The Dirty Mennonite
A Blog on Anabaptist Theology, History and Modern Ecclesiology

So, I had hoped to do some blogging while we were in Jamaica from my phone. Who knew that there is virtually no wireless internet in Jamaica. You could go to little internet cafes but they were fairly expensive. Anyway, here are a few highlights from our trip.

We stayed in a town on the Northern beach called Ocho Rios. I did a website for a guy who rents out villa’s (ie Condos) and houses in Jamaica. He gave us a week for free for doing his site for him. Anyway, you can see our condo in the background of this picture. The water was crystal clear and warm, maybe a bit too warm.

On Tuesday we went out on a boat with a Jamaican named Denny. We went to two different waterfalls and climbed up one of them. For those of you who don’t know, Allison is pregnant with our second child in this photo (if you can believe it). Denny and I went snorkeling and I was attacked by jellyfish.

What was then Tropical Storm Gustav hit us Wednesday evening and didn’t leave until late Friday night. We spent much of that time in doors playing cards and hoping the lights would stay on. In the end we had a nice time and it was very relaxing. I don’t know if we would ever go again. I think we would just rather spend our vacations in the mountains or in cool historical spots.

So, about a year ago I did a website for a guy who rents vacation villas in Jamaica. We worked out a deal that we could stay at one of his places for a week. Al and leave today! I’ll try to blog a bit along the way from my phone.

So, we’re in our new house and getting settled in. We finally have our internet up and running so I can start posting again. We are really excited about our new place. A couple of weeks of living in it and it already feels like home. The Lord really provided a house that fit everything that we were looking for at a price we could afford.

My parents came out a couple weeks ago to help us move in and my dad helped us fix a ton of stuff. Primarily he remodeled our bathroom for us. He did a great job.

Before:

After:

Also, here is a great pic of Jacob with our next door neighbor girl. They have had a lot of fun together.

All for now and hopefully I will get back on a regular posting schedule.

My name is Ryan. Currently, I’m a young husband, father and church planter in the City of Philadelphia. We live in the Fishtown neighborhood and have a real desire to see the Gospel flourish here for the glory of the Father and for His Kingdom.

I suppose you are probably wondering why this site is called “The Dirty Mennonite.” I will do my best to explain. I grew up in central IL in a small town called Hopedale. It was and still is heavily populated by Mennonites. My father grew up in the Mennonite Church like his father before him, and his father before him. He met my mother in high school who grew up in the Pentecostal church. So, our family grew up going to a Pentecostal church that along the way became very influenced by the so called “Third Wave of the Holy Spirit” Charismatic movement. So, I was speaking in tongues and dancing around in worship at a very young age. Oh, it was the kind of church where if you didn’t speak in tongues you probably weren’t saved.

I was about 13 when things began to not go so well at the church. Families began to leave and soon our family had left. I felt lost and I kinda felt like I had been fooled by the whole experience. I began to really read and study Scripture on my own at that point. I read every theology book I could get my hands on. I even used my paper-route money to get Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology that had just been released. After some searching our family ended up in a Mennonite Church that had also been influenced by the Charismatic movement. It wasn’t as extreme as the church we grew up in. I soon became a member there and began learning what it meant to be a Mennonite. It felt good. It felt like I was connecting with my ancestral roots.

I chose to go to a Grace Brethren school in Indiana named Grace College. I was a Bible and Communications major there. During that time I began attending a church called Christ’s Covenant Church. It basically was from a Reformed Baptist tradition which was good for me because I was fairly Calvinistic. After graduating from college I then went to the Seminary associated with Grace College called Grace Theological Seminary. It was during Seminary that I really developed a love for Anabaptist history and theology. I even took a Anabaptist History and Theology course at Associated Biblical Mennonite Seminary. I still study in this area today. I graduated in 2007 with a Master of Divinity. After that, we moved to Philadelphia with some friends to begin our adventures in church planting.

So, again, how does all of this make me a “Dirty Mennonite.” Back when I was in college, I had some friends who thought it was so weird that I was a Mennonite. I guess I just didn’t fit the stereotype. I typically had a big beard (which I thought was very Mennonite). I often didn’t smell too good and I occasionally cursed. Pretty soon they begin calling me the dirty Mennonite. Something about name struck a cord inside of me. Maybe “Dirty Mennonite” just reminded me of the paradox that all Christians feel concerning our sinful hearts and our desire to be holy.

So, here I am. I’ve tried blogging before and I’m going to try again. I don’t know why you made it to this site but thanks and I hope to hear from you.

So the other day Allison, Jacob, and I were traveling north on the major Highway here in Philly.  I was going up to take a drug test for a job I was applying for.  Allison and I were chatting while the traffic was getting fairly heavy for 3:00 pm.  I noticed a police officer riding a police motorcycle a few car lengths ahead of us.  It was a three lane highway, we were in the far right lane and the police officer was in the far left lane (I thought he was in the center lane but Allison assures me he was in the far left lane) in a line of traffic.  Suddenly, the officer lost control of his bike and began to flip head over heals.  He separated from his bike and ended up in the middle lane while his bike flew in front of us in the far right lane.  I swerved missing the bike and quickly parked in the emergency lane.  

Adrenaline flowing and scared out of my mind I jumped out of our car waving my arms as I ran to the officer.  I was pretty sure that he wasn’t hit by any cars after he fell off the bike but I was expecting the worst as I approached keeping a keen eye on the approaching traffic.  Miraculously, all of the on coming traffic got stopped fairly quickly.  I kneeled down beside the officer and realized that he was still conscious but obviously in shock.  I did a quick check over his body to make sure that there wasn’t a bleeding wound that needed pressure applied to it.  The only injuries that I could see were road rash on his left arm and some blood slowing coming from his mouth.  Everything amazingly seemed to be where it should be.  I noticed his name was Officer Williams so I grabbed his hand praying and I just kept saying, “Keep breathing Officer Williams, keep breathing.”  Soon, other officers began to show up and eventually the ambulance and I backed away.  The last I heard was that Officer Williams was taken to the Hospital and his most serious injury was a broken arm.  Truly a miracle.  My heart is racing just thinking about now.  Every time I see someone riding a motorcycle while I’m driving I cringe. 

https://www.policeone.com/news/1298126/

Anybody who knows anything about my politics knows that I hate social security.  I hate it with a fiery passion.  And you know something…I believe every working person under 30 should hate it as well.  Do you realize how bad it is for us?  Here’s the deal, the government takes 12% of your earnings each year. This in turn gives you retirement (also including medicaid and medicare), disability, and spousal benefits.  Retirement begins after the age of 65.  When social security began in 1935 as part of the New Deal it wasn’t a bad thing but it is no good for us today.  Lets do some math using my life.  If I were to make an average of only $30,000 a year from age 22 to 65 I will have made $1,290,000.  Social Security will have taken $154,800 or about $3,600 each year at its current rate.  If I were allowed to have that money and invest it in a Roth IRA making 10% (not difficult to do) I would have $1,730,000 saved for retirement when I turn 65.  What would social security give me you ask?  If I were to live until age 85, social security would give me a total of about $722,000 for retirement.  Yes, a million dollars less.  If I don’t live to 85 that number obviously goes down and certainly can’t pass that money along to my children like I could with a Roth IRA.  And here is the real kicker folks, because of large amount of boomers about to retire, the government in order to keep the program running at full capacity will need to raise the amount they take from us (currently that 12%) and give us less benefits in return.  So yes, I hate social security and I actually liked Bush’s plan to faze it out by offering individual accounts, its not perfect but it is better than what we have.   Too bad he got nailed from both sides on it.  

If you are interested more on this topic Dick Armey just wrote an article for Fox News and it can be found athttp://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,258763,00.html.  Enough of my ranting, I will post a video of a tarantula and a scorpion fighting to the death later.