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7/27/00
Well, it's been an interesting seven months.
Where to begin.....
Let's see- starting off, here's why I moved my site and why I couldn't initially talk about it.
My old internet service provider, Tidalwave, had to switch routers for my area in February of 99. As compensation for having me a month without internet service, they gave me seven months free. Now let me give you a little 'background' - Tidalwave has been screwing up since day one with me- when I first signed up, I couldn't access my e-mail (this was in 97), so I had tons of free months piled up from then. For a while, they were stable, then ran into problems occasionally (authentication server going down, dns server crashing, etc..etc...). Every time they screwed up, I got free months. So I stayed with them (wouldn't you?).
Well, the
Feb. 99 thing was the last time they had any major league screw ups. From March
10th or so, I was dialing up great, nice connection and all. I had free months
all the way up to September. Of course, September 7th rolled around, they cut
off my e-mail, but I could still dial up- AND I still had FTP access (yeah,
weird). I was going to switch ISPs anyway (really!). So I figured if they wanted
to (once again) screw up, I wasn't going to stop them
I had free
dialup access from September to May 1st, roughly. Hence, the big flashing 'I'M
MOVING' sign on the front of the old site. May 1st, they deleted the old site
and killed my FTP and around May 13th or so, they killed my dialup access. Since
that time, I've found a *FREE* internet service provider (no cheesy banner ads
either!) in freewwweb.com. They do have software you can download that sticks
an ad banner on your browser, BUT if you know how to configure your TCP/IP software,
you can simply set up an account, plug in the numbers and SURF- ad-free 
Of
course, the connection isn't always stable, and they do kick you off after being
connected for more than 5 hours, but hey- it's FREE.
Let's see-
music ministry at church has changed semi-dramatically. All the complainers
are off the choir (1 John 2:19) since we did a reorganization. The Lord is slowly
rebuilding our numbers with faithful members who are truly concerned about ministering
rather than showing off. In addition, the little group is actually sounding
quite good for about 9 people. What was really funny was that some of
the people complaining thought that since they weren't singing, there'd
be nobody on the choir stand on Sunday morning- they had egg on their faces
when we showed up with a full choir stand that morning 
Everyone who's been praying for me in the area of school will be blessed to know that I got a 3.3 this past semester. THANK YOU!!!! Contingent upon me doing my job, I'll retain my staff position for Bowie's band program. I believe after this past semester, I will be approximately TWELVE credits from graduation- and that 12 credits is ALL one class- student teaching. I'll be applying for student teaching in the fall and do it in the Spring.
In my personal studies, I'm undergoing yet another theological paradigm shift. Over the past two years, I've been slowly moving from the Arminian soteriological framework to the Reformed viewpoint. As an Arminian, I found certain scriptures incompatible with supposed 'free-will' (or complete human autonomy, which is what most folks mean by 'free-will'). If God truly is Sovereign,then He does control *everything* - including salvation, as the scriptures clearly dictate (John 6:37,44,65). My current reading material (The Potter's Freedom by James White) is giving me an even deeper view. I've revised my *personal* doctrinal statement of what I believe on my personal page.
The site doctrinal statement has already been leaning toward the reformed camp for over a year now- so I added a few 'final touches' to it today with this update. I am also once again, in the process of an eschatalogical study (study of end times). While my conviction remains that premillennialism (specifically dispensational premillennialism) seems to be the natural outcome of a consistent literal (historical-grammatical) interpretation of scripture, I'm finding (much like John MacArthur did) that much of the 'hardline' distinctions that many dispensationalists made in the past only serve to confuse those outside of the dispensational camp of interpretation. I'm still ticked at most of the covenant community for the way they continue to misrepresent dispensationalists and the system, but the Lord will judge them for their misrepresentations.
Otherwise, things have been pretty normal. I have my up days and down days like every believer- a few moments when I feel like some folks are neglecting me. I had a chance to talk to a very dear friend earlier tonight- pray for her salvation and that of her family. Her husband is a cousin of some clergy at a local church, so he probably has had church exposure, but I know she probably hasn't had much. I'm going to head over and invite them to my church again.
As you can see by the plethora of new articles, the Lord has been blessing me with the ability to write and the inspiration to get a few articles done once again.
Pray for me on a few issues:
1. Time management and learning to say 'no' to folks. I'm attempting to streamline my life into three distinct compartments: My website ministry, Band and my school's music program and stuff related to Zeta and Sigma. This will still give me enough time to properly practice (for my church's music ministry) and still be able to be faithful.
As a result, I'm dropping website design and scaling back involvement in any other 'projects'. My spare time this coming fall is going to be... uhmmmm.... practically non-existent? Looks like every fall from here on out is going to be that way.
2. My growth as a man of God. I still have several areas which the Lord is hammering out of me- I still have my selfish moments, I still have my whining moments when I wonder why *I* can't have my way right now (what kid doesn't whine to his/her Father every now and again?). Even as recent as a few minutes before resuming this sentence, the Lord is teaching me how to serve and what it means to truly love. I still have a long way to go, but I'm learning. Pray for my continued growth.
Outside of my career, my dearest desire is to be found *FAITHFUL* to what the Lord has assigned me to do down here. Music ministry, website ministry and my service to humanity. The talents He has given me, I have taken and began to invest them, lest I be found an unfaithful steward. Pray for me to be found faithful in those things He has given me.
Side
note: Pick up John MacArthur's THE SECOND COMING. It will give you a whole new
perspective on the second coming of Christ and what your focus as believers
should be. Of course, if you don't believe Christ's coming is imminent (like
Amills and Premills)...uhmmm.... change your eschatology 
3. Pray for my productivity. Now that I've updated the site, I'll be slowly moving more of my time toward music endeavors- mostly getting ready for fall band camp and stuff. Work for the program is strenuous- therefore I need to not have any extra distractions around me- mental, emotional or otherwise.
Coming up on this site, I'm trying to resurrect my bookstore- I'm trying to buy
ad-free hosting space here on hypermart (I think it's still $82 for the year).
The small fees that pop up each quarter should help cover that cost. The bookstore
will be the biggest (okay, second biggest) project to resurrect on here.
Thanks to TWO fried modems (courtesy of an electrical storm a few weeks back), my funds have been pretty limited as of late- I have one outstanding debt of $200 that I need to get off to one of my frat brothers who's been waiting patiently for the past two years. Yes, I'm not perfect.
That's about it. I covet your prayers and your encouragement. Stay blessed and see you next update.
In Christ,
Kerry
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