How far away is your future?

Let's try a thought experiment:

A flying saucer comes to Earth, destroys a major city to get our attention, then announces that in 10,000 years it is coming back to destroy the Earth. In order to eliminate any doubt, it then blows up Mars.

Assume for a moment that you believe the threat and there's nothing we can do about it...

Question: how would knowing that the planet would disappear in 10,000 years change your typical day?

Okay, now run the same story, but 1,000 years from now instead.

You can probably guess where this is going. What if it were twenty years? If it were twenty years, how would that change things?

Most of us assume a single range of focus that we care about. And it's usually right around the corner, or even closer. Is that the place to be focusing your brand or your business or your life?

taken from: www.sethgodin.typepad.com

Merry Christmas

Rejoice, rejoice Christ our saviour has come
Cast off the works of darkness
Put on the ways of light
And clothe yourself with Christ
Put on love to surround you
Put on hope to guide you
Put on joy to sustain you
And clothe yourself with Christ
Rejoice on this dawn of righteousness
Rejoice for this day of justice
Rejoice in the prince of peace
And clothe yourself with Christ

from www.msainfo.org

Primal

I would like to recommend a book to start the New Year off with, "Primal" by Mark Batterson.

In the last section the author states what the book ‘Primal’ is about.
“What does our generation need to rediscover? What primal truth needs to be remained? What is our reformation? Simply put we, we’ve got to be great at the Great Commandment…”
This book is about being great in loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and the writer attempts to give some thoughts on what that love would look like.

1. Loving God with all of our heart can be seen and exemplified in our giving.
2. Loving God with all of our soul is found in our rediscovery of wonder. He uses the idea of a ‘sixth sense’, we can only know some things as God reveals them to us. Thus emphasizing the necessity of reading/studying Gods word.
3. Loving God with all of our mind is seen in renewing our curiosity and not being afraid to ask questions. Christians should be the most creative people of all
4. Loving God with all of our strength means not being afraid to sweat. Manually working and laboring for God.

I enjoyed the book for 3 reasons
1. He said what needed to be said in just over 170 pages (It seems like authors always have to have at least 200 pages,,,WHY?)
2. He used examples from science, history and life to make his points
3. He seemed to write with passion. This is something he wanted to say (not just write a book about)

Thanks to WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for providing me this book to review.

Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas

If we could be honest for a moment, for the most part Christmas is about everything but Jesus. It is about buying gifts, it is about being with family, it is about shopping, its about decorating but where is Jesus.

In our society, many Christians have got upset because we want to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. I think a question we need to ask ourselves, why are we upset about that? For the most part a holiday is all Christmas is to any of us anyway.
There was a email I got encouraging people to send a card to the ACLU that said “Merry Christmas”. the purpose of it was to let them know we think it should still be called Christmas instead of holidays….I cant imagine Jesus sending someone a card for the purpose of trying to prove a point…..If you want to prove a point, live a life that would represent Jesus…..Don’t buy any gifts on Christmas. Instead help the homeless, the hurting, the oppressed. That would send a greater message than any card.

Wouldn’t that be neat if all Christians decided that this Christmas, instead of buying for those of us who have about everything we want already, we are all going to pool our money and send to the starving in Africa or Haiti or somewhere else. I wonder what the world would think if that would happen...Possibly next year they may be saying Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays, and Christmas would actually mean that it has something to do with Jesus.

by the way...Merry Christmas

consumerism at Wal-mart

Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart every hour of every day. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute.

Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the nation’s largest private employer. It is also the largest company in the history of the world.

Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger and Safeway combined, and did this in only 15 years. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.

Wal-Mart has approx. 3,900 stores in the U.S. (1,906 are Super Centers, a 1,000 increase since 2004).

90% of all Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart.

Free e-book

Here is a free e-book from Seth Godin. It looks pretty neat.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/files/what-matters-now-1.pdf

The Justice Project

“The Justice Project” edited by Brian Mclaren, Elisa Padilla and Ashley Seeber is a compilation of 35 chapters of essays by different authors from different races, cultures and backgrounds that deal with the issues of Justice. As with any book of essays written by different authors, some are better than others.

I would like to address briefly. Chp. 22 Just Religion: Why should We De-colonize God’s name?
The author tries to make the claim for a salvation in other religions outside of Christ (without denying Christ). His main argument seems to be that God is moving in other peoples lives and other religions that are not Christ centered. I would agree with the author that God is moving in peoples lives who do not know Jesus.
On a recent mission trip to Haiti, I seen God moving. God was there in the smile of a young lady who was selling coconuts on the side of the road. This lady has no water, no electric, nothing of any material goods and there she is smiling—That was God.
I seen God in the fact, that for the most part, people there are not starving, even though it seems like they should be. That was what we call Gods prevenient, sovereign grace. (The sun shines on the just and the unjust).
But seeing all that only means that they need to recognize the “unknown God” and that God is Jesus. Which puts the responsibility on us, to go and share the good news found in Jesus.
Another part of the chapter the author ask the question, “How is the good news good to those who have never heard?” Then as an example he asks if there was a viral disease on Manhattan Island and the authorities issued only one bus on which to evacuate, how would that constitute good news for its citizens?
I would answer by saying the good news is that the followers of Jesus give up their seat on the bus so that others may escape. And they did that because of the life transforming power of Jesus in their life.

VAMPIRES

With the popularity of the “Twilight” books and the movies (New Moon to come out this weekend) about vampires, here are 2 books that WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group provided me to review

The first is a non-fiction book (“Touched by a Vampire: Discovering the Hidden Messages in the Twilight Saga” by Beth Felker Jones) that guides the reader through the “Twilight” series. It uses the themes of the Twilight books such as romance, love, gender roles, good bad, choices, desires etc.as a springboard to look at what the Bible says on such subjects.
This is one of the best books I have read that takes a look at a pop culture fad and opens the subject up for discussion without being totally negative or discouraging about reading the original series. This book, with questions at the end of each chapter, would be a great small group study for high school or college age adults.
I would give the book 5 stars.

The next book is a novel by Tracey Bateman titled, “Thirsty”
I generally am not a reader of novels, but seeing the popularity of the “Twilight” series (not to mention my daughters numerous readings of the whole series) I thought I would give this book a try.
For the most part the book kept my interest, for the fact that I kept expecting something great or unusual or shocking to take place. The book seemed to me to be a reading of a predictable made for TV movie (nothing great, unusual or shocking took place).
The characters in the story were pretty much predictable: you have a good person (Nina) struggling with a bad habit (alcoholism). And how that habit has affected those family members around her. You have a evil person trying to be good (Marcus). You have a small town, with its sheriff, trying to unravel the mystery of strange murders. And then you have the happy ending.
One area of the dialogue that was very silly was on pg.228. The main character of the story (Nina) and the sheriff of the town (Jill) are awaiting the highway patrol to come and examine a murder.
Nina says, “The calvary has arrived.”
The sheriff corrects her with, “Cavalry”. …”How can you get a bunch of old horse soldiers mixed up with the place where Jesus died?”
I felt that this was some sort of feeling of obligation to say something about Jesus in the story.

Overall I would give this a 2 ½ stars out of a possible 5.

Touched by a Vampire: http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9781601422781
Thirsty: http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9780307457158

Worship in the Park

Next Sunday, Nov. 15, we will be worshipping at the lakefront (Lake Toho) in Kissimmee. Service time begins at 10:30 under the shelter and there will be a grill out/picnic immediately following. Everyone is welcome.

UNIONS

This is a letter to the editor I sent 'World Magazine'

This is in reference to your article "Bargaining Hunting". In trying to discredit and to put unions in a bad light. There are some things about unions that people fail to take in consideration.

1. The reason we have a middle class here in the US is because of unions. The reason that the middle class is shrinking (rich getting richer and poor getting poorer) is because the unions have lost their clout.
2. Unions speak collectively for people who fear to speak for themselves. (I believe scripture speaks of speaking on behalf of others)
3. There is a need for unions because people (CEO, Company Owners etc.) are greedy. Unions have a tempering effect on greed. For the most part CEO's etc. will pay what little they can get by with. Non-union companies that do pay well, only do so in hope that the union will not come in and force payment.
4. For the most part, employees who are against unions really do not understand unions. For what would you rather work for $10.00 per hour or $20.00 per hour?
5. Union employes' do pay union dues. So if I pay $2.00 a hour in union dues, now I only make $18.00 per hour. Again would you rather make $10.00 per hour or $18.00?

As a person who has worked both union and non-union and also has had my own union company may I give a real life example. The union contractor bids 1 million dollars for the job and pays his workers $20.00 per hour. The non-union contractor comes in and hopes to get the same job for $999,999.00. But he is paying his help $8-10.00 per hour. What is the difference? The union contractor is paying his help more of the profit that he would normally make. The non-union is keeping more for himself. Thus the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Thank You

Money for Haiti

Saturday, Nov. 7, we will be having a yard sale to raise funds to help feed, clothe and educate some children in Haiti. Any donations, either of objects to sell or monetary, will be appreciated.

"Voices of the Faithful" Book Review

“Voices of the Faithful” Book 2 is the second book of devotions compiled by Kim Davis and created by Beth Moore.
This is a book of daily devotions written by Christians and missionaries around the world. Daily they share their thoughts and experiences that God has brought them through.

The book is divided into monthly sections with different themes:

January is Prayer, the Priority
February is God, Our Loving Father
March is Divine Appointments
April is Jesus, the Sacrificial Lamb
May is “Follow Me”
June is “The Power of the Story”
July is Lost and Found
August is Making Him Known
September is Lessons from the Young
October is From Adversity to Triumph
November is Be Encouraged
December is h\Hope for the World

Each daily devotion closes with a prayer that relates with the devotion for that day.

I enjoyed this devotional book because it is written by those who are in the trenches, real life experiences by real life people, not just someone sitting behind a desk writing books. It is practical not just theoretical. However, just like most devotional books, some days are a whole lot better than others.
If you enjoy the stories and experiences of missionaries and would enjoy it in a condensed daily thought and pray you will enjoy this book.

problem with the church?

"One of the ironies we're beginning to see is that … even the world wants the church to be the church. It is the church that doesn't want to be the church. That's the core problem."


from
Warren Cole Smith author of A Lover's Quarrel with the Evangelical Church,

Decisions are hard to make

Make a decision
It doesn't have to be a wise decision or a perfect one. Just make one.

In fact, make several. Make more decisions could be your three word mantra.

No decision is a decision as well, the decision not to decide. Not deciding is usually the wrong decision. If you are the go-to person, the one who can decide, you'll make more of a difference. It doesn't matter so much that you're right, it matters that you decided.

Of course it's risky and painful. That's why it's a rare and valuable skill.

taken from
http://sethgodin.typepad.com

Some Humor

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.
The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.
The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.
Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.
The little girl said, 'When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah'.
The teacher asked, 'What if Jonah went to hell?'
The little girl replied, 'Then you ask him'.

Is Capitalism Really Good?

“Modern capitalism has created a world totally different from anything known before. Previous ages have assumed that resources are limited and that economics – housekeeping – is about how to distribute them fairly. Since Adam Smith, we have learned to assume that exponential growth is the basic law of economics and that no limits can be set to it. The result is that increased production has become an end in itself; products are designed to become rapidly obsolete so as to make room for more production; a minority is ceaselessly urged to multiply its wants in order to keep the process going while the majority lacks the basic necessities for existence; and the whole ecosystem upon which human life depends is threatened with destruction. Growth is for the sake of growth and is not determined by any overarching social purpose. And that, of course, is an exact account of the phenomenon which, when it occurs in the human body, is called cancer. In the long perspective of history, it would be difficult to deny that the exuberant capitalism of the past 250 years will be diagnosed in the future as a desperately dangerous case of cancer in the body of human society – if indeed this cancer has not been terminal and there are actually survivors around to make the diagnosis.”

R. Bellah and associates, Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life, 114.

taken from blog www.nextreformation.com

School of Bayonnaise

One practical thing we are going to do is to sponsor a child to go to school for $25.00 per month. That $25.00 allows a child to go to school, supplies all books, uniforms and gives them one good meal a day.

When we were at the school (aprox.400 kids) it was lunch time. After lunch I went over to see where the dirty dishes were thrown to see how much food was not eaten (that is food the kids threw out. Here in the states you would have garbage cans filled with wasted food) needless to say there was hardly no waste at all. I probably could not have scraped together another plate of food with all the scraps left. Those are hungry kids and probably the only meal they will have for that day.

The school has over 400 kids right now and there are only 300 sponsors and there is a waiting list to come to school. So if you would like to sponsor one or more you can go to their website or get in touch with me and I will hook you up.
I have 6 pictures of children that they took while I was there waiting for sponsorship(I asked for the pictures so I can be a eye witness that these are real kids. I seen them) Again, let me know, I can can send a picture and more information.

Haiti

I appreciate the prayers as we went to Haiti. All went well (except I did get sick the last night). We got a good view of what Haiti (the north part) is about as we drove from Port a Prince to Cape Hatian with stops in between.
On Friday we traveled to the school in Bayonnaise (sp). Where the ministry www.ICDM.com has a pre/elementary school. Precious kids but sad (not the kids but me knowing what they face and go through)
I preached at the leadership conference on Saturday, quit a experience preaching through a interpreter. At one point I said about 6 words and my interpreter spoke about 50, I turned to him and said, "did I say all that" he shook his head yes. (Lost in Translation...I suppose)
On Sunday I was to preach at a Nazarene church where the graduation was being held and the church celebrating its 11 yrs. in ministry. The spirit came in a powerful way and the Lord said to me, "now what can you add?" and I said "not a thing". So I did not preach.

A few general observations:
1. Haitians are very repectful and hospitable people.
2. Haiti is a land of 'flea markets' everyone everyplace trying to sell whatever they have, so they can survive. I did not see any starving people, but I dont know why. Only the mercy and prevenient grace of God that the people are surviving.
3. Politically speaking if you do not think the government should help people in anyway (the government just needs to stay out of the way) then you need to go to Haiti-you will feel real comfortable there (though you will probably change your mind about the government helping people.
4. There is quit a gap between the rich and poor and it seems that the rich really dont care about the poor.
5. It is a country that seems hard to understand and seems hard to know what to do to help. The ministry we went with www.icdm.com emphasis empowerment over enablement (that is teaching them to fish instead of just giving them a fish). Though, to me that may not be the total answer either.
6. As best as I know Haiti has never experienced a real nation wide move of the spirit of God. From my observations that is Haiti only hope. A move of God that not only transforms the hearts of the people but also changes the land and makes it more fruitful. One of my regular prayers will be "God give Haiti a revival"

GOING TO HAITI

I would appreciate your prayers as I will be heading to Haiti this Thursday morning. This will be my first time at any third world country. I will be speaking at a Leadership Summit and a Bible School Graduation (www.icdm.us) and looking over the work that this organization is doing.

Lord willling I will have some good things to report as I come back.

FAITH

The things in life that are certain, does not require faith. Faith is an adventure. Faith is taking a step where the ground does not seem to be solid. Faith is obeying God regardless of the outcome or how ridiculous it may seem.
Life without faith is monotonous…is boring. What adventure is your faith presently taking you on?

“Faith is embracing the uncertainties of life…Embrace relational uncertainty. It’s called romance. Embrace spiritual uncertainty. It’s called mystery. Embrace occupational uncertainty. It’s called destiny. Embrace emotional uncertainty. It’s called joy. Embrace intellectual uncertainty. It’s called revelation.”
Taken from “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day,” by Mark Batterson

Good Eating!

92 million women in the U.S. never leave home without lipstick, and the average woman accidently ingests more than 4 pounds of it during her lifetime.

TILT-A-WHIRL

In the book, “Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl, the author N.D. Wilson wonders at the creation of the world. He considers some of the questions we ask of the world, What is this world? Why are we here? Etc.
In the chapter ‘Tickets Please’ he wonders, in the light of an infinite God, why we would even consider some of the reasoning of the philosophers in regards to the worlds creation.

He asks, does God speak? His answer is to look outside at his creation he is continually speaking.
The book is filled with the author asking questions regarding creation and our purpose of being here. Eg. The chance of us being here, 1 in 8 million (the number of sperm cells looking for a egg) is no chance at all. God created for a purpose.

He deals with the issue of right and wrong and says that if there were no god, we would have no standard for things that are beautiful, good or even a standard for what is bad.

From there he touches on the subjects of death, heaven and hell.

My only criticism of the book would be that it was too wordy and though some of the questions were thought provoking there were too many of them. The book would have been better at 30 pages less. Why do authors/publishers feel like all books have to be around 200 pages?



Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Whereas Marx said religion is a opiate… philosophy is a anesthetic, a shot to keep the wonder away.”
“The world is beautiful but badly broken” p17

“He (God) has never treated himself as sacred. That’s our role.” P 46

“It is hard to stay focused (looking at creation) with so much swirling around me. God is distracting. He never stops talking, and I can never stop listening. There is a reason we sleep.” P.50

“How could an all-good, all-powerful, God allow evil in the world? Or, from a slightly different angle: how could an all-good, all-powerful, God allow David Hume in the world?” p.78

Iraqi Church

A new Wesleyan Church to reach Iraqi people here in the U.S.

"Sunday, August 16 Maran Atha Church had its grand opening service. Maran Atha is a church planted to reach the Iraqi people in El Cajon, CA. El Cajon has the second largest population of Iraqi people after Detroit Wayne County. Pastor Floreed leads this church of 65. Scores of Iraqi refugees are pouring into this area. The needs are great and this congregation is committed to meeting those needs.

El Cajon Wesleyan is sponsoring this church and they currently meet on the El Cajon property. As God reminds you, pray for Pastor Floreed and the Maran Atha Church."

"A character in John Updike's novel A Month of Sundays, reflecting on his youthful experience of the church, says, 'Churches bore for me the relation to God that billboards did to Coca-Cola; they promoted thirst but did nothing to quench it.'"

The church may not be able to quench the thirst, but we sure should be able to point people to the one who can

Characteristics of the Seven Tribes

Here are some of the characteristics of the 7 tribes that Barna says makes up America.

CASUAL CHRISITANS
this the largest tribe. 4 out of every 5 adults. 150 million out of 225 million adults
•They lead by maintaining stability and the status quo. They are comfortable with their spiritual condition and even consider themselves ‘deeply spiritual’, though in reality their spiritual life is not given much priority.
•Personal comfort is one of their major goals and they worry about things that will disrupt that comfort eg. Financial debt and marital strive.
• Less than 5% tithe. They donate on the avg. 1.5% of their gross income to churches or charities
• Because they seek a comfortable and pleasant life they tend to ignore those scriptures that would disturb that lifestyle.
• One word that would characterize them is average.

CAPTIVE CHRISTIANS
16% of adult population. This group are the true followers of Jesus Christ
• Their bible based convictions and spiritual practices has transformed them into a different type of people
• They think of themselves as spiritual creatures who are full time servants of God (Jesus Christ)
• the lowest level of debt-and the highest level of generosity. They almost universally give away money, and they do so with abandon
• “For members of this tribe, faith is not just a weekend journey designed to give them some inspiration and comfort; faith is the very heart of their existence and daily purpose.”

AMERICAN JEW
• They make up about 2%
• Judaism is more of a civilization or culture than it is a religion.
• They seek high paying jobs, living in a large home and traveling the world for pleasure.
• Most do not believe that God has any involvement in peoples personal life and only 1 out of six believe the bible to be of divine origin

MORMONS
• 2% of population
• Almost as many leave every year as join, thus a small numerical growth.
• Family a overwhelming value. They are more likely to marry, marry younger, marry longer and have more kids than the other tribes
• They believe in a works-oriented salvation.
• Along with the Muslims they share the highest stress levels than any group.

PANTHEIST
1.5% of pop. Eastern religion. Hindu,
Buddhist, New Age
• They do not think of God as a personal, living entity. Rather god is a system of power or authority
• Their value system can be summed up by “live and let live, take care of number one, if it feels good do it. Live in such a way that you have no regrets
• Most likely to see psychics and fortune tellers (10 times more than the typical adult in an average month)

MUSLIMS
• tend to be younger, with more children
• They see themselves more as Muslims than Americans.
• Their most religious activity is their daily prayers 3x a day (3 out of 5 practice)
• Next 30-50 yrs. their faith will be tested here in the US.

SPIRITUAL SKEPTICS
• atheist or agnostic 11% 25million and growing
• They have lower feelings of joy and peace with life.
• 2/3rd describe Christianity as judgemental, old fashioned, out of touch with reality and insensitive to other people. ¾ see Christians as hypocrites.
• twice as likely as other adults to engage in adultery, cohabit, and they are the major consumers of pornography
• They give less money to causes and offer less help to disadvantaged people than any other tribe.
• 25% say they are deeply spiritual.

Code of Conduct for Men in the 21st Century

Code of Conduct for Men in the 21st Century

1. I REJECT unconditionally all violence against women and children.

2. I REJECT the buying of sex with women and children.

3. I WILL intervene when I see a man beating a woman.

4. I WILL NOT beat my wife or partner.

5. I WILL INTERVENE when my male colleagues, friends, or family belittle or degrade women.

6. I RECOGNISE prostitution as harmful to women and will do everything I can to see the end of it.

7. I REJECT the buying of pornography, recognizing it as sexual exploitation.

8. I WILL NOT BUY products that advertise by exploiting women’s bodies when it has nothing at all to do with the
product.

9. I WILL NOT visit clubs and bars that exploit women through ‘exotic’ dancing.

10. I WILL NOT BUY newspapers and magazines that advertise sexual services.

11. I REJECT all forms of sexual harassment, including wolf whistling, sexual insinuations, and unauthorized physical contact.

12. I WILL INTERVENE when my male colleagues, friends, or family engage in sexual harassment.

13. I WILL RESPECT my female colleagues and partners as equals.

14. I RECOGNISE decision-making at home is about equality and partnership.

15. I WILL ENCOURAGE other men to adopt and live by this code, including teaching it to my children

Found at http://miketodd.typepad.com/waving_or_drowning/2009/08/code-of-conduct-for-men-in-the-21st-century.html

Authored by: Brian Iselin, 2009
Alabaster Jar e.V.

Of What Tribe Do You Belong?

I have read George Barna's book "The Seven Faith Tribes" in which he states that America is on the road to self-destruction. He divides the country up into 7 tribes (Casual Christians, Captive Christians, American Jews, Mormons, Pantheists, Muslims and Spiritual Skeptics) and suggest that we must attempt to come together with some shared values if we are to save America.

We will be looking at some of the characteristics of these tribes the next couple weeks in our Sunday morning services and see how they relate to us; especially the Casual and Captive Christian.

As Christians one thing we must do is to recognize that most of us are Casual Christians and that God desires us to be Captive Christians.

I will share some of the characteristics of each group on this blog following our Sunday morning discussion.

The Last Letter

Karen Watson, a missionary recently killed in Iraq. This letter was read by her pastor at her funeral:

Dear Pastor,

You should only be opening this letter in the event of my death.When God calls there are no regrets. I tried to share my heart with you as much as possible, my heart for the nations. I wasn't called to a place; I was called to Him. To obey was my objective, to suffer was expected, His glory my reward, His glory my reward...

The missionary heart:
Cares more than some think is wise
Risks more than some think is safe
Dreams more than some think is practical
Expects more than some think is possible

I was called not to comfort or to success but to obedience...

There is no Joy outside of knowing Jesus and serving Him. I love you and my church family.

In His care,

Salaam, Karen

Taken from www.edstetzer.com

"A Peoples History of Christianity" pt2

Another part of the book that I found interesting was the emphasis upon prayer during the reformation. Prayers, not necessarily those of the reformers, but of the Catholic lay people. Many catholics who did not leave their faith began a renewing process and part of that was a revival of prayer. The prayer beads were brought in and the laity began to pray and to organize communities around the rosary. One of the results of this was the slowing down of the Protestant advance in France.

God hears the prayers of His people. It matters little to what church or group they may belong

A Peoples History of Christianity Pt.1

A People’s History of Christianity by Diana Butler Bass looks at the history of the church from the view of those we have never or seldom hear about. In her words she wants to look at the other side of history, the side that differs from the usual side of church history that we know about. She calls the familiar side the “Big-C” of Christianity: Christ, Constantine, Christendom, Calvin and Christian America.

The book is divided into 5 phases of history: Early, Medieval, Reformation, Modern and Contemporary Christianity. Each section talking about events and people that made that time period what it was and is.

I was moved by the early church’s concern for justice and mercy as seen in their hospitality and forbearance in the midst of sickness and persecution. There was a epidemic in the 2nd century known as the Plague of Galen in which hundreds of thousands died in the streets. While most people were fleeing the city the Christians remained behind to help. We modern/contemporary Christians seem to be more concerned about self preservation than about loving and taking care of our neighbor. A couple years ago in our neighborhood there was a rumor going about that a certain individual had TB so some from the Christian community became panicky and began worrying about weather they may have caught it from the person and making sure they did not go near him. Somewhat a different reaction from the early church (by the way they found out the guy did not have TB-panic for nothing)

The early church took the command “love your neighbor as yourself” seriously. The writer makes this statement, “While contemporary Christians tend to equate morality with sexual ethics, our ancestors defined morality as welcoming the stranger.” I wonder what would happen in our churches that instead of expecting and telling a new convert that he must now quit smoking, drinking, cussing and begin attending church and tell them that they must now open their houses to the homeless, take care of the sick and feed the hungry.
The writer makes the point that people did not convert to Christianity because of the churches doctrine but because it worked- it was seen and experienced in real life.

A Question

Are we a church of brick and mortar or of flesh and blood?

People or Churches

Too many times we get more impassioned about what happens to our building, which we call church, than we do about the people we are called to minister to. Here is a good story taken from July 09 Sojourners magazine by Alexis Torres-Fleming

We organized a march (around drug dealers and crack houses) one beautiful Sunday afternoon in November. A couple of hundred people showed up, and two weeks later drug dealers, in retaliation, torched our church. I went to the site and found a sea of people in the church weeping over a broken statue of the Blessed Mother, and weeping over the church. There were many more people there than had shown up for the march, and suddenly God said to me, “Why are you crying over this? I don’t live here. My real sanctuary is burnt every single day, desecrated in the bodies and minds and spirits of the poorest of the poor who live right outside these doors. When are you going to cry about that?”

What is more important to us our building or the people we are called to minister to?
Where do we invest our money, in building or in reaching the people we are called to?
Where do we invest our time, in the building or with the people?

sex, gays and Miss California

David Fitch at www.reclaimingthemission.com has some good thoughts on the recent Miss California thing

The essence is that with Miss California appearing before thousands in a skimpy bikini, having had a sexually-enhancing cosmetic surgery, and taking a revealing photo shoot , she hardly stands as a Christian example of someone who should be saying that homosexual marriage is “biblically” wrong
We have elevated the homosexual issue to get attention off of our own sins. For the bible also says something about modesty, lust, pornography and divorce. We have no room to say a whole lot about the gay issue until we get our own issues resolved and our own house put back in order.
That old cliché fits well here, we need to be careful of throwing rocks when we live in a glass house.

Cataracts

For over a year now my vision had gone from good to poor. My reading had even slowed down because it was just too hard to focus on the words. I went to the ophthalmologist in January and was told that I had a cataract. A cataract is where the lens in your eye becomes foggy. It is like looking out a dirty car window. Thank God for living in the USA and because of our technology, they are able to remove the old lens and put in a new one. I had the surgery on Monday and all went well…I can see clearly again. (though now I need a new glasses prescription).

Where once was a fog, the sun has now shone through and the fog has lifted. A lot of people, spiritually speaking, see life through cataracts, everything is foggy and not real clear. They need to allow the Holy Spirit to correct their vision.

I thought of this passage in Hebrews
5:12-14 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Many who should be farther up the road than they are now, aren’t because of their foggy vision. Lord, give us clear vision.

What about Work?

We are losing a Christian (Biblical) view of work. Long before the sin in the garden God instituted work. God created, then he told man to take care of what He had created. There is a certain dignity related with work (yes, even hard work).

I say that, because there is too much of a discouragement anymore for people to work.
If you are looking for a job, many people instead of encouraging you in your pursuit try to dampen your interest by saying things like, “Oh. You don’t want to do that, that is hard work” or “don’t apply there they work you long hours” or “that job has a lot of heavy lifting” etc.

Lord willing in a few weeks I would like to get a message together regarding the dignity of work…Stay tuned.

Michael Jackson

There are two things to say about him. He was a musical genius; and he was an abused child. By abuse, I do not mean sexual abuse; I mean he was used brutally and callously for money, and clearly imprisoned by a tyrannical father. He had no real childhood and spent much of his later life struggling to get one. He was spiritually and psychologically raped at a very early age - and never recovered. Watching him change his race, his age, and almost his gender, you saw a tortured soul seeking what the rest of us take for granted: a normal life.

But he had no compass to find one; no real friends to support and advise him; and money and fame imprisoned him in the delusions of narcissism and self-indulgence. Of course, he bears responsibility for his bizarre life. But the damage done to him by his own family and then by all those motivated more by money and power than by faith and love was irreparable in the end. He died a while ago. He remained for so long a walking human shell.

I loved his music. His young voice was almost a miracle, his poise in retrospect eery, his joy, tempered by pain, often unbearably uplifting. He made the greatest music video of all time; and he made some of the greatest records of all time. He was everything our culture worships; and yet he was obviously desperately unhappy, tortured, afraid and alone.

I grieve for him; but I also grieve for the culture that created and destroyed him. That culture is ours' and it is a lethal and brutal one: with fame and celebrity as its core values, with money as its sole motive, it chewed this child up and spat him out.

I hope he has the peace now he never had in his life. And I pray that such genius will not be so abused again.

taken from
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/thinking-about-michael.html

ONE---Sign Up

Hi,

I've just signed the ONE Declaration committing myself to help fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty.

I'm asking you to make that commitment, too, by adding your voice.

I think your name belongs on that declaration, too. You can put it there by visiting:

http://www.one.org/declare/

ONE is a new effort by Americans to rally Americans - one by one. So far, over two million have signed the declaration in support of a historic pact for compassion and justice to help the poorest people of the world.

Together as ONE we can make a difference!

Thanks!

InNOvation

My wife and I were watching TV and a commercial for Post Shredded Wheat came on. While I am not an avid commercial watcher, every now and then an advertisement, or its tag line, will grab my attention. This was the case for this commercial as they stated the tagline: “We put the ‘NO’ in innovation!” (I.e. inNOvation)

I laughed out loud. What a great line! They were attempting to communicate they are a company of tradition, wholesomeness and dependability in these unstable times…at least I think that was the attempt....

I believe churches and people can learn to be innovative. In his book, The Truth About Innovation, author Max Mckeown states, “A distinction is typically made between invention, an idea made manifest, and innovation, ideas applied successfully.” Understanding this will hopefully motivate us to be innovative people and churches. Meaning, we can take existing ideas and apply them to our context. Doing this can move us from inNOvation to INnovation. That is, move us from saying “no” to ideas to working “in” ideas we uncover.

I offer the following to develop an INnovation mindset:

1. Increase your “IA” (idea awareness) quotient: Look in a variety of places for ideas. Do not limit yourselves to what other churches do, but see what businesses are finding effective. An example would be Craig’s list. Many churches are finding this to be an effective tool.
2. Know your context: It is difficult to apply ideas to your situation if you don’t fully understand the situation. Not every idea is for you, nor is it adaptable to your context.
3. Sit in a different chair: When I sit in a different chair I gain a different perspective of the room in which it is placed. View ideas from a variety of perspectives. Look at them from various angles. An idea that doesn’t look good from the top may look completely different from the side.

4. Try stuff: We get too tentative when it comes to trying an idea. An idea that doesn’t work is not an indication of our failure. It does indicate that the idea was not the best, or didn’t fit our situation. Melinda Gates when asked about ideas her and husband Bill’s Foundation comes up with said, “We will get out there and try something. If it doesn’t work, we will try something else. And we will keep trying until we find something that works” (Fast Company, June 09, p62).

What is it for you? InNOvation or INnovation? The choice is yours.


Taken from, "Expanding Wave" www.wesleyan.org/ecg

Graduation

We had a celebrative dinner this past Sunday for our tw0 high school graduates in the church.
Emily Boyle and Andrew Johnson. Our prayers are with them both. God Bless and congratulations

Malaria-Mosquito nets

We collected over $200.oo (222.00) today to help buy mosquito nets for those in Africa, who suffer from malaria, because of mosquito bites. There are over 2,000 people who die everyday because of Malaria. There are a number of organizations that send out nets for the people. We sent ours to www.worldvision.com

Some Malaria facts
Malaria kills nearly one million people each year; eighty-percent are children under-five.
Malaria results in 8 percent of total under-five deaths worldwide, or approximately 776,000 under-five child deaths from malaria each year.

Malaria infects 350-500 million people each year.
More than 2,000 children under-five years of age die from malaria each day.

Malaria is a prime cause of low birth weight in newborns, anemia and infant deaths.
The protective effect of insecticide-treated bed nets has the potential to prevent as many as 1 million deaths from all causes for children under five years old in sub-Saharan Africa.

Malaria has been estimated to cost Africa more than US$ 12 billion every year in lost GDP, even though it could be controlled for a fraction of that sum.

Approximately, 40 percent of the world's populations, mostly those living in the world’s poorest countries, are at risk of malaria.

In some countries with a very heavy malaria burden, malaria may account for as much as 40 percent of public health expenditure, 30-50 percent of inpatient admissions and up to 60 percent of outpatient visits.

An estimated 57 percent of malaria deaths are attributable to undernutrition.

The Hole.... part 2

Richard Stearns in his book. “The Hole in Our Gospel” shows why God required the tithe (10% of our income) in the Old Testament.
1. It provided for the work of God’s kingdom by supporting the levitical temple worship system as well as taking care for the aliens, orphans and widows (Deut. 14:29)
2. By giving the 10% it helped Gods people realize that they depended upon God not their own resources to get by.

He then shares a personal story.
In 1987 when the stock market had its largest crash since 1929, he and his wife lost over a third of their savings along with money they had put aside for their children’s education. He became obsessed staying up at nights worrying about the money they had lost.One night as he was stewing his wife came in and said,“Honey this thing is consuming you in an unhealthy way. It’s only money. We have our marriage, our health, our friends, our children and a good income-so much to be thankful for. You need to let go of this and trust God.”She then suggested that they pray about it, but Richard felt it was his responsibility and that worrying would work better. After prayer his wife then said, “Now I think we need to get out the checkbook and write some big checks to our church and the ministries we support. We need to show God that we know this is His money and not ours.”After the initial shock of such a suggestion, and following the dictates of his heart, they sat down and began writing checks. He shares that as they wrote those checks “…I felt the wave of relief. We had broken the spell that money had cast over me. It freed me from the worries that had consumed me. I actually felt reckless and giddy…”

There are to many people who say they cannot afford to tithe, personally I have always felt that I could not afford not to tithe.We have to realize that what we own is not ours but Gods and then we need to show God that we believe that by giving minimally a tithe (10% of our income).God blesses a cheerful giver.

The Hole in Our Gospel

Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision, argues in his book, “The Hole in our Gospel” that the church is missing something. Through his own testimony of how God led him from being the CEO of a profitable company, to being the president of World Vision. Through bible verses, stories, quotes and statistics he makes the argument that the church has a hole in its message. The hole is seen in our sins of omission, specifically in dealing with social justice and righteousness around the world. He states that, “God wants to see the authenticity of our faith put into action, not the emptiness of a faith without deeds.”

With the awareness, access and ability available to us in our technological age we have no excuses, nor can we plead ignorance, not to be helping those around the world in need.

He wraps up the book saying that we all have something to offer: either time, talent or treasure. It may not be the best or the most but we can all do something. I like the quote that he ascribes to Henry Van Dyke, “Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.”

This was a good book and I am going to share some more thoughts from the book on this blog

Malaria

We are collecting funds to help by mosquito nets to send to Africa. The following is some information regarding malaria. It is unreal how much these nets can do to save lives. If you are interested in helping out, please get in touch with us.

Malaria fact sheet
Malaria kills nearly one million people each year; eighty-percent are children under-five.

Malaria results in 8 percent of total under-five deaths worldwide, or approximately 776,000 under-five child deaths from malaria each year.
Malaria infects 350-500 million people each year.

More than 2,000 children under-five years of age die from malaria each day.

The most common malaria species in Africa, Plasmodium falciparum, is estimated to cause as many as 10,000 maternal deaths each year and 8 percent to 14 percent of all low birth weight babies.

Malaria is a prime cause of low birth weight in newborns, anemia and infant deaths.

The protective effect of insecticide-treated bed nets has the potential to prevent as many as 1 million deaths from all causes for children under five years old in sub-Saharan Africa.

Malaria has been estimated to cost Africa more than US$ 12 billion every year in lost GDP, even though it could be controlled for a fraction of that sum.

Approximately, 40 percent of the world's populations, mostly those living in the world’s poorest countries, are at risk of malaria.

Crazy Love

We will be using the DVD "Crazy Love", which is a companion study resource for the book by the same title written by Francis Chan ( a pastor in California). Our study time begins at 7:00pm on Wednesday nights. Everyone is welcome.

Taken from www.experienceshift.blogspot.com

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Churches These Days
A lot of churches are building these great beautiful sanctuaries, multi-purpose spaces, fellowship halls and youth centers. That is awesome! These buildings often have great things like railings, ramps, stairs, smooth pavement, and benches...perfect for skate boarding! However, these same churches that claim they are trying to reach these people prohibit them from skating there, they post threatening signs, or special "security" personnel. They claim it is because of liability/insurance issues, or they do not want to mess up their new facility.

Consider this story from Mark Yaconelli's, Contemplative Youth Ministry:First United Methodist Church in Valparaiso, Indiana was just such a church. They were getting tired of the kids being there, destroying their steps, and messing up their facility. So, the elders decided to rebuild the steps and install counter-measures to prevent the skater situation. However, the youth workers were able to persuade the elders (after much prayer) to reconsider. Instead, the elders left the steps, opened up the church facility, gave the kids a tour, allowed them to use the bathrooms, and fellowship areas, and the church staff could be seen fellowshiping with them."If you want to know what it means to share the presence of Jesus with young people, if you want to know more than I can tell you in this book, then drive an hour east of Chicago to Valparaiso, Indiana. Go spend an afternoon sittin on the curb across the street from the Methodist church. Then watch as kids come skating up to the steps, leaping and twirling, crashing their boards against the concrete in acrobatic feats of life and energy. Sit and watch as the church secretaries, the bookkeeper, the maintanance and pastoral staff walk up the crumbling steps. Watch as they stop to say hello. Watch as they converse with the scruffy street skaters. Watch as they take time from their work schedule to applaud as a boy shows off an especially difficult spin on his board. Sit and don't say a word. Just listen to the whir of the wheels on the pavement. Watch the young people running in and out of the church to get water and use the bathroom and then see. See if you don't find those crumbling steps beautiful."

(from the closing paragraph of, Contemplative Youth Ministry: Practicing the Presence of Jesus (Youth Specialties) )

Book Review

“The Noticer” Sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective by Andy Andrews is a series of fictional stories of people during different seasons of life. When a mysterious man named ‘Jones’ (not ‘Mr. Jones just Jones’) unexpectedly appears to give new perspective to their unique situation. Some of those areas of life include new perspectives on circumstances for a homeless man, to love, worry, wisdom, dating and marriage, choices, getting older and death for a man who is dying. Each perspective given was able to change the persons life and circumstances from that point on.
2 of the things I particularly enjoyed was 1) the writer’s emphasis on how little things matter using the story of Napoleans defeat at the battle of Waterloo, where things could have been different for Napoleans army if they only had brought with them a handful of nails. 2) I liked how he made a difference between a choice and a mistake
The book closes with a Readers Guide of questions that we may ask ourselves that relates to the chapters in the book.It was a nice easy read which I would give a 4 out of 5 stars

BACK TO BROADWAY

On Saturday, May 2, 7:00pm at the Intercession City Civic Center we will be inviting Fred and Sharon Moore to present "Back to Broadway". A musical, comedy, hitorical program for the whole family.
Snacks will be served and the best part is that it is FREE ADMISSION.

Everyone is Welcome

You can find out more about Fred and Sharon at www.unlimitedprograms.org

GOOD FRIDAY

On Good Friday, April 10, we will be viewing the "Passion of the Christ" over at the church. All are welcome. We will begin at 6:45pm. This film is a good reminder of what Christ suffered for us. (not that the film is totally accurate, but it gives us a good indication of some of the suffering he went through)

SHARING?

We have been talking about how God has blessed us (materially and financially) and that we in turn ought to be blessing others (materially and financially).
That sharing of blessing invovles helping those on the margins of society, the homeless, poor, sick etc. And whenever we talk about such things there are those who become upset and very defensive....I was trying to figure out why that is (beyond the obvious fact that we highly value money. It along with our kids are the closet things to our heart) and maybe it is the fact that we just dont want to share.

One of the first things we try to teach our kids as they begin to play with others is that they need to share. But it seems the older we get someone needs to teach us to share.

"The Gift of Psalms" book review

“The Gift of Psalms” (published by Thomas Nelson) is a devotional book from 50 of the best known Psalms. Along with a devotion for 50 Psalms it comes with a CD. The book itself is beautifully put together, nicely laid out with glossy pages.
The devotions as, stated in the title, cover some of the best known Psalms. At that point the book takes on a big challenge. With a plethora of devotional books on the market, to try to come up with some new and original devotionals from the Psalms, the book falls short. The devotionals themselves are somewhat boring to read, though they tend to be a little more interesting hearing them read from the CD
I always have problems with authors who feel they have to correct the scriptures because it does not quite fit their theology.
Eg. On the 24th Psalm where David says “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?” (referring to heaven) David answers, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart…” The writer then says, “Not one of us can say that he or she has ‘clean hands and a pure heart…’ If that is the case then I suppose none of us will go to heaven and thus we are doomed to a life of trials and temptations without any hope of a happy hereafter.
Out of a possible 5 stars I would give the book 2.

YOU GOT TO SEE THIS

This is a commercial that was to air during the superbowl, but NBC rejected it. Since then it has been seen by over a million people on youtube.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyfmtUjNJEk

Raising Christian Kids?

As we talked about money and material wealth yesterday morning, with the idea that God owns everything and everything we have belongs to God and anything we have is only because God has allowed us to have it (from the parable of the talents Matthew 24)

A comment was made that we try to raise our kids as Christians. As I think about that this morning, what does that mean? What does it mean to raise our kids as Christians?

Assuming (and hoping) that we would say we raise our kids to be like Jesus, What kind of Jesus?
There are at least 2 types of Jesus. The one Jesus is the American Jesus. This Jesus is middle class, hard working-good pay, nice acting, suburban Jesus.
The other Jesus is the biblical Jesus. Homeless, not owning anything, concerned about the outcast of society (poor, sick, naked etc), persecuted, crucified Jesus.

Which Jesus are we raising our kids to be like?

Free e-book

Here is a link for a free leadership e-book put together by Exponential network


http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/docs/leadershiplearnings-V1.pdf

Dreams

Like a dream come true
That's the way Derek Sivers (founder of CDBaby) described his mission statement in building the company. "What could I build that would be a like a dream come true for independent musicians?"
What an extraordinarily universal way to construct a product, a service or a business. Notice that dreams are rarely "within reason" or "under the circumstances." No, dreams are dreams. If your business is a dream come true for customers, you win. Game over.
Too often, I hear about businesses that just might be a dream come true for their owners, but hardly for the people they seek to recruit or the customers they hope to snare. What do your prospects dream of? What would get them to wait in line?

from http://sethgodin.typepad.com

A New Kind of Conversation

“A New Kind of Conversation: Blogging Toward A Postmodern Faith” edited by Myron Bradley Penner & Hunter Barnes is an attempt to be more of a conversation than just a book. One of the contributors offers a blog on a certain subject then it was open for comments by other bloggers the result is this book. They have succeeded, for there were times I wanted to jump up and respond to some of the comments, but then realizing the book is already written. :(

Blog 1 is an attempt to define what ‘postmodernism’ is. One of the bloggers suggest, which I agree, a better question than ‘what is postmodernism?’ would be “Why is There Postmodernism?”
He then offers 2 reasons 1) Being in our day of pluralism there are so many voices no one is sure what the truth is. One of the points being brought out that with so many groups living by different worldviews that have seemed violent and dangerous (including Christians eg. The Crusades) how are we to live?
I would answer that question by saying we live by love. Not a self-promoting, ulterior motive type of love but a love that only God can put in our hearts. A love that truly seeks the best for the other person, by doing to/for them what we would want them to do to/for us.

2) There is a distrust of accepted sources of authority and truth. He uses one example of children of divorce, saying that kids, though they may not be able to express it verbally, down deep they feel they have been wronged. And if those who are suppose to be faithful to you let you down, then whom can you really trust and believe?
I feel the church has failed to really see the seriousness of divorce on children and how that effects how we do church today. We get all excited and upset about homosexual marriage etc.and yet seem strangely silent on divorce.

On the blog ‘The Bible, Theology, and Postmodernism’ The conversation turned toward discerning heresy. I liked what one of the bloggers said if the community is in loving obedience then heresy will be unheard of. The obedient community will be a check on heresy.
And marginal voices are to be heard with humility, patience and love.
I was reminded of John Wesley’s ‘Quadrilateral’, in which he uses 4 sources in coming to theological conclusions. Any new teaching must be measured by each of these sources.

1) Scripture- the Old and New Testaments
2) Tradition- What does 2000 years of the history of the Church have to say
3) Reason- rational thinking and sensible interpretation
4) Experience- What does a persons personal and communal journey in Christ suggest

Using these 4 sources seems like a good way to stay clear of heresy or unorthodox teaching.

Blog 5 “Evangelical Faith and (Postmodern) Others” dealt with how our faith will be viewed by others outside of our Western, North American context. A problem that we need to admit is that we tend to interpret scriptures according to our own North American perspective, then we want to apply that to all people in all nations, cultures etc.

I think specifically even of our interpretations of the ‘last days’. We tend to have tunnel vision, in thinking that everything the Bible talks about the last days revolves around the United States (us). Eg. We look at the church in America and say “there is a great falling away” and yet fail to realize that in places like China, the church is thriving.

In the final chapters (blogs) the issues of apologetics (or how to reach postmodern people) and spiritual formation was covered. How do we reach them? Primarily by loving them. How will their spiritual growth be measured? Not by their attendance to our church programs and activities but by their ‘Christlikness’

Campfire Lesson

Sitting around the campfire last night, I was reminded of a lesson I was taught in Fire Academy.Things do not burn. The wood pallets thrown on the fire do not burn. What actually happens is that the wood reaches its ignition point, the molecules freak out and start to break down, in the process the item turns to vapor and it is this vapor that actually burns (this can be plainly seen by looking closesly at the wick of a burning candle, you will see that the flame is actually not touching the wick).
As Christians, have we reached our ignition point, or are we still cold? Are we on fire for Christ in such a way that we are releasing His "vapor"? Is our relationship with Him evident to those around us, because we are emitting the love of Christ, and things of the Kingdom?

taken from www.experienceshift.blogspot.com

What marketers actually sell

Not powder or chemicals or rubber or steel or silicon or talk or installations or even sugary water.
What marketers sell is hope.
The reason is simple: people need more. We run out. We need it replenished. Hope is almost always in short supply.
The magical thing about selling hope is that it makes everything else work better, every day get better, every project work better, every relationship feel better.

If you can actually deliver on the hope you sell, there will be a line out the door.
Hope cures cynicism. Hope increases productivity. Hope needs no justification.

Taken from www.sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/

Mind Boggling

President elect Obama is talking about a $1,000,000,000,000 debt (1 trillion).
A number we can't really grasp. Though this might help...

1 trillion seconds is 31,000 years.

yikes!

Friday Movie Night

On Friday nights during the month of January we will be having a Family Movie Night.
This Friday night (the 9th) we will be watching Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe
Next Friday, on the 16th, we will watch "Prince Caspian"

Show time is 7:00pm. Admission is free and we would like everyone to join us. There will be popcorn and drinks and you can even come in your pj's

New Years' Quote

I came across this quote from Francis of Assisi, which he said to the brothers at the end of his life. I thought it was a good thought to begin the New Year with.

“Let us begin again,
for as yet we have done nothing.”