Thoughts of Josh Dryer

Hey Everyone! We are excited to present the name, logo, and mission of our new church plant in Dubuque, Iowa: River City Church. Check out the logo and videopresentation describing what we are about. Also, here's a link to the pdf of the slide show just in case the video doesn't work for you: River City Church: What We're About

I have begun to read Thom and Jess Rainers’ book The Millennials: Connecting to America’s Largest Generation and while all of the book has been interesting to this point, one particular stat made me laugh. On p. 44 Jess writes, “The two most common forms of communication for Millennials are talking and texting on a cell phone. This explains why most Millennials say their cell phone is vital…The most accessible way to reach a Millennial is by text.” I am on the outside edge of the Millennial generation but like to consider myself one because it makes me feel more trendy and youthful but there are definitely some big differences between me and Millennials. These differences became very evident for me at a meeting about a year ago. I was meeting with a group of Millennials for a strategy planning session for a new worship service we were starting at our church. The worship service was being designed to reach the Millennial generation and thus we valued the opinions of this group of peo...

Here's a glimpse of what the Iowa Mission is all about! Check it out: www.iowamission.org

What is our life except a series of moments? What is each moment except a step toward an eternity in a destination that has been prepared for us? Life begins in a moment and ends in a moment. In fact life is a series of moments and yet somehow within a single moment inside of our multitude of moments our eternity changes...how is this possible? Only by the grace of God: the one who makes the impossible possible! (Matt. 19:26) Can you think anyone more worthy to follow? Can you think of any greater cause than the cause of Christ? Give your life to the splitter of time and eternity! The one who in a single moment can change an entire eternity...Trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and be saved. Give him your life...all of your life even if such a decision leads to death because though you may die for following him, you will have true life through him! What will you do in this moment?

For as long as theology has existed as a discipline (and probably longer), it seems that man has pondered about God and what he knows. God’s foreknowledge, providence, and sovereignty are unfathomable in entirety by finite beings such as you and I. How can the limited truly understand the illimitable? How can beings who cannot guarantee even one more moment of life uncover the eternal mysteries of God? The answers to these two questions cause us to tread forward humbly always accepting the impossibility of ever completely understanding God’s immanent work through metaphysical means on this side of the eschaton, while realizing the limits of our logic. With this being said, let us begin discussing this quandary about the future. Let us assume that by “future” I am talking about one specific point ten minutes from now. What does God know about that point? More specifically, is there more than one point in that specific point in time? More simply, do multiple futures exist? ...

This Wednesday, November 10 th I have the pleasure of teaching the Bible study at Wake Cross Roads Baptist Church ( http://www.wakecrossroads.com/ ). I am teaching in Colossians 1:15-20 on the preeminence of Jesus and wanted to share just a snippet of it with you. I will post the notes later in the week. What does it mean to say that Jesus is in the image of God? In his letter to the Colossian church Paul said, “ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were creatd through him and for him ” (Col 1:15-16). I just want to focus on one word, “image.” Robertson states, “ Jesus is the very stamp of God the Father as he was before the Incarnation (John 17:5) and is now (Phil. 2:5–11; Heb. 1:3).” After Jesus had ministered to the disciples for some time, Philip asks Jesus to show them God so that they may be reassu...

            In world where young men, like myself, receive many different influences shaping our concept of what a pastor should be, I have been burdened to ask: As a pastor, what does Jesus want me to be? Do I need to wear cool jeans, sport the latest hairstyle, buy an Ipad, and write my sermons at a coffee shop? I do some of these, by the way! I wonder if the next generation of church leaders (myself included!) focused more on what Jesus wants to see in us than he might use us for greater things? This conviction has grown in my heart as a result of Dr. John Hammett asking two questions: 1) Why are character qualifications so important for a pastor? 2) How important is it for a congregation to be able to see the example of their pastor’s life? I did a brief exegesis of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 in order to search my own heart so that I might considered a biblical pastor… Paul said: 1 Timothy 3:1-7   " The saying is trustworthy: If anyone ...