Community Wesleyan Church

I am a Follower

2012-01-12T14:07:00.000-05:00

“I AM A FOLLOWER THE WAY, TRUTH, AND LIFE OF FOLLOWING JESUS”

by Leonard Sweet published by Thomas Nelson.

Some of the best things said were in the prologue of the book. The author talks about the overemphasis on leadership in our day and the need to become ‘first followers’.
“We have been told our entire lives that we should be leaders, that we need more leaders, leaders, leaders. But the truth is that the greatest way to create a movement is to be a follower and to show others how to follow. Following is the most underrated form of leadership in existence.”

The author uses Jesus declaration in John 14, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life…’ to establish his general outline of the book. And to encourage the fact that we are followers of Jesus not man. However, the book never seems to hit its mark. I expected and was disappointed in that the author fails to really show the problem of our modern push of leadership in the church and how that ‘leadership’ promotion hinders in developing true followers.
The author in sharing some things regarding his pre-conversion quotes Jean-Paul Sartre who defined sin as the “systematic substitution of the abstract for the concrete.” I felt this book seemed to lean more to the abstract than to the concrete.

I have read many of Leonard Sweets books and always look forward to his new ones. This was the worse one I have read. If this is the first of Sweet you have read and feel disappointed as I did, don’t let that hinder you from picking up and reading some of his other books eg. ‘Nudge’, ‘Post Modern Pilgrims’ and ‘Aqua Church’

Become Sacriligious

2012-01-05T10:55:00.002-05:00

Sacrilege: Finding Life in the Unorthodox Ways of Jesus by Hugh Halter
Published by Baker Books.

Two stories that the author shares hooked me with this book and from then on I had a hard time putting it down. The first was in the introduction where he shares his experience of going to the Holy Land but leaves disappointed because of his inability to find Jesus there. “…Religion, religious people, pious performances and massive stone impediments blocked me from…” seeing Jesus.
The second story, in the first chapter, he shares about a hard core neighbor who was giving him the finger ( ‘flipping him the bird’) while the author was mowing his lawn. Not sure how to handle it he decided to stop the mower, lifted both hands in the air and return the finger with both hands, he gave him the ‘double bird’. From that point on they became good friends and the neighbor was part of their faith community.
The author committed what he calls sacrilege, the act of taking what is deemed sacred and to disrespect, disregard, and be irreverent toward it. The author states that Jesus was the most sacrilegious revolutionary of all time and he calls his followers to be like him. Jesus was able to influence those around him because of his sacrilegious ways and thus the author uses the beatitudes to help us become like Jesus.

In the second beatitude “Blessed are those that mourn…” the author brought in those verses in Ecclesiastes which tell us that mourning is better than pleasure. Suggesting that for us to be sacrilegious we must risk being with those who hurt and those who are sick. He used the example of the monastic communities in the middle ages how they would move into areas where there was pain instead of moving away from it. The church would move out of areas where there was disease or plague but the monastics moved into those places. Living in Florida, I have sometimes wondered about our push to move away from the oncoming hurricanes when we know that there will be some who will not be able to move. Should we not stay to be able to help those who were unable to move?

This is just one example that the author uses to help us to realize that to be sacrilegious we must begin seeing things from a different perspective. A Jesus perspective. This is a good book and a easy read.

Stay Away from Zombie Churches

2011-12-14T09:43:00.002-05:00

ZOMBIE CHURCH: Breathing Life Back into the Body of Christ by Tyler Edwards

Have you ever been to or been part of a church that seemed alive but yet something of life was missing? Welcome to Zombie church.
The author contends, and rightly so, that many of our churches today are ‘Zombie’ churches. That is churches that have the resemblance of life but are in actuality dead. From a distance they look as though they were alive but upon closer inspection they have lost their connection to life: Jesus Christ.

The author says,”…that many churches in America have lost sight of their purpose. It is this loss of purpose that turns our churches into Zombie churches.” Is it possible to know if my church is a ‘zombie church’? The author says we need to ask ourselves this question, “If the church closed its doors would anyone from the outside even notice?”

From there the author goes into and expounds upon some of the characteristics that resemble Zombie churches. The author says that the church has lost its motivation. We act out of duty instead of love. Love for God and neighbor. He says that it is the zombie churches that do a lot of damage in the world and make Christians look bad. They focus upon a lot of things that are not Jesus and that the ultimate cure for zombiism is life that comes from love.

3 particular areas that I thought the author touched upon, and wish he would have spent more pages on was his words regarding the churches laziness. He summed that area up with these words, “The danger of spiritual laziness is that it corrupts the atmosphere and function of the church.” Using the passage of 2Thess. 3:6-15, a passage that we don’t hear much preaching on.
The second area he mentioned was a sociological condition called, ‘narcotizing dysfunction’. “The idea is that the more we become informed, the less active we become. We mistake knowing about something and even discussing it as actually doing something about it.” Thus we can rationalize not doing anything, because we have talked about it and we are informed about it. How many of our churches talk more about evangelizing etc. than actually doing it?
A third area he mentioned a number of times was about the bad influence of ‘zombie’ Christians and how they tend to make us like them. Yet he never mentioned how we could extinguish, get rid of, or excommunicate those zombies from our midst in a loving way.

A couple problems I had with the book. This book is by no means a scholarly or academic book, by the way it is written I would assume the author, who is also a pastor, tends to be more of a exhorter than a expositor. The chapters seem to run into each other, what I mean by that, is that the author seems to never totally exhaust one chapter. He refers to the same subjects throughout the book, thus making it about 50 pages longer than it needed to be. Also I am not sure for whom the book is written for, a new convert, excited about his new found life, would not recognize that the church had any problems. A cold, should I say ‘zombie christian’, would probably not want to take the time to read it.

CHURCH OUTSIDE THE WALLS- book review

2011-12-09T20:01:00.000-05:00

CHURCH OUTSIDE THE WALLS by Raj Samuel

The author, who has held a number of church positions in India and the UK, has done a good job showing the inconsistencies between what a scriptural church is versus what our modern, at least American, church has become. He rightly decries the disillusionment that many have with Christianity by defining it as ‘Churchianity’. His argument is that we must move away from a institutional form of Christianity so that we can rightly represent Jesus to non-Christians.

He begins his argument by showing the unity of God (God is 3 persons but of one essence), the unity of man and the relation between the 2. From there he moves to the fact that each individual is the church and that no one person is more important than another. That the church is not a building, but people. He makes a biblical case for the priesthood of all believers, that all are ministers and not just a select few.

His most interesting (and unique) argument was how we have paganized our concept of the sermon. He says that the NT church was more into “the interactive study of the Word of God” but has now been “ replaced by the Greek Monologue/ Homily”. Thus replacing substance with style, form for content. In the synagogue sermons were not monologue but open for discussion and interaction. The author makes the distinction between teaching and preaching with this quote by C.H. Dodd, “New Testament draws a clear distinction between preaching (kerygma) and teaching (didache)…. Teaching is in a large majority of cases ethical instructions. Preaching, on the other hand, is public proclamation of Christianity to the non-Christian world….while the Church was concerned to hand on the teaching of the Lord, it was not by this (didache teaching) that it made converts. It was by preaching (kerygma).”

The author says the NT church knows nothing of a monologue sermon and this is best evidenced by our lack of spiritual growth, “we witness the adverse effects of this practice - the people neither grow in the Word nor into maturity, but remain spiritual babes.”
The authors point is that preaching is for the unbelievers and that teaching is for the believers. If that is the case, and I would agree with the author, we sure have it turned upside down and my only question/concern is if it would ever be made right.

Though the author does not use history to back up his claims, it easily does. The Salvation Army began by preaching to people out in the streets and my own groups’ founder, John Wesley, began preaching in the fields to the coal miners. Then once they were converted brought them into groups (churches) to teach them.

My only problem with this book is the authors’ own vocational position. It seems that he holds or has held many church offices, which, I assume, he was paid and made his living. Yet he seems to discourage this type of ministry, even using and pushing the tent making ministry of Paul as the proper example of Christian ministry.

America: The Last Best Hope

2011-11-30T18:54:00.002-05:00

AMERICA: THE LAST BEST HOPE Vol.3 From the Collapse of Communism to the Rise of Radical Islam by William J. Bennett

This book covers the history of the United States from the years of 1988-2008. I have a problem calling it history since I remember a lot of the issues that he brings out in the book. History, it seems to me, to be what took place before you were born.

With that said, the author begins with the presidency of George H.W. Bush. The author, who was on the president’s staff, has only high regard for him. He says only positive things regarding his former boss. Like the presidents”… lasting legacy may be the maturity and self-discipline that the president exercised while in office.” And in regards to the president’s 1992 loss of election to Bill Clinton the authors says, “Great nations are too often ungrateful nations. And we Americans have a great nation. But surely, for our gratefulness and greatness, no people can expect to show their thanks every time they have an election. And in the election year of 1992 gratefulness was at a discount.”

Just as high as he was on George H.W. Bush, saying nothing really negative. He was just the opposite with Bill Clinton, not necessarily saying anything bad, but never saying anything good. A good example of this was seen in the authors failure to mention that in the presidents re-election bid he failed to mention how Bill Clinton used the presidents phrase, “read my lips” in regard to raising taxes against him.

The book moves from Bill Clinton to the presidency of George W. Bush and his fight with Iraq and terrorism. The authors writing of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 left me in tears. He concludes the book in praise of an American that can elect a black president in Barack Obama

A few of the problems I had with the book is the authors failure to explain some things like the Iran-Contra affair in more detail. His mentioning of it and not more explanation was like watching a movie with no end. Also, as in his praise of Bush Sr., his bias seems to show through. Also I feel this book would have been better titled a political history of the US for the years 1988-2008. Though he mentioned and touched upon some cultural issues, there was a definite lack of those issues discussed to understand the US in those years.

Overall, this was a good book, an easy and interesting read. I would now like to read the authors first 2 books of the United States history.

Mega-church or Mob

2011-11-09T15:34:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine sent me this, I thought was pretty good.

How the mega-church resembles the mob:

1. Has a founding family, with a "godfather" type as pastor. It is assumed the son will take his place. Access to the "godfather" is limited.

2. The larger families, lord over smaller, sometimes giving the appearance of helping, this too, however, can be an attempt to cement control, and further prove the power of the larger family.

3. If your an outsider, your out, no special treament or knowledge is presented. Once your in your in, you become priveledged to know the future of the church, you are made to feel that your approval is valued. You may even be granted rare access to the "godfather" himself. If you last long enough, you may eventually be considered a "pillar" of the family.

4. As an insider you see all the works and learn the players (know the hit men, and see the hits, often the "family" tries to pull you into the hit, so that the element of control is enhanced).

5. As a mere footsoldier for the family, direction comes from the "godfather" through others, and you are expected to only carry out what you were tasked with.

6. Independent thought, or attempts to improve the process/organization/family will be met with some sort of minor punishment (broken knee caps, or amputated pinky finger); in an attempt to discourage any action outside of what is mandated by the "godfather". These attempts will be seen as a personal offense toward the "godfather" or a threat to the other high ranking family members. This is typically spiritualized as "taking some time off to prevent ministry burn-out".

7. Continued independent thought (even to the betterment of the "family"), will be considered offensive.

8. At this point a hit will be put out on you. From here it will only be a matter of time before you find yourself in a cement coffin, or face down in a drained pool. Do not attempt to explain your actions, or wonder why you had no chance to discuss the issues. You have stepped on an ego of a higher ranking family member, than yourself, you will be prevented from being heard. You will wonder what your offense might have been, the family will justify it as "creating a coup to overthrow the godfather" or "lack of unity with the family".

Book review-"Seeing Through Heavens Eyes"

2011-10-17T08:09:00.002-05:00

“SEEING THROUGH HEAVEN’S EYES” by Leif Hetland

This book is about trying to see through the eyes of heaven. His premise is that we tend to see things from the human perspective and fail to see from God’s viewpoint. Though the author says some good things I am afraid, at least in one spot, he has failed to see ‘through heavens eyes.’
The author, making reference to the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, makes some good points in helping us recognize the tactics satan (the serpent) used to deceive Adam and Eve.
1. The first tactic is that he disguises who he is. In this case he transformed himself into a familiar serpent, a creation of God
2. The second tactic is to divide and conquer. He apparently approached Eve while Adam was not around.
3. Third tactic he uses is to cast a shadow of doubt on the word of God.
4. The devils final tactic is to call God’s character and His motives into question.

It seems to me that the author has fallen to the wiles of the devil. The author says that after the fall Adam and Eve were still Gods children and that their sin disgraced them but didn’t disinherit them. “And our sin -no matter how serious or how shameful-wont disinherit us…It is our position in the family-not our performance in the family- that establishes our identity and entitles us to our inheritance. We can never be downgraded, disowned, or disinherited.”

At this point the author seems to ignore what he has just said and allows his theology to take precedence over the scripture. Let me briefly explain:
1. Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden because of disobedience- that was their inheritance and they lost it.
2. Their performance did matter. They lost their inheritance because they listened and followed the serpent (satan) instead of God.
3. The devil would like us to overemphasis God‘s love at the expense of His holiness and wrath. He along with many modern day preachers and writers (including our author) would like to think that Gods love overlooks and ignores our rebellion and disobedience.
4. There is a sense that when Adam and Eve sinned we didn’t just forget our identity but we lost it. In Genesis 1:26-27 it says “ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Then in Gen. 5:3 it says “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth.”
Evidently the image of God in man had become marred through the fall, that Adam’s childrens’ image is that of fallen man instead of the image that was first produced in the garden. Thus their identity had changed.

I am sure that this is the authors rational attempt to prove that even once we are ‘saved’ we will continue to be ‘saved’ irrespective of our behavior. But the rational does not meet with the simple truths of the bible and because of that I cannot recommend this book.

Ending Extreme Poverty

2011-10-14T06:09:00.000-05:00

FAST LIVING: HOW THE
CHURCH WILL END EXTREME POVERTY by Scott C. Todd, PhD

The author, a senior ministry advisor for Compassion International, brings about a compelling and motivational case to end poverty. He believes that one of the main hurdles to get over in eradicating poverty is our low expectations. The point here is that we don’t think we can get rid of poverty it will always be with us, as seen and interpreted when Jesus told the disciples, “the poor you will always have with you.” The author brings out the argument that what Jesus was talking about and to were the disciples. The poor would always be with them, but not necessarily have to be with civilization forever.
He gives some statistics that show that extreme poverty is already being broken.

• In the past 8 yrs., the number of kids dying from measles has declined by 78 percent
• Twenty two countries have cut their malaria rate in half in only 6 years
• The number of children dying each day from preventable causes has dropped from 40,000 per day to 21,000
• In 1981 52% of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty. Today that number is 26%

As I read those statistics I could not help but think how those who feel that Jesus return is near, because everything is so bad, would respond. I suppose it would make you review your ‘last days’ theology. The author feels that for the first time in human history, we have the realistic possibility of ending extreme global poverty.

The author does not make a dichotomy between poverty work and evangelism. He says, “we don’t do anti-poverty work and share the gospel. Sharing the gospel is anti-poverty work.” He goes on to say that the most powerful ant-poverty strategy is the good news of Jesus Christ both proclaimed and demonstrated.

From a practical standpoint the author says that the best way to end poverty is by a combination of the 3 major sectors of society: government, business and the church/non-profit. Then he gives a chapter on each section to explain what he means. He closes the book out by showing the statistics of how little we as the church give financially ( 97.1% of the churches income from donations etc. is spent on themselves and that 96% goes toward buildings, carpet, staff etc)

This is one of many books written about poverty and its eradication that have come out in the last few years. If you have not read any this would be a good primer. It is easy reading, less than 200 pages and a good place to begin to motivate us to do our part to end extreme poverty

Wall Street Occupiers'

2011-10-07T08:11:00.000-05:00

I like what they are doing and if I could afford it I would like to join them for a few days....The following is what Jim Wallis of Sojourners had to say.

The Occupy Wall Street protests make some people nervous, while others scratch their heads, and more than a few grab their sleeping bags and join in.

There is a lot of speculation as to who the "Occupiers" are and what they might accomplish. There is much I still don’t know about the movement, but undeniably it has caught the imagination of a generation -- and that matters.

Here are a few things I do know about the Occupy Wall Street protesters:

When they stand with the poor, they stand with Jesus.

When they stand with the hungry, they stand with Jesus.

When they stand for those without a job or a home, they stand with Jesus.

When they are peaceful, nonviolent, and love their neighbors (even the ones they don’t agree with and who don’t agree with them), they are walking as Jesus walked.

When they talk about holding banks and corporations accountable, they sound like Jesus and the biblical prophets before him, who all spoke about holding the wealthy and powerful accountable.

Pray for those out on the streets.

Think of ways that you or your church can be Jesus to them.

And do one of the things that church folks do best: Bring them a covered casserole!

Take your church potluck down to the occupations. Sit, eat, and talk with the protesters. Offer them the sacred gifts of hospitality, company, and friendship.

Or a hot cup of coffee.

Or send them a pizza. (Think of it as a peace-za.)

The Occupiers' desire for change and willingness to take action to do something about it should be an inspiration to us all.

Christianity or Jesus?

2011-09-27T14:24:00.000-05:00

“SPEAKING OF JESUS”: the art of not-evangelism. By Carl Medearis

This book was about telling others about Jesus, not Christianity. The author having lived in Lebanon for a number of years, seen the problem of speaking of Christianity and thus realized he had to shed “Christianity” and begin with Jesus. Whereas Christianity is seen in a negative light Jesus is seen more positive. That problem is also here with us in the United States. As the author quotes Don Miller (author of ’Blue Like Jazz’), “ask 10 people what Christianity is and you will get 10 different answers.”
The authors’ contention that the word ‘Christianity’ has come to mean almost anything except who Jesus really is. He feels that we should not even try to defend the term but ignore it. We need to get people’s attention back to Jesus and his life.

I totally agree with the author that we need to be speaking and pointing others to Jesus rather than Christianity. I had a problem with the authors downplaying of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The author wants to talk about Jesus life and almost ignore his death and resurrection. The problem here is that if Jesus did not die and rise from the dead his life and teachings will become meaningless. I don’t feel that people are interested in a good man or a good prophet as much as they are in a risen Savior. We cannot forget that it was his death and resurrection that makes his life worth studying.

The Faith of Leap

2011-09-13T08:46:00.000-05:00

The Faith of Leap: Embracing a Theology of Risk, Adventure & Courage by Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch

The authors, with help from many outside sources, have succeeded in writing to encourage the church that they need to throw off their pursuit for safety and security and begin living “…the ongoing risky, actional, extravagant way of life “ that should characterize followers of Jesus. They contend that this type of life calls for courage which is learned through community. The authors call this communitas- a collective of people who find meaningful life together as a result of their shared mission. As the authors point to the need for communitas, we as individuals do not lost our uniqueness. For the authors encourage that there is a mission that we pursue as individuals, such as on our job, as well as in community/church.

As stated by the authors, the church has four key functions: mission, community, discipleship and worship. “Mission is the practical demonstration, whether by speech or by action, of the glorious lordship of Jesus. It is where we get to create little foretastes of the kingdom of Jesus…”
They say that mission should be the catalyst that energizes the other 3 functions and they build their case from a theological, sociological and practical viewpoint. They say that, “when mission is allowed to be the catalytic function, the other elements of ecclesia (church) are not in any way diminished; they are in fact enhanced.”
A few other quotes they give in this regard which I liked,”…just worshipping God on Sundays and midweek fellowships alone does not produce disciples-because if it did actually work, then there would be no crisis of discipleship in the church.”
Another quote, “Let’s stop kidding ourselves-there are too many instances of Christians worshiping sublimely every Sunday, but never making and impact beyond the congregation, never experiencing the powerful beauty of communitas, never going deeper in discipleship. We think this is precisely because the catalyzing experience of missional adventure and risk are removed from the equation.”

They close the book with some examples of where missional risk has been put to practice and is working.
This book is filled with good material and many good quotes. It needs to be read by all church leaders, discussed and then put into practice. The only thing I would have liked to have read is an example or two where churches and their leaders have attempted to make their church more missional and failed. All together this is by far one of the better books I have read about the church in a while. 5 stars

Rumors of God

2011-08-07T18:06:00.003-05:00

“Rumors of God”, Experience the kind of faith you’ve only heard about by Darren Whitehead & Jon Tyson

The authors springboard this book off of the prayer of Habakkuk which says, “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.”

The premise of the book is that God can do for us today what he did for those in the past.

This book begins with the story of Catherine, a woman who grew up in church, trying to serve the Lord. Her experience with God had begun to grow stale until she was asked to go on a mission trip to Costa Rico to minister among women involved in prostitution. As she came back to the states she began using her vocation as a make-up artist to work in a strip club to help women with their make-up before they went out to perform. As she ministered and as some of the women’s lives began to change, she experienced a renewal to her own faith.
The next couple of chapters deals with God giving us dreams that are bigger than what the world can offer, not just rumors but the real thing.

Some of the chapters that the book covers that I feel were lacking (or at least presented better by others) are on love, grace, forgiveness.

Some of the other chapters such as justice, hope and community they did a good job with stories and illustrations to back up their points. In emphasizing our need for community over our cultures “radical individualism” they illustrate by closing the chapter on community with a man who had died at his house, in front of his TV still on, months before anyone knew about it.

This book was a good read and the authors made their point in only 173 pages.

"FutureCast" by George Barna

2011-07-26T14:58:00.000-05:00

“FUTURECAST” What Today’s Trends mean for Tomorrow’s World
By George Barna

The purpose of this book is to chart some trends that are taking place in the US. Barna says, that “Leadership is based on the ability to see future possibilities and shape the environment to facilitate desired outcomes.” Thus the information in the book is to help leaders become well informed so they may lead effectively.

Some of the trends that Barna documents are:
Regarding marriage he says, “…among the younger generations of adults, doubts about the durability of marriage sometimes become a self-fulfilling prophecy: Afraid to fail. They never fully devote themselves to do what it takes to build and maintain a strong marriage, putting that union at risk right from the start.”

He says that in our culture we are losing our civility. “Politeness, graciousness and restraint are lost arts.” He sites a survey conducted on the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock festival that found out that less then 4 out of 10 believe that a festival of that magnitude (4000,000 people) could gather peacefully for such an event today.
Another interesting point that he brought out is how disrespect for other people is rising, yet people are on the lookout for those who disrespect them. We want respect without showing respect.

He also shows the trends in media, religious views etc. etc.

One of the emphasis that he brought out in book was our need not to look at these trends and think that we will change the world. But that we use them to try to change one person at a time. At that place this book becomes personal, it is not just for the big organizations and churches, but it is for us as individuals to examine ourselves and do what we can do to change our neighborhoods and the people (individuals) we are around.

Overall, if you have enjoyed Barna’s other books you will enjoy this one.

Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

Leadership or Followers

2011-07-19T18:26:00.000-05:00

leadership...leadership...leadership. We talk about being good leaders, about training leaders, about how important it is to have leaders etc. etc. etc....Personally I am tired of hearing about leaders and leadership.

We dont need leaders as much as we need followers...Jesus followers

Transforming your community through unity-a book review

2011-06-30T09:03:00.000-05:00

A New Kind of Big ‘How Churches of Any Size Can Partner to Transform Communities” by Chip Sweney

Are you interested in transforming your community? Is it possible to unite the churches in the community to bring about transformation?
This book is about how the ‘Perimeter Church’ of Atlanta organized with other churches, within a 12 mile radius of Perimeter, to help meet the needs of the community eg. Hunger, prostitution etc. The author is the leader of a organization called ‘Unite’ which works with other churches in the Atlanta area to meet community needs.

The author says, “That the problem with the church is not its size…the problem with the church is its reach.” The issue is not about a big church but it is about big needs, needs that are greater than any one church can handle. Thus the author hammers home 2 points that needs to be done to bring about community transformation.
1) Vision and 2) collaboration with other churches and organizations within the community.
The author states that his vision for community action began with the junior high kids who he was in charge with while in Chicago. He shares the story of Brian, an avid hockey player, who decided to give away his prized hockey stick to a child in a transitional village for homeless families. The question then goes back to the church, how willing are we to free up resources-money, people, time- to reach out beyond the doors of our church building? That is a question that is good not only for the mega church but the small church as well. Another, more specific question that I would ask is how much money (percentage wise) should be designated for staff members? It seems like in the mega churches we have almost lost our sense of volunteering, most positions are paid positions. Along with how much money to spend for staff is another question on the heels of that, how much should we spend on our buildings? Does it help the kingdom to invest in bricks and mortar or in people?

The author then states that after their church established its vision, the “What if?”, question. They then began to answer the, “What now?’ question. The “What now? Is where great movements really begin”. Though their church planned for months for this ministry it moved beyond planning to doing. I liked the fact that one of the first things the church did was to partner with existing ministries versus beginning their own. I believe this is the toughest thing to do in any neighborhood or community. Join up and support existing ministries. Somehow to many times we want the recognition of doing this ministry and supporting a existing ministry is just not going to give us the recognition we desire. For example, I wonder how many different churches have their own food pantry? Would it not be better to combine resources and have one big food pantry than many small ones?

After a lot of community research they decided to put their resources into 4 main areas: Families, Justice, Education and Poverty. They joined with a already existing group to help with those involved in the sex trade and also went into the public schools to help with tutoring etc. I like what he said about the public schools, “Want to measure the level of poverty in your county? Simply track the number of free and reduced lunches in your public schools…our public schools are the alarm system for our communities, if we’ll just listen.”

The author also tells what some churches in other parts of the country are doing in community transformation eg. Knoxville, Long Beach and Little Rock.

He uses many examples and stories to drive home his points. He closes with his 4th Appendix stressing the need to build relationships and see where Gods reign is already evident. He gives 4 main principles for what he calls an asset-based approach to transformation:
1)God is already at work in the community
2) We are defined not by our problems but by our potential
3) Do ministry with people not to people
4) Effective ministry builds on assets.

This was a good book with practical steps they used in uniting churches for community outreach. If only this would work in every neighborhood and in every community. I believe it is yet to be seen where small churches would join together for such a cause. Maybe God has raised up the mega-churches for such a time as this. They have the financial resources, people and may I say, community authority, to lead in such an endeavor. If only they would catch the vision.

REVIVE US AGAIN-book review

2011-06-27T10:20:00.000-05:00

REVIVE US AGAIN: Living From A Renewed Christian Script by Frank Viola

Published by David C.Cook

This book was nothing that I expected it to be. I was thinking it would deal more with the old-time ‘revive us again’ mentality, that tended to give the local church a temporary reviving. This book deals more with us as individual Christians, changing the way we do and say things. Thus living by a different script. There are 10 different areas that the writer feels we need to change in our lives. There is nothing really profound here but areas where we all have maybe felt or questioned the reasons we do and say certain things.

One example is filling in the words, “The Lord told me” this or that which usually ends up God getting the blame for something He actually had nothing to do with.

Or when we say, “Let me pray about that” which is usually just a way to postpone a decision or to get out of something I do not want to do.

I appreciated the authors emphasis upon making sure Jesus is magnified in all that is said and done and though this book addresses Christians as individuals he does not fail to emphasize that as Christians we are part of the body and if we fail to live and connect with other parts of that body we fail to properly represent Christ.

He says, “…I’ve met believers who had their own private walks with the Lord. They never knew Christian community, yet they had an extremely strong devotional life. Every person who fit that bill was lopsided in some arena of their lives. The reason? They didn’t avail themselves of the balancing and tempering of the body.”
The writer gets his points across in 168 pages of easy reading. I would give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

What is Your Purpose?

2011-05-12T10:24:00.000-05:00

“The Cause Within You” Finding The One Great Thing You Were Created To Do In This World by Matthew Barnett. A book Review.

Be careful in reading this book. It may cause you to give up the things that you are now pursuing and begin searching for God’s purpose in your life.

This is one of the most inspiring books I have read in awhile. Matthew Barnett is the founder of ‘The Dream Center” in LA. The book begins with how he began to lose his passion and thus decided to spend a night on the streets joining with the many homeless in that area.

He said, “I went to skid row with a secret thought that what I was doing was somehow heroic, I left there knowing that I was not a hero but a servant….Returning to the Dream Center, I realized the real danger was living a routine life not fully aligned with God’s cause for me.”

Throughout the book he gives clues to what and how we are to find our purpose in life, filled with real life examples of those who have. The emphasis is that our cause is not tied to success or the accumulation of things but, “…marrying our passions, interests and abilities with the needs of people.”

One of my favorite examples of someone finding their purpose is the story of Alena Jackson. Alena’s child contracted a infection that caused her to remain in the hospital for 18 months. During that time they shared a hospital room with another child, with serious medical issues, who was abandon by her parents. After hearing that the child was not going to make it, Alena felt God telling her to take the child home and let it her die at Alena’s house. After much arguing and fussing with God, Alena gave in to God’s will and today Alena has served in her home over 170 children with medical problems.

Another story that challenged me was Sally and Craig Kinart who, in their 50’s, felt God telling them to simplify their lives, sell what they have and move to “The Dream Center” to help serve people. Today that couple is serving as houseparents in the men’s discipleship program and also overseeing the clothing distribution ministry.

If you want to be challenged, encouraged, blessed and even put under conviction this book is for you.

One more story. Matthew felt that God wanted them to do something for the children of the homeless families staying at the Dream Center. He got in touch with the girl who was in charge and said meet me at the “Build-A -Bear” in Hollywood. Expecting 15-20 kids he was shocked to find 50 kids showing up. As they began to build and dress their bears, Matthew came over to a little girl who had a male bear. Matthew wondering why she did not have a girl bear and dressing it as a princess, questioned her. She said, “I’m making a Pastor Matthew Superhero Bear. I am making this for you.”

This book may help you in finding that one thing that you were created to do.

Becoming Naked

2011-04-30T20:27:00.000-05:00

“Naked Spirituality”, A Life with God in 12 Simple Words by Brian Mclaren. A book review.

He begins the book with the story of St. Francis, who after being accused of selling his fathers goods to raise money for a church renovation project, stripped himself of his clothes and everything he had to repay his father. Standing in front of his father, neighbors and peers said, “I shall go naked to meet my naked Lord.”
From here the author offers up 12 words that will help us to become naked before God. 12 words that help us develop practices that will lead us into a way of life with God. What the author means by these practices is,”…doable habits or rhythms that transform us, rewiring our brains, restoring our inner ecology, renovating our inner architecture, expanding our capacities. We mean actions within our power that help us become capable of things currently beyond our power.”

Like any book that deals with list of things some are better than others. Let me give you what I thought were a few of the better ones.

1. Thanksgiving. Being appreciative of what we have no matter how much or how little we have. He brings out the point that the more we have the more we should show gratitude or else our ingratitude will lead to unhappiness. Happiness is not to be found in the things that we have but in how thankful we are for the things that we do have.

2. He uses the word “O” to signify our need to worship. He gives 7 ways in which we can incorporate worship into our daily lives:

1) Give God the first greeting every morning
2) Give God the first thanks at every meal
3) Give God the first response to every pleasure
4) Give God the first consideration in your weekly schedule
5) Make God the first supervisor or customer for all work
6) Give God the first part of every paycheck
7) Give God the joy of your creativity

3. He uses the word “No” to express our times of discouragement and suffering. ‘No’ is our practice of rage and refusal to give up and to give in. It is the ability to question God and wonder where God is at during our dark times. The writer uses Psalm 77 and the story of Job to bring home his point.

The author concludes, in an appendix, ‘twelve simple prayers’ that relate with each of his 12 words. I liked these prayers. They are not prayers just to be recited but fill-in-the-blank types of prayers. Seemingly very practical and helpful.

This book was a good and easy read, the author avoids any big theological or technical terms thus making it accessible to all. He had some very good and original thoughts associated with many of his ‘words’. The only problem I had with the book is that I felt it was a little too wordy. Everything said could have been said in 50 less pages.

Easter, Taxes, War

2011-04-15T07:48:00.000-05:00

Here is a powerful message about Easter, taxes and war. Give it a read and share your thoughts.
Shane Claiborne is a modern-day prophet you can read more about his work etc. at http://www.thesimpleway.org/ You can also hear him speak on you tube. Very Good and inspiring

by Shane Claiborne

As a Christian, Easter marks the most stunning act of grace and enemy-love in human history – Jesus’ death and resurrection. As Jesus was being tortured and executed, he cried out for mercy, even for those terrorists who hurt him. As his buddy Peter picked up a sword and cut the ear off one of the persecutors, Jesus scolded Peter and picked up the ear and healed the wounded persecutor. The early Christians understood the message – it was a message of Amazing Grace. It was a message about how there is something worth dying for, but nothing in the world worth killing for – not even freedom or democracy. One of the early Christians said, “When Jesus disarmed Peter he disarmed every Christian.” After all, we don’t see Christians picking up swords again for hundreds of years.

I am one of those Christians who believe we should still have the right NOT to kill, even in an empire that has a military bigger than Rome’s. Perhaps that’s why it has been hard for me to navigate what to do as tax season approaches, with so much of our federal tax money going towards militarism. It was a crisis familiar to the early Christians who were accused of insurrection and tax evasion because they had an allegiance that subverted, or super-ceded, their national allegiance.

So I respectfully filed my taxes this year, and I sent the IRS the little letter below. My intention is to respect my country and contribute to the common good… but also to uncompromisingly follow the way of the nonviolent Jesus this Easter — in a world that continues to pick up the sword… and die by the sword.

Dear Internal Revenue Service,

I am filing my 1040 here. As you will see, I made $9600 this past year, and found that according to the 1040 form, I owe $324.44 of that to federal taxes. While I am glad to contribute money to the common good and towards things that promote life and dignity, especially for the poor and most vulnerable people among us, I am deeply concerned that 30 percent of the federal budget goes towards military spending, with 117 billion going to support the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. (Further, when we include the 18% that goes towards past military costs, such as the 380 billion in debt payments, 80% of which are military related debts, that number goes up to a total military budget of 1,372 billion dollars — nearly half of the federal budget). My Christian faith and my human conscience require me to respectfully reserve the right not to kill, and to refrain from contributing money towards weapons and the military.

For this reason, I am enclosing a check for $227.11, which is, according to the form, 70% of what I owe. The remaining $97.33 represents 30% of my tax payment, the amount that would go towards military spending. I will donate this remaining 30% to a recognized US nonprofit organization working to bring peace and reconciliation. My faith also compels me to submit to the governing authorities, which is why I am writing you respectfully and transparently here. I am glad to discuss this further if you have any questions. I can be reached by phone at 215 423-3598 or by mail at 1838 E. Allegheny Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19134.

May we continue to build the world we dream of.

–Shane Claiborne

Fasting

2011-03-25T09:31:00.000-05:00

“Fasting” by Scot Mcknight, published by Thomas Nelson

By the number of books published in the last few years, fasting has become a popular subject. Mcknight in this book believes that people fast for the wrong reasons. He believes that fasting is a ‘natural, inevitable response of a person to a grievous sacred moment in life’. We do not fast for the purpose of manipulating God or for certain expected results. Fasting is a natural thing that happens and should occur during times of grief such as the death of a loved one, sickness, sin, fear etc. He uses scripture, along with some early church practices, to back up and to support his definition.

He also believes that fasting is one of the most misunderstood of the Christian disciplines. The reason being that we have either lost or distorted the ancient idea of there being a unity between body and spirit. We have made a dichotomy between the 2, thus making the body evil and the spirit good (dualism). He goes on to show through scripture the unity that exist between body and spirit.

In his explanation and use of scripture to show the unity of body and spirit he fails to mention or use the verses in
1Co 6:13,18 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body….Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. An explanation of the meaning of these verses would have been nice and would have went along way in showing the unity of body and spirit.

I liked that he emphasised the fact that fasting is only food and drink related it is not doing without TV, facebook or some other item of interest. Those type of things that we do without he calls abstentance but not fasting.
He also ties fasting in with the church calendar and the practice of fasting among the early church, to encourage us to pick up/ start the practice of fasting.
The writer mentioned his feeling of hypocrisy as he was writing on the subject of ‘fasting’ then taking a break for lunch. I can understand those feelings for I felt the same way in just reading the book. This is not a book that you can read and set aside without putting it into practice.

Odds and Ends

2011-03-04T09:50:00.001-05:00

Here are a few things (web sites, books, movies etc.) that I have enjoyed so far this year, and thought I would recommend them to you.

2 great movies I have watched this year: "Inception"- w/ DeCaprio it is about getting inside a persons dreams. This is a good movie with good special effects. I wish I had seen it at the theatres.
"The Social Network"- Great movie about 'Facebook'. Alot better than what I thought it would be and I will watch it again.

Favorite book: "Nudge" by Leonard Sweet. It is about nudging people toward God instead of pushing them. It is about using your senses to discern where God is and how He is moving in other peoples lives. (I hope to share some quotes from the book in a few weeks)

A helpful website for checking out non-profits and charity organizations that you may be interested in giving to is http://www.charitynavigator.org/ I like it because it tells you how much money goes to the actual cause or need and how much goes toward fund-raising and the CEO etc. Some groups I will not give to nor endorse because their CEO makes too much for my liking (eg. Franklin Graham of 'Samaritans Purse' is paid over a half million dollars salary per year)

Another website/tool I have just discovered is http://www.evernote.com/ It is a place to store notes, pictures etc. etc. I have not yet discovered how to use everything, but so far it is great.

Holy Communion

2011-01-29T10:33:00.003-05:00

“The Sacred Meal” by Nora Gallagher, one of eight books in, ‘The Ancient Practices Series’, published by Thomas Nelson.

This is a book about holy communion, the eucharist, the Lords supper or whatever you may want to call it. It is a time when the church celebrates the last supper with wine/grape juice and bread/cracker which symbolizes the body and blood of Jesus, which was shed for our sins. Some churches celebrate this weekly, some quarterly and others (like our church) on occasion.

This book is not a deep theological treatise on the meaning of the elements, nor is it a polemic in trying to convince us how often and what mode communion should be served. For the most part it is a book of practical, real life, stories in which the author ties in or at least tries to tie in the meaning of communion.

In the very first chapter the author shares the story of a family, who had just been notified, that their daughter was lost in a possible airplane crash. As many were searching and praying for the lost plane, communion was a web that stitched them all together, the human with the divine.

In other areas she shares stories to show that communion is a practice that makes us both aware of sin and makers of Gods kingdom. It helps us to understand that we are recipients of Gods blessing, Gods favor-grace.

Some choice quotes from the book include:

-“Transformation occurs in encounters, sometimes better named collisions, either with the self or with others or with the holy.” P.60
- “…communion is an act of the imagination” p.94
- “To be exalted by heavenly standards is to urge others to be exalted, too, to share in the bounty of being loved and loving.” P.128

This book will not make you change any of your communion/eucharist rituals but it may help you see communion in a number of different ways.

Great words from a man while He was in Jail

2011-01-18T10:28:00.001-05:00

Today is the day we celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday and the cause he championed, racial equality. Since many conservative evangelicals were on the wrong side of the race issue decades ago, I think it is helpful to read some of the words that came out of that Birmingham jail. The letter was in response to several white religious leaders and an open letter they published, A Call for Unity.

Wikipedia explains:
The Letter from Birmingham Jail or Letter from Birmingham City Jail, also known as The Negro Is Your Brother, is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King, Jr., an American civil rights leader. King wrote the letter from the city jail in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was confined after being arrested for his part in the Birmingham campaign...

King's letter is a response to a statement made by eight white Alabama clergymen on April 12, 1963, titled "A Call For Unity". The clergymen agreed that social injustices existed but argued that the battle against racial segregation should be fought solely in the courts, not in the streets. King responded that without nonviolent forceful direct actions such as his, true civil rights could never be achieved. As he put it, "This 'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never.'" He asserted that not only was civil disobedience justified in the face of unjust laws, but that "one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."

Here are parts of that letter:

I received a letter this morning from a white brother in Texas which said, "All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but is it possible that you are in too great of a religious hurry? It has taken Christianity almost 2000 years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." All that is said here grows out of a tragic misconception of time. It is the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time is neutral. It can be used either destructively or constructively. I am coming to feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be coworkers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation...

I have heard numerous religious leaders of the South call upon their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers say, follow this decree because integration is morally right and the Negro is your brother. In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churches stand on the sidelines and merely mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard so many ministers say, "Those are social issues which the gospel has nothing to do with," and I have watched so many churches commit themselves to a completely otherworldly religion which made a strange distinction between bodies and souls, the sacred and the secular.

There was a time when the church was very powerful. It was during that period that the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was the thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Wherever the early Christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators." But they went on with the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven" and had to obey God rather than man. They were small in number but big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest.

Things are different now. The contemporary church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's often vocal sanction of things as they are.
But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.

taken from http://www.edstetzer.com/

Priceless- A book Recommendation

2010-12-15T08:25:00.000-05:00

“Priceless: A Novel on the Edge of the World” A novel which I generally never read and usually don’t like. But this is one I can highly recommend, I could not put it down once I started it. It is a story of an American photojournalist who travels to Russian for an assignment, but ends up involved in a bigger job than he ever expected. He becomes involved in trying to free girls, specifically orphans, who are caught up in the sex trade/slave business.

The author, Tom Davis, is president of ‘Children’s Hope Chest’ a organization that helps care for orphans in a number of different countries (www.hopechest.org)

I enjoyed this book so well I am tempted to get his other novel, “Scared:A Novel on the Edge of the World”

Accountability

2010-12-07T11:49:00.000-05:00

In a national survey by the Barna Group among people who describe themselves as Christian and involved in a church discovered that only 5% indicated that their church does anything to hold them accountable for integrating biblical beliefs and principles into their life. http://www.barna.org/

The scripture states, "Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow" (Hebrews 13:17, NLT).

I think it is interesting that in the mega church there seems to be no accountability of the leaders and in the small churches the people want to hold the pastor accountable but do not want the pastor to hold them accountable

Chasing Francis

2010-12-03T10:01:00.000-05:00

“Chasing Francis” by Ian Morgan Cron and published by Navpress

This is a novel about a mega-church pastor who becomes disillusioned with rational, church as usual, Christianity. He takes time away from his church to visit his Franciscan priest, uncle in Italy. He then is taken on a journey to visit places and the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi, which revitalizes his faith. He returns to share his new found faith and his new vision for the church, only to be voted out of his church.

The pastors new vision is born from 5 words that is the essence of the teachings of St. Francis: transcendence, community, beauty, dignity and meaning.

I am not big into reading novels, but I was looking forward to reading this one because I thought it would apply some of the teachings of St. Francis in a more practical way, even though in a fictional account. I was disappointed. The book talks about his teachings but fails to bring it home. For instance, talking about Francis living for the poor, the best it could say for us is that we should learn to live more simply-What does that mean?

I appreciate the stance many in the church are taking against materialism and our consumerist life styles. But why wont someone draw a line? Why don’t the church be specific and say to purchase this item or to live in this size house or to drive this type of car is a indication of greed and materialism? The apostle Paul told the church at Corinth not to associate with covetous people. So that would indicate that the church knew who would be covetous. So, who do we say today is covetous? Have you ever heard of a church disciplining a member because they were coveting? When is enough enough?

With that said, if you enjoy novels and are interested in some of the basic teachings of St. Francis I would recommend the book. You will probably enjoy it.

Reasons To Work

2010-11-23T08:56:00.001-05:00

Reasons to work

1. For the money
2. To be challenged
3. For the pleasure/calling of doing the work
4. For the impact it makes on the world
5. For the reputation you build in the community
6. To solve interesting problems
7. To be part of a group and to experience the mission
8. To be appreciated

Why do we always focus on the first? Why do we advertise jobs or promotions as being generic on items 2 through 8 and differentiated only by #1?

In fact, unless you're a drug kingpin or a Wall Street trader, my guess is that the other factors are at work every time you think about your work.
from www.sethgodin.com

"Outlive Your Life" book review

2010-11-05T10:30:00.000-05:00

"OUTLIVE YOUR LIFE” By Max Lucado

Contrary to about everyone else’s taste I am not a big Lucado book fan. For me he is a little too wordy and takes too long to get to the point. In some instances this book is the same way.
This book is also dealing with a popular topic in book publishing circles and among churches these days. That we need to help those who are hurting, we need to be concerned about issues of poverty, hunger, homelessness etc. not just here at home but globally. This book is not the best on these subjects that I have read, but if you are a Lucado fan and have not read up on any of these topics it may be a good place to start.

With that said, the book begins with a fable entitled, “Father Benjamin”. Father Benjamin has died but what he has done is still living. Very touching and motivating story to begin with. Another story I enjoyed was the story of the football team in Texas who did what they could do to cheer and help their opposing team.
The chapter I enjoyed the most was the chapter on hospitality. Where Lucado encourages Gods people to be people of hospitality. He says this,

“Call us a fast society, an efficient society, but don’t call us a personal society. Our society is set up for isolation. We wear earbuds when we exercise. We communicate via e-mail and text messages. We enter and exit our houses with gates and garage-door openers. Our mantra; “I leave you alone. You leave me alone.”
Yet God wants his people to be an exception . Let everyone else go the way of computers and keyboards. God’s children will be people of hospitality.
Long before the church had pulpits and baptisteries, she had kitchens and dinner tables.”

How can so many people say they are Christians?

2010-10-19T08:49:00.002-05:00

The newest Barna research confirms that cities in the South have the highest proportion of residents who describe themselves as Christian. Ninety-eight percent of those surveyed in Shreveport self-identified as Christian, as did 96 percent of those in Birmingham and Charlotte and over 90 percent of residents of Nashville, Greenville, SC/Asheville, NC, New Orleans, Little Rock and Memphis.
The lowest number of Christians, according to the study, inhabit the coastal states, particularly in San Francisco (68 percent Christians), Portland, OR (71 percent), Portland, ME (72 percent), Seattle (73 percent), Sacramento (73 percent), New York City (73 percent), San Diego (75 percent), Los Angeles (75 percent), Boston (76 percent), and Miami (78 percent). Even in the states with the lowest percentage of Christians, however, nearly three out of four residents call themselves Christians in every city studied. Additionally, weekly church attendance rates were found to be highest in Birmingham, Baton Rouge, and Salt Lake City, while the largest percentage of unchurched adults reside in San Francisco, Portland, ME, Portland, OR, Albany, Boston, Sacramento, and Seattle. Cities with the largest rates of megachurch attendance included Las Vegas, Orlando, Dallas, San Diego, Tampa-St. Petersburg, and Houston.
The Barna Group, 10/12/10

66 Love Letters

2010-10-06T10:28:00.002-05:00

“66 Love Letters: A conversation with God that invites you into His story” by Dr. Larry Crabb published by Thomas Nelson
I like what the author said in the introduction, “The Bible is a love story that begins with a divorce. Everything from the third chapter of Genesis through the end of Revelation is the story of a betrayed lover wooing us back into His arms…”
From there the author attempts to figure out what God is trying to say to us in each book of the Bible. I enjoyed many of the authors insights, especially from the minor prophets. eg. In Amos the writer brings out the idea that the book is about ‘relational sin’ which ‘destroys relationships and eliminates the source of identity and joy.’
In the NT the writer brings out that the word translated ‘prayer’ in the book of Luke means to ‘wish forward’.
There are a lot of good insights from someone who is not a biblical scholar in this book. I would recommend having it on your nightstand to follow along as you read each of the chapters of the Bible.

"ABOUT YOU" Book Review

2010-10-04T18:18:00.001-05:00

“About You” by Dick Staub and published by Jossey-Bass. This book is not just about being a Christian, but it is about what being a Christian will do for you- make you fully human. The author covers the topics from creation, to the fall, to our restoration and how all of them effect our humanness and how Christ has come to fully restore us. I particularly liked chapter 7 where the author gives 8 characteristics of what being fully human may look like.

To be fully human means:
1) to seek God and nurture your soul
2) cultivate your mind
3) creativity and excellence in all you do
4) developing In-person relationships in a virtual age
5) means learning to love, forgive and accept each other
6) means to embrace moral and intellectual certitude in a relativistic age
7) Rediscover the proper rhythm of human life
8) means to see the Image of God, value and worth in everyone you meet.

This is a great book. A nice read and easily to be understood. A good book for new Christians, someone wanting to understand what being a Christian is about and your pastor (there is a lot of good preaching material). I would give this book 5 stars.

MEXICO: THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE BEAUTIFUL

2010-10-04T10:26:00.002-05:00

10 observations (not in any order of importance) from my recent trip to Mexico

1. Their bigger cities are no different than ours.
2. A wide divide between the rich and the poor. Average person makes $10.00 per day.
3. For the most part the people are content with what they have, though they have nothing of the luxuries that we have.
4. Their churches seem to share some of the same problems that we have eg. What type of music to use in worship.
5. Church location is not a priority. Many churches are in hard to find places.
6. People are very hospitable. Eager and excited to serve visitors.
7. Lots of tortillas and salsa
8. Did not see any overweight people.
9. No toilet seats (Why?)
10. They need a real move of God.

Heresy-"Colors of God"

2010-08-25T09:07:00.002-05:00

“Colors of God” by Randall Peters, Dave Phillips, Quentin Steen published by Biblica Publishing. This book is subtitled, ‘Conversations about the Church’. It is a conversation by 3 guys who are part of an emerging church in Canada.

The only thing I can say is that I am glad that I am not part of that church. In chapter 5 Quentin says that they are wanting to deconstruct our modern understanding of the gospel and they propose that their idea is “more faithful to the New Testament, to the scriptures as a whole, and to church history”. I am not sure what NT they are looking at, what scriptures nor whose church history they are reading but it sure does not measure up to the NT, scriptures and church history that I am aware of.

These guys are strong ‘once saved always saved’ believers, no matter what. They would fall into the category of ’easy believism’ or as Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, they preach ‘cheap grace’.

Just for one example, on p.60 Quentin says that even though, in the face of death (persecution) I deny Christ because of my fear of death, ‘God and I are as good as ever’.

If this is the case what does ‘persecution’ even mean? Too bad that all the martyrs of church history and even present day martyrs has not heard these guys’ message. They would have lived a long time and many would still be with us today (sarcasm).

These guys must not be aware of what Jesus says in Matthew 10:33, But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

The problem that those who believe, as these guys do, is that in their attempt to emphasize grace, they rob grace of its transforming power. Yes, Gods grace is powerful.

Through grace God not only forgives our sin but he transforms our lives. Our sinful past is forgiven and we have power to live above it. Paul says, >“I have become a new creation in Christ Jesus, old things have passed away and behold all things are new” (2 Cor.5:17)

Stay away from this book. It will not help or encourage you. If someone happens to give you a copy-trash can it.

Why Muslims Commit Sucide

2010-07-19T12:08:00.000-05:00

Everyone seems to be wondering why Muslim terrorists are so quick to commit suicide.

Let's see now... No Jesus, No Christmas, No television, No Cheerleaders, No car races, No football, No soccer, No pork BBQ, No hot dogs, No burgers, No chocolate chip cookies, No lobster, No nachos, No Beer nuts, No alcohol, No Beer !!!!!!!!

Rags for clothes and towels for hats. Constant wailing from the guy next-door because he's sick and there are no doctors. Constant wailing from the guy in the tower. On your knees facing east most of the day. More than one wife. You can't shave. Your wives can't shave. You can't shower to wash off the smell of donkey cooked over burning camel dung. Your bride is picked by someone else. She smells just like your donkey.

Then they tell you that when you die it all gets better!
I mean, really, is there a mystery here?

T.S. Eliot

2010-07-10T18:38:00.002-05:00

You say I am repeating
Something I have said before. I shall say it again.
Shall I say it again? In order to arrive there,
To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
You must go through the way in which you are not.
And what you do not know is the only thing you know
And what you own is what you do not own
And where you are is where you are not.

Wanted: Navigators not map readers

2010-07-06T08:11:00.000-05:00

The quote is from Margaret Wheatley and was part of a reflection on the US Gulf crisis:

“…People who are lost in the mountains or wilderness, who either survive or die by the choices they make, at first fight to make their old maps work. They do everything possible to make the old maps fit the present circumstance—but they never can. In wilderness situations, this grasping goes on until the person is confronted with the fact that they’re about to die. They will survive only if they acknowledge that there’s no way out of their present peril; they must give up their old maps and acknowledge that they’re truly lost. Once they recognize this, they begin to notice where they really are, what’s going on, what’s useful information available here and now. They make new maps and find their way home.

A good article found at www.nextreformation.com titled 'navigating missional waters'. It is about the need for the church to put away their old maps and become navigators

Bosnia

2010-06-07T07:24:00.000-05:00

I thought this was some great words and testimony from our missionary in Bosnia

Reflecting

It’s been rewarding to sit and reflect over the past two years living in Bosnia. Missional living has transformed my life. I am not an extraordinary person but just wholeheartedly believe that just as Christ lived among those who were considered the least of humanity, so will I. As my head grew in knowledge of the small Bosnian community tucked away in the mountains my heart also grew to really love the people. I love them so much that I faced the humiliating struggle of learning language, and I was accepted into the culture.

I spent my time with women who are waitresses by day and prostitutes by night. I slowly realized that I was the only person in their lives who truly cared about them. My dear friend Ivana recently made a plan to pursue a new career, she now believes she is capable to do something valuable. The night before I left, I found Ivana in tears. The men in her coffee bar were so drunk that there was a physical fight and as Ivana tried to calm the situation she was cursed and spit upon. She said, “No more. I can’t do it anymore.” We cried together, she hugged me really tight, and said softly in Bosnian, “Crystal, you are the only person who ever saw me and loved me. Everyone treats me like a machine. I never knew what love looked and felt liked until I met you.”

Ivana is seen by the community as someone who is unlovable. My time in Bosnia has opened my eyes to learn that it is easy to love people who are kind, honest, and have something to offer you. It is much harder to love those who lie, cheat, and are corrupt. However, to truly be salt and light to the world, you cannot separate yourself. In order for salt to be effective it must be out of the container. Light naturally penetrates darkness.

Home for the summer:

Jesus Manifesto

2010-05-31T18:10:00.000-05:00

“Jesus Manifesto” by Leonard Sweet & Frank Viola published by Thomas Nelson

This book is about Jesus, not his life while on earth, but his life lived through you. The authors contend that we must get back to Jesus. “If the church does not reorient and become Christological at its core, any steps taken will be backwards.”

The beginning of the book began slow, the authors seemed to want to be devotional and inspirational, but failed on both counts.

With the chapter titled, “A Ditch on Either Side” the book became more interesting and practical. That believing the right things or doing the right things is not what being a Christian is all about-it is about following Jesus. The way, the truth and the life.

From there, they say, that following Jesus is not a cause. But it is a life lived beyond ourselves, stressing the point that it is not about us but about Him.
That in our desire for justice, it is not justice per se that we need or want but the Just One who is Jesus.
The authors state that Jesus was rejected everywhere except at Bethany. Then they give some ways that he was accepted and relates that to how we should accept Him.

I liked this quote, “While Jesus wasn’t political in the modern sense of the word, He was political in this sense; Christ was the beginning of the change of the world. He inaugurated a new creation. And he showed us how prayer might set us on the right road to peace before politics.” p. 119

Another quote, “The earth awaits a body of Christians in every city who will receive Jesus utterly and completely.” p.158

I give this book 3 stars. It was to propositional (something you would not expect from Sweet) and clichéd. It would have been better with some real life examples of people who are allowing Jesus to live through them today.

Book Review

2010-05-26T09:13:00.002-05:00

“The Gospel You Never Heard,“ What a Protestant Bible written by Jews says about God’s work through Christ, by David I Rudel

I had mixed feelings about the book. At times it seemed the author was working on a study of certain words without really knowing exactly where he was going with it. For example he begins by questioning that Jesus was the only way to heaven, but then he never gives a solid answer nor does he return to the question.
Another example is that he never seems to answer the question that is on the cover of the book, Who goes to hell?

On the other had he does a good job of emphasizing and putting a new perspective on many words that we relate with the gospel. 'Repentance' is not faith but a changed direction in life, too many times we fail to distinguish the difference between faith and repentance. I like how John Wesley distinguish the two he said that salvation is the house, faith is the door and repentance is the front porch. In too many evangelical circles we have failed to cross the front porch.
Another word the writer stresses is 'salvation'. Salvation is not saved to go to heaven but saved to live a new life which was preceded by faith and repentance.

I would have liked to seen the author do a better study on the word sin. For I feel a lot of theological controversy surrounds a working definition for sin. For example some questions for sin that needs to be answered would be, What sins are we accountable for? Do we and must we sin everyday? And if we have to sin everyday how does that equate with us having salvation from sin?

I would give the book 2 stars

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

2010-05-11T12:50:00.000-05:00

A book review of "Bonhoeffer:Pastor,Martyr,Prophet,Spy"
by Eric Metaxas
published by Thomas Nelson

This is the first book that I have reviewed that I would give 5 stars. Approaching a biography of over 500 pages seemed at first somewhat intimidating. But once I began it was the best biography I have read. Beginning with Bonhoeffers childhood you could see the things that would influence him in later becoming a pastor, theologian, spy during Hitlers reign of power.

Bonhoffer felt that the church in America was way to shallow and the racism bothered him tremendously.
He remarked, "In New York they preach about virtually everything, only one thing is not addressed...namely the gospel of Jesus Christ, the cross, sin and forgiveness, death and life."

I thoroughly enjoyed and the author made it clear how the church in Germany during WW11, succumbed to the influence and propaganda of Nazism. This was the best section of the book, with parallels and questions for our own time. How much should the church connect itself to the nation and culture it finds itself in?
The author did a good job of bringing in key people/influences of the church during the time without getting bogged down into to many details.

It was interesting to see that Bonhoffer’s participation in the conspiracy against Hitler was not driven because of culture, but because he felt this was what God was wanting him to do. For him it was a matter of obedience.

If you have looked for a biography on Bonhoffer or even if you are into WW2 history this book should not be missed.

A few quotes from Bonhoffer:
“Christianity conceals within itself a germ hostile to the church.”

“If you board the wrong train it is no use running along the corridor in the opposite direction.’

“The question is really, Christianity or Germanism? And the sooner the conflict is revealed in the clear light of day the better.”

Regarding marriage he said, “It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.”

Boring

2010-05-05T08:01:00.002-05:00

This “boredom” is “in most cases...the state of mind of those who lack imagination and therefore require all kinds of stimuli to prevent them from losing interest in things, and even in life.” That’s why people, adults as well as kids, are “constantly fiddling with their cellphone.” The alternative to all this fiddling is being alone with your own thoughts, which terrifies people used to the constant stimulation provided by our media-saturated culture.

Religion v. Relationship

2010-04-18T15:59:00.002-05:00

We spoke last Sunday about how our relationship with Jesus can easily degenerate to a religion. The relationship is built upon our love for God first and our neighbor 2nd. When we begin to lose our love we become religious. Here are 4 indications that our relationship has turned into a religion

1. Jesus/God becomes a vehicle/tool to promote a personal goal or ambition.
eg. when the Israelites use the ark of the covenant to try to win the battle against the Philistines

2.We become more willing to sacrifice for our belief than we do for God

3. There is a change in who we consider our friends and who we consider our enemies.
Pilate and Herod became friends over how to deal with Jesus

4. We lose our sense of humor. Have you ever seen a picture of Bin Laden smiling or laughing?

THE HIDING PLACE

2010-04-07T11:30:00.002-05:00

This Friday, April 9 @ 7:15pm in the church, we will be showing the film, 'the hiding place'. It is a classic about Corey Ten Boom and her family hiding Jews during the Nazi reign. I have seen the movie a couple of times through the years and I am looking forward to seeing it again....Everyone is invited

SPANK YOUR KIDS

2010-03-14T19:52:00.001-05:00

In a new study by Marjorie Gunnoe, a Calvin College psychology professor, she finds that children who remember being spanked do better in school, volunteer more, and are more optimistic than unspanked children

MOE EATON

2010-03-11T16:35:00.000-05:00

JOHN BUNYAN

2010-03-10T10:12:00.001-05:00

“John Bunyan“, by Kevin Belmonte, is one of a series of little biographies from Thomas Nelson publishers.
Outside of the classic book, ‘Pilgrims Progress’, most of us know little of its author John Bunyan. Whereas Bunyan is known for this book, he had authored a number of books, including a second part for ‘Pilgrims Progress’, where the main character is Christiana.
The ‘Pilgrims Progress’ was written, while Bunyan was in prison. For 12 years he served time for failing to agree with and join the confessing church of England. Though a time of hardship for Bunyan and his family, the end result has been a blessing for many throughout the years
I am reminded of the story of Samuel Logan Brengle, a officer with the Salvation Army, who had authored a number of books while in a hospital after being hit in the head from a thrown brick. During a time of discouragement, for being laid up, the Lord whispered to him, “no bricks no books”. Possible the Lord could have said the same to Bunyan, “no prison no Pilgrims Progress”.
Bunyan delivered his last sermon on Sunday August 19, 1688 and died aprox. 2 weeks later with pneumonia. on August 31, 1688, probably of pneumonia.
If you would like a quick overview of the life of John Bunyan, this book may be a place to start.

A Prayer

2010-03-01T09:48:00.001-05:00

A prayer by Sir Francis Drake, an adventurer, wrote it as he departed to the west coast of South America.

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

Who attends church the most?

2010-02-23T08:28:00.003-05:00

A new study released by Gallup has found that self-professed church attendance levels by state did not change significantly between 2008 and 2009. Nine of the top 10 states in self-professed church attendance are in the South (the only non-Southern state is Utah). States at the bottom of the church attendance list are in either New England or the West.

Respondents were asked how often they "attend church, synagogue or mosque — at least once a week, almost every week, about once a month, seldom or never." Nationally, 41.6 percent of all Americans in 2009 said they attended either "at least once a week" or "almost every week."

Top 10 States
% Attending weekly or almost every week

Mississippi 63
Alabama 58
S. Carolina 56
Louisiana 56
Utah 56
Tennessee 54
Arkansas 53
N. Carolina 53
Georgia 51
Texas 50

Bottom 11 States
% Attending weekly or almost every week

Vermont 23
New Hampshire 26
Maine 27
Massachusetts 29
Nevada 30
Hawaii 31
Oregon 31
Alaska 31
Washington 32
Rhode Island 32
Connecticut 32

With these statistics in mind, a question I would have is this, Where would Jesus spend his time (which states?) and where would he desire to start a church?

The Voice

2010-02-23T07:57:00.001-05:00

A new type of Bible translation, somewhat different. You can download a copy of the gospel of John here

www.hearthevoice.com

"LOVE AND WAR" a book review

2010-02-12T14:43:00.000-05:00

After 30 yrs of marriage one thing my wife and I agree on is that people need to be warned better before tying that knot. Marriage is not what it appears to be on many tv shows, films and in many love novels.
In the book “Love and War” by John and Stasi Eldredge they say that there are 2 things everyone needs to know 1. Marriage is hard 2. Everyone brings their own brokenness into marriage.
Everyone has a lot of baggage that they bring with them into the marriage relationship, thus making marriage the hardest thing most of us will ever go through. The authors also state that most marriages, though we are not honest enough to admit it, are a disappointment.

There are some things we can do to improve our marriage relationships.
1. Beware of our common enemy, satan. Satan will do all he can to disrupt our marriages. The authors suggest that the main way to overcome is by praying-praying together.

2. A shared adventure ( this was the best chapter in the book). We have to have more than just ourselves to live for. The authors say, “…adventure helps to build companionship in a marriage…the highest of all adventures are those where we find ourselves partnering together for a cause.”
Thus when we are joined together for a cause it helps us to

3. Fight off “the little foxes”. Those small things that can spoil our marriage.

4. The authors also have a chapter on sex (though not to helpful). They sum that chapter up to three lines. Pg 175 in the book J

The authors state that the odds of a marriage making it is about 50/50. They say that on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being bad 10 being great most people rate their marriage at about a 3.

A few thoughts regarding the book
1. If there are that many people disappointed in their marriage (and I don’t necessarily disagree) why is it that so many people that are divorce and/or widowed want to get married again?
2. Would stronger pre-marital counseling help in couples decision to marry? Like making it clear that when you get married some of these things you will have to do, weather you like it or not: cook meals, clean house, work at a job, have sex.
3. Too many books on marriage explain the general psyche of the male and female. What about those couples whose make up is the exception eg. Where the wife does not want to sit down and have a conversation about how the day went, but the husband does?

I appreciate the books that are given to me by by WaterBrook Multnomah to review. This book and others may be purchased at http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385529808

Mission Trips

2010-02-04T07:58:00.002-05:00

The Last few years God has really been speaking to me about Matthew 24, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked etc. So back in Sept. I took a short trip to Haiti, more for observation and to see possibly what I could do about offering some humanitarian work/aid. While there I spoke to some pastors at a leadership conference, sponsored by ICDM. God began to deal with me about the need to help the churches and church leaders. This conviction has continued to grow in my heart.
Thus yesterday morning I had breakfast with Tim Hibschman from "Global Partners". We talked, among other things, about taking some short-term mission trips. Not for the purpose of seeing what others are doing, but being able to help the church in other parts of the world...so with that conversation we are tentatively scheduling a trip to Mexico to hold some seminars/meetings with pastors and church leaders. Your prayers would be appreciated.

THE FAN

2010-01-27T12:18:00.002-05:00

Watched the movie, "The Fan", with Patton Oswald (Spence from King of Queens). Good movie about a obssesed NY Giant football fan who gets beat up and hospitalized by his favorite player. The movie is about Pattons' struggles to know weather to press charges or not. If he does their team will lose, if he does not he recieves the ridicule from family and friends.

Good movie about people whose lives are consumed with sports. It helps us ask the question how much do I like my favorite sports team and is it worth it.

'LOST" A Book Review

2010-01-25T13:01:00.001-05:00

"The Gospel According to Lost", by Chris Seay

If you watch the show “Lost” you know that the show is filled with mystery, unanswered questions and loose ends. Many of those questions have not and seemingly will not get answered. The Christian faith is filled with mystery, questions that we do not have answers to. The problem, within the church, seems that we are afraid of questions. We are afraid of asking things that we do not know about. I cant help but think part of our fear of questions is the fact that we may not like the answer, even if that answer is as non-threatening as, “I don’t know”.

There is a real sense of security in being certain, or even thinking that I am certain. And many times I would rather not know something that would make me question what I think I am certain about. I would rather believe a lie in security, than know the truth and be set free.

I like what the author says in the opening chapter, “The purpose of this book is not to erase the mystery, but to allow each of us to seek a posture that celebrates the things we do know and to embrace the mystery of things that have yet to unfold. We may find that the unknown is more valuable, meaningful and useful in stimulating the imagination than the know.”

The television show lost is about a group of people whose airplane crashes on an unknown island. The characters in the show are varied and unique. In each chapter of the book the author tries to tell some about each of the main characters.
I liked the way he attempted to describe each of the characters, but was disappointed in most cases of what he had to say about them and how it tied in with the ‘gospel’.
Some of the illustrations he used were unclear and a lot of the writing seemed to be choppy.

Two exceptions were in his discussion of ‘Sun and Jin: Patron Saints of Discontented Fisherman”. Where he makes the point that marriage brings out the best and worst in each of us, then quotes Dr. Joyce Brothers, “My husband and I have never considered divorce…murder sometimes, but never divorce.” And then Ghandi who said, “I first learned the concepts of nonviolence in my marriage.”

The other exception is the chapter on Benjamin Linus, who, for the most part, is the evil person in the story. The writer says clearly that the problem with Linus is that he does not love, he manipulates and uses people totally for his own purposes. Which I feel fits his character in the show perfectly.

Earthquake Hits Haiti

2010-01-12T19:34:00.001-05:00

I just seen that Haiti was hit/struck by a earthquake. One of the last places on earth that needed that to happen to. Please pray for the people.

So what does a spiritual movement look like?

2010-01-12T13:59:00.001-05:00

Dr Paul Pierson, a missions history prof at Fuller, and a pastor at Hollywood Presbyterian Church, compiled a very helpful list of characterstics of renewal movements. Here they are taken from www.tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com

- They always begin on the periphery of the institutional church
- They are motivated by a transforming experience (grace) of God by an individual or group.
- The result is the desire for a more authentic Christian life that often leads to concern for the church and world.
- Face to face groups for prayer, Bible study, mutual encouragement are important.
- New methods of selecting and training leaders become important. These are less institutional, more grass roots and lay oriented.
- There are theological breakthroughs, that is, rediscovery of aspects of the Biblical message that have been forgotten or overlooked by the Church, usually they involve a focus on the gifts of every believer.
- There is a leveling effect, distance decreases between clergy and laity, social classes, races, men and women, and denominations.
- The movement is countercultural in some ways, often because it reaches out to those who have not been valued by their society. - Consequently there will be opposition by many in the dominant culture and church. - There will often be manifestations of spiritual warfare. such movements sense the reality of evil and the need to recognize the vistory of Christ in the cross and resurrection.
- At times there will be unusual manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit; healings, visions, glossalalia, miracles. etc.
- More flexible structures of church and mission will be needed and often emerge, different from traditional structures.
- The movement will be led to significant recontextualization of the Christian message, which will be communicated more widely by lay persons to those outside the church.
- New music is often a characteristic.
- Biblical concepts ignored by the traditional church but relevant to the hearers are often discovered.
- There will be a growing concern for the marginalized, often expressed in ministries of compassion.
- At a later stage this often leads to concern for broader social transformation.
- As the movement matures there will be concern for the renewal of the broader church.
- As the movement continues to mature many will see themselves not only as part of the particular movement but as citizens of the Kingdom of God, transcending their own movement.
- Finally, every movement is less than perfect and often messy at the edges and sometimes, at the center. This is inevitable as long as sinful humans are involved.

WITHOUT THEM

2010-01-03T07:59:00.001-05:00

One of the most common things I hear is, "I'd like to do something remarkable like that, but my xyz won't let me." Where xyz = my boss, my publisher, my partner, my licensor, my franchisor, etc.
Well, you can fail by going along with that and not doing it, or you can do it, cause a ruckus and work things out later.
In my experience, once it's clear you're willing (not just willing, but itching, moving, and yes, implementing) without them, things start to happen. People are rarely willing to step up and stop you, and often just waiting to follow someone crazy enough to actually do something.
I'm going. Come along if you like.

from http://www.sethgodin.typepad.com

How far away is your future?

2009-12-27T19:28:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-24T10:02:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-21T12:05:00.002-05:00

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

2009-12-18T17:47:00.002-05:00

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

2009-12-16T15:20:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-14T07:10:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-26T08:47:00.001-05:00

“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

2009-11-17T09:51:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-08T17:18:00.002-05:00

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

2009-10-30T10:14:00.002-05:00

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

2009-10-28T11:42:00.002-05:00

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

2009-10-20T09:58:00.001-05:00

“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?

2009-10-14T11:52:00.001-05:00

"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

2009-10-13T06:53:00.001-05:00

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

2009-10-08T09:10:00.000-05:00

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?

2009-10-01T11:42:00.000-05:00

“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

2009-09-25T13:34:00.003-05:00

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

2009-09-25T13:34:00.000-05:00

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

2009-09-15T07:25:00.002-05:00

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

2009-09-09T15:08:00.001-05:00

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!

2009-08-31T08:07:00.001-05:00

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

2009-08-24T08:39:00.000-05:00

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

2009-08-19T11:03:00.000-05:00

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."

2009-08-19T08:24:00.000-05:00

"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

2009-08-17T13:04:00.002-05:00

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

2009-08-12T15:57:00.001-05:00

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?

2009-08-12T11:31:00.002-05:00

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

2009-08-07T17:49:00.000-05:00

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

2009-08-03T12:58:00.001-05:00

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

2009-08-03T12:54:00.003-05:00

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

2009-08-02T21:37:00.001-05:00

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

People or Churches

2009-07-30T13:23:00.002-05:00

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

2009-07-19T16:10:00.000-05:00

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

2009-07-12T17:03:00.000-05:00

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?

2009-07-12T16:46:00.000-05:00

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

2009-06-28T12:49:00.000-05:00

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

2009-06-17T20:58:00.000-05:00

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

2009-06-11T12:31:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-02T08:02:00.001-05:00

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

2009-05-10T13:54:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-04T12:23:00.000-05:00

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

2009-05-04T12:21:00.001-05:00

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

2009-05-03T14:11:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-03T14:07:00.002-05:00

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.