Author Archives: Cal Jernigan

Don’t Think, Just Agree?

Fri, March 15, 2013 15 Comments by Cal Jernigan

Cal Jernigan – Senior Pastor

The greatest tragedy of modern Christianity is that the church has failed to teach people how to think.

Please read that again. While we may have mastered the art of telling people what to think, we’ve failed miserably at teaching people how to think. How am I so sure of this? One obvious bit of evidence would be the number of Christian young people who lose their faith once they go off to college. There, in an unbelieving (if not downright hostile) environment they encounter a professor, a group of students, or a book that belittles or mocks the beliefs they’ve held without question, and for the life of them they have nothing to say in response. Why? Because all of their lives they’ve just believed what they’ve been told to believe. They never learned how to think on their own and reach their own conclusions. They aren’t just unclear on what they believe, they are uncertain as to why they believe. It happens every day, and it’s always tragic. But this reality isn’t limited to college students. Thinking for ourselves is work. Hard work.

In Acts 17:11 it says… “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” To see if what Paul said was true? The same Paul who wrote two thirds of the New Testament? These folks were praised because they had the audacity to question him? Yes. Even him!

Say What?

Fri, April 27, 2012 6 Comments by Cal Jernigan

Cal Jernigan – Senior Pastor

I spent this past week in the Muslim world of North Africa. The day after I returned, I had the privilege of hearing Carl Medearis speak in the weekend services at our church. He spoke on the issue of impacting the Muslim world for Christ. I was prepped to hear from God. I did.

During his talk Carl said something utterly profound: “Perfect fear casts out love.” If that sounds funny to your ears, it’s because it is an inverted quote of 1 John 4:18. When I asked him about it afterward, he said the first time he said it he didn’t intend to misspeak, it just came out backward. Once said, it just sat there and he and the people to whom he was speaking awkwardly stared at it. Then the brilliance of it became obvious to all.

The Best of the Worst of Times

Fri, October 28, 2011 1 Comment by Cal Jernigan

Cal Jernigan – Senior Pastor

Recently a number of our Senior Staff members read together the book Onward by Howard Shultz. It is the story of how Starbucks reinvented itself as a result of the economic crisis that began in early 2008. Business as usual was no longer the usual business. If Starbucks failed to recognize the new realities and modify their approach to their core business, they would find themselves barreling headfirst into disaster. Bold leadership steps, fresh and innovative thinking, and a willingness to embrace and adapt to a “new normal” were all required. If they had responded by deciding to operate just the way they did before the crisis they might no longer be in business. Because they confronted the brutal facts of their operation, and were willing to adapt as necessary, they have emerged far better and stronger than they were in the best days of their past . Onward recounts the journey, the challenges and the decisions that had to be made.

It seems that difficult times can prove to be the best of times if you capitalize on the opportunities that challenging times present. Adversity forces you to evaluate your assumptions, methods, systems and products like you would do at no other time.

Diving In

Fri, July 1, 2011 9 Comments by Cal Jernigan

Cal Jernigan – Senior Pastor

So we’ve (Central’s Teaching Team and Campus Pastors) been doing some thinking…

Over the last few years we’ve gone through a variety of different weekend series. We’ve explored the Bible through series like “Money, Marriage, and Me,” “24” (based on the TV show), “The Reel Story of Christmas,” “Famous Lost Words,” and “Repulsed,” just to name a few. All of these series were written and developed “in house” and a great deal of effort went into their design, expression and originality, and we’ve loved them all.

But we couldn’t help but notice something…

True Friendship

Sat, March 5, 2011 3 Comments by Cal Jernigan

I seldom watch American Idol. I did however recently watch an audition that left me stunned. Why not take a moment and watch it yourself—but brace yourself, it’s unedited and rather raw.

The reaction of the judges pretty much says it all, but I was especially surprised by the reaction of Simon. While he was certainly perplexed, to me he seemed uncharacteristically gracious, almost merciful in his response. I think his question, “Who ever told you that you could sing?” goes right to the heart of the matter. Her response, sadly, says volumes.

What If?

Sat, January 8, 2011 9 Comments by Cal Jernigan

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” Those words were spoken by Helen Keller as she summarized her perception of life. She certainly understood how to stand tall in the face of towering challenges and overwhelming odds.

I believe what she said is exponentially true of the Christian life. As I read the Bible, I cannot help but read it as a book of adventure. Its pages are full of daring and dangerous people attempting to do the utterly astounding in the name and power of God. If you don’t think this is true, I invite you to read the summary that’s found in Hebrews 11, and then read the stories this chapter is summarizing. This was living! This was adventure… and this was dangerous.