

Salvation: Is God Counting Tears? With the death of Pope John Paul II, questions of salvation raged in the list. Here's my response.

 

Somehow, I won the "Geek of the Week" award for 10 October 2004.

 

Here are directions to New Hope, the church where I serve as pastor.

 

The floating menu at the left is courtesy of Heapy Designs. If you're looking for a floating menu (I spent over an hour online looking for one), start there. Or, view my code.

 

Last updated 4 March 2008.

Interesting Links

Sermons Placed here for anyone to read and use. If you see something wrong or with which you disagree, contact me.

The Liturgical Calendar with links to lectionary readings for each Sunday and feast day during the month.

Christian Leadership Center Material on this Web site is written by Allen Ross, Professor of Divinity (Old Testament) at Beeson Divinity School.

Papers, Musings, and Thoughts Some of the articles and papers I've written in my seminary days and since.

Astronomy Picture of the Day Courtesy of NASA.

James Kiefer's Christian Biographies An excellent guide to those who sacrificed for our faith.

My Utmost for His Highest Daily Devotionals Oswald Chambers' masterpiece on the Christian life, a day at a time.

Jerry Pournelle's site Jerry Pournelle is - hard to explain. Science fiction writer, computer pioneer, space program veteran, former professor. His readers could comprise a "Who's Who" of virtually any profession you care to name, from engineering to military to politics. This site is a must-read for anyone interested in computers, politics, space exploration, or almost any other topic imaginable.

DEBKAfile Jerusalem political analysis and news site. Middle Eastern news usually shows up here a couple of weeks before it hits U.S. media.

Virtual Seminary Links to many (if not most) of the pertinent Christian writings and subjects of interest to the Church.

Slashdot I admit it: I'm a /. junkie. Slashdot is "news for nerds. Stuff that matters." If you like computers -- or want to -- you need to read Slashdot. Regularly. Several times a day.

Ken Collins Web Site Ken Collins is pastor of Garfield Memorial Christian Church in McLean, Virginia. His site has lots of Christian resources and devotional material.

USGS Earthquake Activity Updated frequently during the day.

Worldtimezone.com I found this site and thought it was really cool! If you want to know what time it is in, say, Australia, you'll agree.

My genealogy as much as I have right now anyway, on my dad's side.

Communion Services Every Christian needs to celebrate Communion, and every minister needs forms of Communion to use. I'm placing my services here in case someone else needs them.

Quotes Various quotes I've compiled. E-mail me your favorite quote!

Apple Macintosh Sites

I started using Macintosh computers in 1997. I use an eMac and a G4 iBook, both running OS X Tiger. If you're using less than a Mac, my condolences.

• Apple Computer
• Macworld
• Macintouch
• Macfixit Start here looking for solutions to Macintosh problems. Follow their OS X link for OS X information.
• Mac OS X Hints Tips and advanced hints for using OS X.

• MacSlash Another(!) Mac news site; Slashdot for the Mac.

• Macorchard : If you need any Mac Internet or network software, this is the place.
• Xlr8yourmac Great Mac upgrade info site.
• Christian Mac User Group The best combination possible: Christians and Macintosh. How much better can it get?
• Accordance Bible Software for Macintosh The Bible software I use. Extremely flexible, powerful software that includes more modules that you can add later. Written for the Mac by Mac users.

Online References and Tools

• The WWW Bible Gateway
• Online Greek Bible The text appears in Greek, in case you've always wanted to see how the New Testament originally looked.
• Hebrew-English Bible The Old Testament in Hebrew with English alongside. You did know the Bible wasn't written in Elizabethan English, didn't you?
• The Lectionary Page
• Matthew Henry's Commentary
• Calvin's Commentaries
• Book of Common Prayer Links to all versions, including the 1928 and 1979 versions most in use today.
• Bible Study Tools Online Includes various Bible translations, concordances, and the Matthew Henry Commentary (both the complete and concise versions).
• Apocrypha The non-canonical books written between the Old and New Testaments. These books aren't accepted as canonical by most Protestants (including me).
• Christian Classics Ethereal Library You want to find a major Christian work, it's bound to be here.
• Institute for Christian Leadership Good source for religious literature, history and articles. If you're looking for other creeds and early Church (including Protestant) documents, this site is a great reference point.
• New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia I'm not Catholic, but if you need to know something about early Church history, start here. *NOTE: opinions in these articles don't necessarily express my opinions.
• James Kiefer's Christian Biographies An excellent guide to those who sacrificed for our faith.
• Mr. D's Notes on Theology Stanley Derickson's site. Derickson has served as a Bible teacher and missionary. He has posted all his notes online. This site is one of my first choices for references and definitions.
• Westminster Shorter Catechism Catechism for new believers.

Religious Sites

Devotional Sites

• Morning and Evening: Daily Readings by Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

• My Utmost for His Highest Daily Devotionals Oswald Chambers' masterpiece on the Christian life, a day at a time.

• Ken Collins Web Site Ken Collins is pator of Garfield Memorial Christian Church in McLean, Virginia. His site has lots of Christian resources and devotional material.
• Acts for God Contemporary Dramas for Christian Ministry. This site is maintained by a dear friend who wrote most of these dramas himself.

Publications

• Christianity Online News, references, magazines, and more.
• First Things Father Richard John Neuhaus, Editor-in-Chief, is a frequent visitor to Beeson Divinity School. From the Web site: "FIRST THINGS is published by The Institute on Religion and Public Life, an interreligious, nonpartisan research and education institute whose purpose is to advance a religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society."

Hymnals and Music

• Cyberhymnal Online repository of hymn lyrics and music.
• The Baptist Hymnal (1975) Table of Contents. Courtesy of Friendship Baptist Church, St. Petersburg, FL.
• The Baptist Hymnal (1991) Table of Contents and MIDI files; the version used at the church I pastor. Courtesy of Friendship Baptist Church, St. Petersburg, FL.

Denominational Links

• Alabama State Baptist Convention
• Southern Baptist Convention

• The Alabama Baptist newspaper.

• Beeson Divinity School My alma mater. Evangelical and conservative; inter-denominational. If you're considering seminary, regardless of denomination, you need to check out Beeson. At denominational seminaries, you get indoctrinated. At Beeson, you get educated.
• Anglicans Online Anglican news site, updated weekly.
• Anglican Mission in America (AMiA) A mission organization devoted to a continuing Anglican witness, with traditional Anglican values of biblical authority and evangelism.

Apologetics

• Biblical and American Archaeologist Site of Dr. Richard M. Fales, archaeologist.
• Answers in Genesis Apologetics for a 6-Day Creation period.
• Theistic Evolution - One Christian's Perspective This site is dedicated to the theory that God used evolution in creation. Before you think this is heresy, I point out that the Creeds say nothing about the Creation. This site is here because many in the Church believe this issue needs rational debate, not dogmatic shouting.
• Reasons to Believe An apologetic site maintained by Christian scientists.

Courses

This section contains links to notes and reference sites for courses I've taught at our local community college, Shelton State Community College.

• Old Testament Survey
• New Testament Survey
• US History II
• Western Civilization II

Software

• Accordance Bible Software for Macintosh The Bible software I use. Extremely flexible, powerful software that includes more modules that you can add later. Written for the Mac by Mac users.
• Swordsearcher for Windows I used Swordsearcher when I computed on the Dark Side. Unless the author has changed his mind, it comes only in King James Version.

• Simple Wedding Ceremony Short and to the point.

• Sample Wedding Ceremony This ceremony is rather formal, but very profound.

Linux and Unix Sites

• Slashdot As the saying goes, "come for the knowledge, stay for the noise." Comprehensive Linuxand technology news site, but with some measure of adolescence always at the breakout point.
• Rootprompt As the site says, 'Nothing but Unix.'
• Unix and vi Reference I don't know the author, but this place really helps understand vi, the universal Unix text editor.
• Unix Man Pages Good place to look when you don't know what command you need to use.
• Unix Shell Script Tutorial
• Linux Documentation Project
• Freshmeat Site of Linux update information.
• KDE The best Linux window manager.
• VNC Virtual Network Computing software. VNC allows you to remotely control another machine - and it's free!

Computer Sites

I'm not much on giving advice on buying computers, because I have only one recommendation: Apple. If you want quality hardware and the best OS that doesn't require a daily sacrifice of your time, buy Apple. Worried about paying more? By the time you add what you'll pay in grief and anti-virus software, you're paying more for less if you buy anything but a Mac.

• Apple Computer: It's Simply the Best
• Apache Server Software
• Ars Technica Great online reviews of technical (read: Geek) stuff.
• Willcam's Comprehensive HTML Cross Reference Great place to learn HTML.
• Zen Garden a site devoted to CSS.
• Snopes: Internet Hoaxes Before you send that warning on to everyone in your address book, check to see if it's legit.

CSS Sites

• CSS Zen Garden
• Position Is Everything
• Web Developer's Handbook
• web page design "CSS from the ground up."
• CSS2 Specification The W3C official CSS specification.
• Listamatic CSS listing.
• CSSVault
• CSS Layout Techniques: for fun and profit
• Ruthsarianlayouts CSS-based layouts.
• Stylegala

News

• FOXNews Far better than CNN (although I list both).
• CNN

• New York Times The Grey Lady ain't what she used to be. Don't think for a minute I agree with her much.

• Atlanta Journal Constitution
• Washington Post
• DEBKAfile Jerusalem political analysis and news site. Middle Eastern news usually shows up here a couple of weeks before it hits U.S. media.
• National Public Radio
• WUAL 91.5 NPR station in Tuscaloosa, home of Alabama Public Radio.
• Associated Press
• USAToday
• Tuscaloosa News
• Daily Mountain Eagle My hometown's newspaper.

Weather sites

• ABC 33/40 Pinpoint Doppler Radar
• The Weather Channel
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Includes hurricane charts and such.

Education Sites

• Wikipedia An online encyclopedia, with articles created and edited by volunteers. Although an occasional rogue will deface an article, Wikipedia is still a great place to start your research.
• Open Directory Project
• Alabama Maps
• travlang's Translating Dictionaries Numerous dictionaries useful in translating.
• Eduzone Lesson plans, etc.
• Department of Education
• Homework Help from the FPL Kids Webstation.
• Internet Public Library
• Elpenor's Home of the Greek World Greek history, language, and literature page.
• Perseus Digital Library Classical Greek, Latin, and English texts, images, and other materials.
• The University of Alabama
• The Smithsonian
• The Library of Congress
• NASA Home Page
• Space.com Online site that's home to Starry Night software, some of the best astronomical software available for home use. If you're interested in astronomy, you need Starry Night!
• Astronomy Picture of the Day Courtesy of NASA.
• Sky and Telescope Magazine Online site dedicated to amateur astronomy.
• USGS Earthquake Activity Updated frequently during the day.
• National Weather Service

Search Engines

• Google
• Mapquest
• Verizon Superpages
• Yellow Pages
• White Pages Individual phone number search