Mitchell Landress

Training Our Hearts To Love Christ Above All Else There is a reason why the phrase True Love Waits is absent from our church this February. It is not because we do not value sexual purity among our youth- we most certainly do. It is the motive behind it that causes me to depart from the traditional phrase. There are at least two mistakes that I want to avoid. First, I don’t want to spend too much time congratulating those who have held on to their virginity, for fear that those who have not may think themselves unfit to serve Christ with their lives. Secondly, there is a deeper heart issue at stake, namely a love and passion for Jesus Christ. This can be missed if we try to frighten abstinence into our teens with talk of AIDS and teen pregnancy. Love Them Less takes a different approach. It is based on a poem by Dr. John Piper entitled "Love Her More and Love Her Less." The poem, originally written for his son’s wedding day, speaks to the fact that the spouse is to take the...

Fighting Against Isolationism As I was scanning through the information for Net-Flix this weekend I was amazed at how easy it sounds. I simply sign up for the service and the movies come right to my door. I never have to leave home. Then I realized what never leaving home means. It simply means that I lose another area of accountability in my life. As it is now, whenever I want to rent a movie, my wife and I go into the blockbuster store together and pick out our selection. Even though we have made a personal commitment never to watch a R-rated movie, I still find myself reading the back of the cases to see what the movies are about and of course to check the rating. What I have in the process is a means of accountability. I know that everyone in the store is potentially watching me and my conscience is telling me to stay above reproach in all that I look at. When movies come to your door you loose this area of accountability. You can order anything you want and no one sees your choice...