Nine Ways God Always Speaks*: Review and FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY CONTEST!

Nine Ways God Always Speaks*
*Offer only available in certain states
Authors: Mark Herringshaw & Jennifer Schuchmann
Publisher: Tyndale

Before reading this book, I was skeptical. It's typically my nature to be on my guard when reading books about "hearing God". I've been a Christfollower for about 30 years and have been exposed to many different teachings about hearing from God. Much of it was what I call weird, spooky, or even downright ridiculous.

Don't get me wrong. I hear from God myself in many different ways. Recently the topic came up in my own circle of friends about how do we know when it's God and not just wishful thinking or coincidence? Is this going to be another 'religious' book giving me step-by-step instructions -- if I do this, God will do that or if I don't do this God won't do that?

My fears and doubts were relieved right away with the first chapter.

The book is an easy read in contemporary and relevant language. Yet don't confuse an 'easy read' as not being challenging and thought-provoking. It most definitely is.

My eyes were opened to seeing the ways that God spoke to people during biblical times. Mary's excitement over the message that the angel spoke to her made me excited! This story, which I've heard and read hundreds of times since the time I was a child became truly human and alive by the authors' timely telling and language. All she could do was babble about God's goodness, His promise, and her love for Him. But what about Joseph? Here's a guy who is going to marry a 'good girl' who not only tells him some crazy story about being God speaking to her but that she is going to have a baby while still remaining a virgin. Can you imagine how Joseph must have felt? The doubts, the skeptism? Wouldn't that be our reaction as well? Yeah, right, sure, he must have thought.

So how does he overcome these doubts? God speaks to him through an angel as well. Not only did he end up believing but he was obedient to God's command and didn't have sex with her until after the baby Jesus was born. Would any man, unless he was convinced that he heard from God, abstain from consumating his marriage with his new bride unless he was sure that it was God he heard from? Not only is this proof that Mary's story was true, it's proof that Joseph heard from God as well.

Rarely does God speak to us and ask such crazy things of us. But if He spoke to them and they were convinced it was God's voice, why is it so far-fetched to some of us that He still speaks to us today?

On page four the authors write,

"One reason people say they don't pray more is because they feel as if nothing happens when they pray, that God isn't listening, or worse, that He is not there at all.

A one-sided relationship isn't worth much.

If we're expected to talk to God through prayer, shouldn't we know whether He will talk back? And if He will, how will we hear Him?"

This book helps to answer those questions in practical, mysterious, logical, illogical, and meaningful ways. It asks as many, if not more, questions than it answers. This is a good thing as it encourages you to read and learn of the differnt ways that God speaks and recognize them when you encounter them. It doesn't tell you how God will speak to you, but that He does, and will if we are listening as it tells of many of the ways He does this. Only through listening and hearing other people's stories -- the ones that God told about in the Bible and the regular, every day people of today -- can we learn to be sensitive to God's voice, to discern what is Him and what is the noise of the world, what is real and what is, well, crazy.

In my own personal experience of hearing God so clearly that there was no denying it was Him -- dreams so vivid and full of knowledge and insights that I never would have know on my own (to one of my pastors at that!), to expected, to pictures that God gives me (I guess the common biblical term is visions), to visiting people in one area of South Africa where povety and AIDS is rampant, returning to the same area a year later to be greeted by joyful spirits and healthy bodies, seeing the lame walk a day after we prayed for them, teaching classes to South Africans in our native American language and having the interrepter come up to thank the teacher for speaking to them in the language of Zulu -- when she spoke English the entire time but they heard Zulu! The list of His amazing ways of revealing Himself and speaking to us and through us, through others, and through His word did not end after Jesus left this earth. It continues today and this book will encourage you, amaze you and make you hungry to hear more from our incredible God.

I want to listen. I want to know more. I want to hear God in all I do, think, act, and see.

Do you want to know, too? If so, this book can help you in your journey of learning to listen and hear God personally in your own life as well.

*** Want to learn more? Leave a comment stating your thoughts, or share a story of how God has spoken to you, maybe how you want to know if He is speaking to you, or anything that is on your mind about how God speaks today, or simply why you would like to have this book. There will be one randomly chosen winner. Open to residents of the US only. One entry per person please. Please be sure to include a way to contact you if you are the winner! Contest will end May 10, 2009. For more blog giveaways, click the button below to Mom Most Traveled. I look forward to your comments! ***

***AND THE WINNER IS ....
JUDITH!****

Thanks for all of your great thoughts and posts. A new copy of Nine Ways God Always Speaks* is on its way to Judith. Return soon for more reviews and giveaways. (And if you didn't win this book, I recommend you go out and buy a copy. You'll be happy you did.)

Still Relevant ...

Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.

- Abraham Lincoln,
Second Inaugural Address (1865)

Maintaining Peace

The struggle to maintain peace is immeasurably more difficult than any military operation.

- Anne O'Hare McCormick,
first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for foreign correspondence

Love needs no words

She never said a word. Not to me. Not to anyone else. She didn't sing or respond to sound or music. I don't know her name. I don't know where she came from or who she belongs to.

And I fell in love with her.

Touch ... she responded to touch. She'd smile a shy little smile into my face when I took her on my lap and clapped her hands together. She'd just as shyly reach out to touch me when my attention waned and was focused on another beautiful child who wanted and needed it.

I met her on Wednesday. On Thursday, they bussed in all of the children that we had gone out into the township to spend time with and shower our love on during the week.

As the hundreds of children piled into the auditorium, there she was. She didn't run. She didn't skip. But she had a purpose in mind, and her little legs moved steadily and confidently. She didn't stop to get in line for a gift or craft or to play with a friend. She determinedly strutted all the way across the huge auditorium ...

... and stopped in front of me. Her little arms reached up to me and I eagerly scooped her up. I hated to let her go.

Love needs no words.

Peace is powerful

Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.

- Etty Hillesum,
died in Auschwitz in 1943 at the age of 29. From An Interrupted Life, a compilation of her diaries and letters.

Masses

They came in masses.

Hundreds and hundreds of children. Children in need ... in need of love, attention, affection, laughter, physical care, shoes, homes, in need of HOPE.

They lined up for hours for a sparkly star on their face, a crown made out of construction paper, to draw pictures with new paper and crayons, for balloons, for specs and bracelets and doo-dads made out of pipe cleaners ... stuff that cost mere pennies, yet brought such joy to these children. You would have thought everything they lined up for was made of gold.

What can I give them? I felt so helpless and useless. Other teams were off doing the "real work" -- planting food gardens, holding medical clinics, building homes. What did I have to offer?

Then I realized that love really is more valuable than gold. Jeff said it best ... he didn't know before going over how time with these children, these precious and beautiful children, would change the world. But he learned that these children will remember the time that the Americans came over and showered love on them. They will remember that they are not forgotten or forsaken. They will remember that they are loved by the Americans who came to bring meager gifts and all of our hearts.

Love can change things. I know their love changed my life. I trust and believe that our love will change their lives. It has to.

Please, it has to.

(You can see Jeff all the way in the back of this picture with his Reds cap on ... surrounded by hundreds of precious, valuable, beautiful, and worthy children.Click the picture to enlarge.)

We're back!

I have a million stories to tell and don't know where to start. For now, I know that we can change the world one act at a time and that love trumps all.

Mamelodi prayer requests

Well, Jeff and I will be boarding our plane to Mamelodi, South Africa in less than 2 weeks! We fly out on November 20! Amazing!

We will both be working on the kids' team which is so exciting to us! We will be traveling out into the township to different sattelite churches of their main campus, Charity and Faith. Two of those churches are tent churches! We will be with the 3-5 year olds in the mornings (who don't speak any English! We all speak the language of God's love though!) and with the older, schoolaged children in the afternoons. On our last day, all of the children will be transported to the main campus where we will have a huge celebration together.

It will be an amazing, joyful, and heartbreaking experience. We have no idea how God will use us in the lives of these children but we know that He will and will do so mightily.

We ask you to please pray for all aspects of the trip for the entire teams that are going, over 400 people and literally tons of supplies! We ask you to pray for their safety and their health and that they would experience God in a way like never before. We also ask you to please pray for each person that we will be encountering in Mamelodi, that God will do miraculous and healing work in each one of their lives. We ask you to pray that we will all be a blessing to the people there.

We ask that you please pray for Jeff and I personally as well. We both have health issues that have been flaring up lately, yet we are confident that our God who has called us will deliver us. We have no doubt in this. We ask you to pray that we will be strong and painfree. We ask you to pray for our safety. We ask you to pray that God will use our hands and feet as His very own to be a blessing. We ask you to pray that our eyes will be open to see Him in all we do. We ask you to pray that our hearts will be open to receive all that He has for us and that they will be filled with His love and compassion for the people of Mamelodi.

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers. I'm looking forward to sharing with you pictures and stories when we return.

Just do it

Don’t tell me what you hope for. Tell me what you are doing to bring it. Then you will know both patience and justice.

- Joan Chittister

It's one of those days

Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.

- Martin Luther King Jr.,
Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, Dec. 11, 1964.

Fair Questions for Sarah Palin

From "God's Politics: A Blog by Jim Wallis & Friends"
by Jim Wallis
09-17-2008

After Sarah Palin was selected by John McCain as the Republican vice-presidential candidate, reporters asked me whether the pick was desperate, brilliant, or risky. I said, “yes.” Only time will answer the question about the wisdom of McCain’s choice. But soon after the announcement, the firestorm began. I said that it was a double standard to criticize this mother for running for high office because she had five children, including a special needs child and a pregnant teenage daughter. Unless we are also going to ask men (fathers) the same question, we should not ask it of a working woman who decides to run for political office. Families in public life certainly need to take good care of their kids, but that is a mutual and family responsibility, not just for the mom.

And then some media started going after Palin’s faith and church. One night I watched Keith Olbermann of MSNBC say something like “Sarah Palin goes to a church where they speak in tongues, believe in the Rapture, and think you can pray away the gay.” Please Keith, you may not understand religion, but don’t offend evangelicals and Pentecostals who either like Palin’s politics or don’t, but see nothing wrong with their religion. Palin was a curveball to the Obama campaign, which at first had no real idea as to how to respond. But while they made many mistakes, they didn’t resort to the attacks on her family and faith that some in the media did.

But now Republicans are crying crocodile tears and accusing anybody who questions Palin’s record, experience, or readiness to lead as part of the liberal cultural elite that is just out to get ordinary people like Palin and the rest of us. Yesterday I spoke to a newspaper columnist, a committed Christian, who knows he will be attacked as anti-Christian if he focuses on the political facts of Palin. Is she the reformer she claims to be? What is her knowledge of the world, of foreign policy issues, of the complicated relationship between the use of diplomacy and force in conflict situations? Do her statements and positions on energy and economic policy comport with the facts and with what is needed to make major changes in direction on both? And most of all, does her experience, knowledge, and perspective give her the judgment, competence, and prudence to become the next president of the United States should something happen to the president?

Those are entirely fair questions for Palin, Joe Biden, John McCain, or Barack Obama. They are about the facts, the issues (not the personalities as I discussed in my last post), and the leadership qualities (which is different) needed to govern the country.

http://www.sojo.net/blog/godspolitics/?p=2111

James Carville at his finest

This is a quote from last night's Larry King Live. I almost spit my drink out laughing so hard.

Now one of the things that I understand is she never had a passport until she was governor. She's has only been out of the country to -- she went, honorably, to visit the troops in Kuwait and went to Germany. And so I don't know how many times she's even been out of the country.

But it's supposedly that she had to get a passport to do that.

And we're going to have her be vice president of the United States based on a 15 minute conversation she had with Senator McCain?

I mean I'm -- this is -- she was touted experience as mayor of this town in Alaska. This is a picture of the city hall. It looks like a bait shop in South Louisiana, all right?

This is executive experience to be vice president of the United States, to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, to have to take over the country when we're fighting three wars, where we have the biggest credit crisis we've had in this country?

I mean in the entire Republican Party, this is the best that they could come up with? -- James Carville

You too?

I know it's wrong, but ...

... I couldn't help myself. I've been so saddened by the number of hopeful people that have flocked to "have an encounter with God" under this guy's leadership. Now that it's been discovered that he's had more than one "inappropriate relationships", he's stepped down from his 'ministry'. There is a previous post about his revival and my issues with it a few posts back.

Although I'm sad that it had to come to this kind of incident to expose him, I'm glad that he's been exposed.

Here's just one out of hundreds of articles about this latest news here.

By the way, I'm still resting and healing, but I couldn't help but respond to this news considering the strong stand I took regarding this in an earlier post.

Resting

I've had a heck of a week. It's been terrifying, beautiful, and absolutely crazy.

God is so good. His love is amazing. I have so much to write and tell!

But for a little while, I'm going to take a rest. I'm going to learn what it feels like to let the Good Shepherd tend to me and I'm going to rest in the shadow of His presence.

But when I post again ... oh, I'll have so much to share!

See you in a while. Stay tuned.

No More Shame: A Story of Healed Wounds

I was a heroin addict in my 20s. I shot up as many times as I could a day. They left terrible track marks up and down my arms and hands. When I finally got clean, I was left with a lot of scars.

These scars all but faded over the years. But I have one very ugly, very obvious scar that remains on my right wrist. One day I was talking to God about it. I asked Him, "Lord, you have removed all of the other scars from me. This one stares me in the face every day. Others can see it clearly. I know you can remove it. Would you please remove it for me? I'm ashamed of it."

Very clearly and very gently, I heard God say to me, "Look at that scar. Do you remember the conditions that caused it? Do you remember the pain?"

"Yes,I do", I replied.

Then He said to me, "Touch it. Does it hurt? Do you feel pain now?"

"No", I said.

"That scar is there to remind you of how I healed you. Scars are a sign of healing, evidence of where I took your wounds and stitched them up. Everyone that you encounter has scars, Joyce. Many of those scars are on the inside but everyone has them. But scars don't hurt. Open wounds do. I stitched your open wounds up, inside and out."

As I continued to look at it and receive that as truth from God, He spoke again. "Don't you ever be ashamed to show and tell people of how I healed you. That scar isn't about you. It is about what I did for you and is to be used to share my hope and glory".

I've never been ashamed of that scar again.

Ambassadors of God

People who are in need and are not afraid to beg give to people not in need the occasion to do good for goodness' sake. Modern society calls the beggar bum and panhandler and gives him the bum's rush. But the Greeks used to say that people in need are ambassadors of the gods. Although you may be called bums and panhandlers you are in fact the ambassadors of God. As God's ambassadors you should be given food, clothing and shelter by those who are able to give it.
--Peter Maurin

Love

Love is never wasted. It may not get the results or reaction expected. But it is never wasted. In fact, love that expects positive reaction or results is something less than love. Love never makes any demands. Loves only gives, and it does not cease giving when there is no reciprocity. The true lover does not require the beloved to meet any conditions. True love is unconditional. The perfect Lover devoted Himself totally to others ...

and they crucified Him.

Quote of the Day

It is sad to see that, in our highly competitive and greedy world, we have lost touch with the joy of giving. We often live as if our happiness depended on having. But I don't know anyone who is really happy because of what he or she has. True joy, happiness and inner peace come from the giving of ourselves to others. A happy life is a life for others.

- Henri J.M. Nouwen
Life of the Beloved

Quote of the Day

Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change.

- Robert F. Kennedy, in a speech in Capetown, South Africa, June 6, 1966. Today is the 40th anniversary of his assassination.

Lakeland "Revival"?

Someone asked me a question on my blog entry about having a terminal disease. I answered it in the comments section but it was so long I thought I'd post it here. I'd be interested in your comments.

Scott said...
Have you been watching any of those revival meetings in Lakeland ? What are your thoughts on that Joyce ?

May 24, 2008 7:17 AM


Joyce said...
Scott,

Wow. That's a big question! Yes, I'm familiar with what has been going on there and I've done a lot of research. There are many things about it that concern me.

True revival begins with repentance and a turning to God. The gospel is shared, hearts are changed. I've listened and read closely many of the messages being shared at Lakeland and rarely do I hear the gospel shared and even more rarely do I hear the name Jesus. That bothers me. A lot.

Now ... I absolutely believe in the gifts and believe that they are just as active and alive today as they were in biblical times. But there is so much about this "revival" that really disturbs me and has too many of the markings of a false revival.

There are many problems with Todd Bentley's teachings resulting inmost serious problems with the "revival" in Lakeland. There is a very heavy influence of the Latter Rain movement, word of faith, impartation of spiritual gifts and healing at the WILL OF MAN ...etc.

Todd Bentley claims to have frequent visitations with angels, trips to heaven, personal meetings with Jesus Christ and so on. He also has no higher biblical education (not that I think that is a requirement for God to use someone. Just an observation).

God can and will move when people are truly reaching out for Him, but that does not validate a person's teachings or beliefs - it is not God's seal of approval.

You should read some of Todd Bentley's teachings, also read up on William Branham, who Bentley calls his mentor. Also, see what Todd Bentley has to say about the angel 'Emma'.

I copied this following article (written by Todd Bentley, in his own words) about ‘his’ angel Emma from his own website back in December. I think that an urgent warning needs to resound so more people do not get caught up in this counterfeit revival.

There are a lot of concerns (not just one) that many watchmen in the church have about Todd Bentley and his ministry. Todd Bentley’s past has been brought up (he was jailed as a teenager for child molestation), but this is not an issue for me at all in terms of why I am critiquing him. Though I in no way condone his actions, nor do I glibbly gloss over them (I do not in any way, nor could I - it is horrific and inexcusable) - I do not think it fair to judge a repentant reformed forgiven born again adult (if that is what they are) for what they did as a messed up abused kid before coming to Christ. So that factor shall be of no regard in my weighing or testing his ministry at all - for if the old is done away with, I shall not bring it up.

Anyway here is the article by Todd Bentley:

“Now let me talk about an angelic experience with Emma. Twice Bob Jones asked me about this angel that was in Kansas City in 1980: “Todd, have you ever seen the angel by the name of Emma?” He asked me as if he expected that this angel was appearing to me. Surprised, I said, “Bob, who is Emma?” He told me that Emma was the angel that helped birth and start the whole prophetic movement in Kansas City in the 1980s. She was a mothering-type angel that helped nurture the prophetic as it broke out. Within a few weeks of Bob asking me about Emma, I was in a service in Beulah, North Dakota. In the middle of the service I was in conversation with Ivan and another person when in walks Emma. As I stared at the angel with open eyes, the Lord said, “Here’s Emma.” I’m not kidding. She floated a couple of inches off the floor. It was almost like Kathryn Khulman in those old videos when she wore a white dress and looked like she was gliding across the platform. Emma appeared beautiful and young-about 22 years old-but she was old at the same time. She seemed to carry the wisdom, virtue and grace of Proverbs 31 on her life.

She glided into the room, emitting brilliant light and colors. Emma carried these bags and began pulling gold out of them. Then, as she walked up and down the aisles of the church, she began putting gold dust on people. “God, what is happening?” I asked. The Lord answered: “She is releasing the gold, which is both the revelation and the financial breakthrough that I am bringing into this church. I want you to prophecy that Emma showed up in this service-the same angel that appeared in Kansas city-as a sign that I am endorsing and releasing a prophetic spirit in the church.” See, when angels come, they always come for a reason; we need to actually ask God what the purpose is. Within three weeks of that visitation, the church had given me the biggest offering I had ever received to that point in my ministry. Thousands of dollars! Thousands! Even though the entire community consisted of only three thousand people, weeks after I left the church the pastor testified that the church offerings had either doubled or tripled.

During this visitation the pastor’s wife (it was an AOG church) got totally whacked by the Holy Ghost - she began running around barking like a dog or squawking like a chicken as a powerful prophetic spirit came on her. Also, as this prophetic anointing came on her, she started getting phone numbers of complete strangers and calling them up on the telephone and prophesying over them. She would tell them that God gave her their telephone number and then would give them words of knowledge. Complete strangers. Then angels started showing up in the church.

I believe Emma released a financial and prophetic anointing in that place. That was the first angel that I have ever seen in the form of a woman. Some angels I’ve seen seemed like they were neither male nor female. However, Emma appeared as a woman who was like a Deborah, like a mother in Zion. When she came, she began to mentor, nurture and opened up a prophetic well. The people in the church began having trances and visions and the pastor began getting words of knowledge and moving in healing. That congregation also saw more financial breakthrough than they had ever seen before.

I was at another meeting in Atlanta when my wife, Shonnah, saw two financial angels walk into the service and pour oil out on the pastor. Shonnah then knew there was financial breakthrough coming. That night two people wrote the pastor cheques for $16,000 and $17,000 and others also wrote cheques to Fresh Fire for thousands of dollars, which we used for missions to the nations. In addition, many people experienced great financial blessing as well. The day after this angelic visitation one guy had millions of dollars released to him-he had been waiting for about 10 years for this breakthrough. All this financial release came because my wife saw two financial angels walk up and stand on the platform. Can you imagine? We need to pray for the Father to give us financial angels for our lives, our church and region. With this angelic assistance, we will prevail and overcome the warfare trying to hold back our financial breakthrough. Some of you don’t know how to use the angels in intercession like this. You don’t even know whether it’s OK or not….”

There are several red flags that immediately are raised from this piece.

We see straight away that this ‘angelic introduction’ comes through ‘prophet’ Bob Jones of the Kansas City Prophets. This, if we recall, is the man who had young ladies strip naked before him to recieve a prophetic word from him in private, and who claimed Jesus told him when he was in mental asylum he had to kill or forgive people to get his mind back, and from whom other spiritual abuses and elitism came from. (He is now supposedly under the pastoral care of Mike Bickle of IHOP/The Metro Vineyard fame, though I dispute these prophets have ever been pastored.) Bob Jones was then, and is still, a heretical false prophet - his words and practices are abusive and often weird (eg he claims his hands change colour to indicate spiritual conditions), his theology is Latter Rain Manifest Sons of God dominionism and blasphemy (direct from Branham’s ‘genetical’ line including Paul Cain), and many of his prophetic words miss the mark - scripturally and also historically. (But he claims that it’s not only ok to miss the mark, but it is to be expected as the church is not ready apparently for prophetic accuracy!) So therefore for someone to claim they got something spiritually imparted to them from Bob Jones is worrying. Of course it is also odd that one seems to have to be personally introduced to these angels by Bob Jones, which is spiritual elitism and bears all the hallmarks of cultlike tendancies. If these angels were truly from God, they need introduction from no man.

Bob Jones has, however, ‘introduced’ various angels to the many of the ‘new’ line of (false) prophets (eg the Elijah List favorites) including Patricia King of Extreme Prophetic (to whom Todd Bentley is linked) and Sharneal Wolverton of Swift Fire Ministries (Note the name ‘Swift’ Fire). One of the angels is a golden eagle called Swift - have you seen how many golden eagles there are on most modern prophetic websites? It was the erroneous false prophet and healer and occultist William Branham (who many pentecostals revere despite his terrible theology - including Todd Bentley (Todd also claims one of Branham’s angels now accompanies his ministry: allegedly, Cal Pierce of the Spokane Healing rooms (linked to John G Lake) came to a meeting with a 15ft high angel ‘in tow’ and told him that the angel was John Knox’s and William Branham’s angel and that if Todd ‘received’ the angel it would partner him in ministry.) It was William Branham who wrongly said that ‘Prophets are often represented by Eagles in the Scriptures, known for their vision, power, and speed…’ So the symbolism for the golden eagle is an identification with the NAR prophets, but also with their false spirits and ultimately to William Branham, his false spirits, teachings, prophecies and the heresies of the Latter Rain.

Then we move on to ‘Emma’s’ identity. (Incidently, all angels in scripture appeared to people as ‘men’ and they did not float above the floor, they were not all weird colours as described, they appeared as tall ‘normal’ looking men). We are told by Todd Bentley that Bob Jones told him: ‘Emma was the angel that helped birth and start the whole prophetic movement in Kansas City in the 1980s. She is a mothering-type angel that helped nurture the prophetic as it broke out…’ That is one huge reason not to touch Emma or any of her ‘gifts’ with a bargepole (if she even exists and is not a lie or urban legend - for many of these ministries are NOT adverse to lying or to charlatanism or at least gross exageration, double-speak and cover-ups). The prophetic movement in Kansas City reeks and is false as can be. (See previous articles on this). It is not the true prophetic, and thus any angel (if there are angels involved as claimed) was not from God in birthing it, but is rather an angel from the Father of Lies, albeit dressed as an angel of light.

The described mothering element to Emma is also troubling, for God’s real angels point to the Father, or the Holy Spirit as a comforter - they are not mothers or fathers who ask men to come to them to be comforted or mothered or salved, but ‘only’ ministering spirits, servants of fire, sent to help those who will inherit salvation.

The next red flag is the gold dust and gemstones and oil element - a false sign and wonder (again not adverse to being counterfeited by human trickery). Patricia King, Joshua Mills, Rick Joyner and others are even now pointing to stigmatism as another sign and wonder and Rick Joyner. Patricia King apparently has three angels who appear wherever she goes. One is red - one is green - her prosperity angel (green like the dollar which these prophets are overly fond of) - and the other angel is either blue or yellow.

The next red flag is Todd Bentley’s prophetic testimony that God told him “I want you to prophecy that Emma showed up in this service-the same angel that appeared in Kansas city - as a sign that I am endorsing and releasing a prophetic spirit in the church.” If this actually happened as I believe many of these men and women are fakes, then Todd testifies he is a false prophet as God could not, and would not, and cannot endorse these manifestations or the word testimony that goes with them which is false Latter Rain heresy and dominionism. Furthermore, if God is ‘endorsing’ the release of the prophetic spirit within the church then Todd still has a long way to go if his own prophecies are anything to go by. It is a very odd and very false prophetic spirit indeed that Emma testifies to.

‘When she came, she began to mentor, nurture and opened up a prophetic well. The people in the church began having trances and visions and the pastor began getting words of knowledge and moving in healing.’

I also see the fleshly and not spiritual focus of these manifestations- the odd bodily behaviour that historically accompanies the counterfeit which we are told by Todd Bentley is actually being ‘whacked in the Holy Ghost’, yet the Holy Spirit is one of order and of self-control -- and the focus on the gold, on the money, on manna. ‘That congregation also saw more financial breakthrough than they had ever seen before.’ Yet the true test of the Holy Spirit is NOT the fleshly manifestations, not the alleged angelic encounters, not the prophecy, but whether the congregation are led to God, are led to their knees in submission and obedient service and self-sacrifice (is this church involved in more missions, are they feeding more widows and orphans, where is that gold going to, that is a test), and ultimately and always, that they are led into all truth. If they are not led into truth but error by the angel Emma and her servant Todd, then it is the spirit of error that accompanies him, and not the truth.

So ... I obviously have serious reservations and doubts on the authenticity of this so-called revival.

What are your thoughts?

Hometown Editorial

I am on vacation in my hometown in New London, CT and wasn't planning on doing any blogging or emailing or any of that stuff. But I read this in the "Letters to the Editor" this morning in The Day paper and thought it was worth sharing. This guy makes some good points.

'Bogyman' scam still used as nefarious tool


In 1937, when I was 6 years old, my family left Norwich and moved to Charlotte, N.C. We had a“colored maid” who came to our house once or twice weekly. When my mother asked her to baby-sit, she said that she couldn't, as being in Dilworth at night could lead to her arrest. The baby sitter my mother found was a neighborhood white girl. As soon as my parents left, she threatened that the“bogyman” would get me if I didn't go to bed.

I lived through the days of segregation, murder, rape and destruction of people of color caused by white, churchgoing folks. If a man's job is tenuous, and he knows thousands have lost their jobs, but he still votes for a man who will continue the same policies because a black man is also running for president, then the“bogeyman technique” still works.

The media and Republicans are linking Sen. Barack Obama with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, as if Rev. Wright is the bogyman.

Much has been made about Sen. Obama not disassociating himself from the church where Rev. Wright once preached.

Was there a mass exit from the Catholic Church when it became known that thousands of people had been sexually molested by priests?

Did millions of Muslims protest the mass murder on Sept. 11, 2001, and convert?

Have Jews abandoned their religion because Israel's retaliations have killed civilians?

We can disassociate ourselves from a clergyman without leaving our place of worship or religion.

Sen. Obama has done that, but it's not enough for those who try to associate him with the bogeyman. Perhaps if they put their flag pins on, it will scare the bogyman away.

Harold A. Soloff Norwich

And it never will ...

Our Partnership in Mamelodi, South Africa

Here is the background information about our partnership church in SA. Information on how you can support our trip is available at the bottom of this entry and on the April 11 entry. Thanks for reading and for your support!

OUR WORK IN SOUTH AFRICA

Crossroads in Cincinnati, Ohio, began its partnership with Charity and Faith
Mission Church in Mamelodi, South Africa, several years ago when the leaders
of both churches, Brian Tome and Titus Sithole, met at a conference in Chicago. As Brian and Titus grew to know each other they found that the missions of their churches were similar. Specifically, both churches strongly believed that they must be a blessing to their communities by helping to solve the real issues they faced.

Titus was the only pastor in Mamelodi who was actively confronting the AIDS epidemic. Mamelodi is a township community of one million people where between 30%-
40% of the population is HIV positive. Titus built an AIDS crisis center on his church property that provides free testing and counseling for hundreds of people both
inside and outside of the church. He also established a large home-based care team to provide vital services to AIDS patients throughout Mamelodi.

In 2003, Titus had a vision to build a full-service AIDS hospice that would both:
A) serve as a base for in-home care of AIDS patients, and
B) provide a place where people in the final stages of AIDS could be taken from
private homes that were often abusive and be placed in a
caring environment.

Concurrently, Crossroads was beginning a building campaign to double the size of its facility in Cincinnati. Brian and Titus agreed that a portion of the funding
raised in the campaign would be dedicated to make Titus’ hospice vision a reality.

Funding for what is now known as Bophelong Community Hospice was secured in May 2004, and the facility officially opened in April 2006.

Both churches believe that the AIDS hospice in Mamelodi was only the beginning of a long-term partnership. Crossroads employs full-time staff, supported by a strong volunteer team, to lead the partnership in the U.S. Charity & Faith has also
developed a team of leaders in Mamelodi dedicated to the partnership.

The ideological foundation of the partnership is that Titus and his church best understand the needs in the local community and that the role of the church in Cincinnati is to support h is vision. Currently, core initiatives in the partnership are:

• Providing health care services, beginning with the AIDS
hospice and expanding to other capabilities.

• Creating jobs and sustainable revenue that offset the
operating costs of these services.

• Meeting immediate needs such as food and medical
supplies.

• Personally connecting individuals from both communities to
accelerate volunteerism and engagement.

HEALTH CARE SERVICES
Crossroads has assembled a team of over 40 health care
professionals who partner with Charity and Faith to:

• Volunteer their time on mission trips, providing medical,
dental and eye care to the community and building relationships
with the local health care community.

• Develop a plan to provide a continuous presence of U.S.
health care professionals on the ground in Mamelodi.

JOBS AND REVENUE GENERATION
A Crossroads business team has focused on several projects to combat crushing unemployment in Mamelodi, and to generate revenue to help offset the cost of health care services.

IT professionals from Crossroads installed a fully-functional adult education center on the Charity campus, complete with dozens of computers and one of the only high-speed Internet connections in Mamelodi. Two Crossroads volunteers spent
almost a year teaching English and typing classes. Five South African women were trained as medical transcriptionists and are currently working out of the computer center for a Cincinnati-based medical transcription firm.

A team of Crossroads business experts have created a business development program in Mamelodi that envisions quarterly job-seeker and entrepreneurship classes as well as
business mentoring for Mamelodi-based entrepreneurs. The team is also actively seeking out business opportunities in South Africa to create jobs.

And Crossroads has assembled a team of grant-writing experts to seek out long-term funding for the various initiatives. In fact, Crossroads received its first monetary award as a top ten finisher out of 100 churches in the 2007 Award for Courageous Leadership in HIV/AIDS.

Crossroads and Charity also helped establish a non-profit business called “Beaded Hope” (www.beadedhope.com) that connects a community of South African women affected by HIV who create beaded jewelry to a receptive market in Cincinnati. This provides much needed income for these women who are severely disadvantaged in the local employment market.

MEETING IMMEDIATE NEEDS

Crossroads has mobilized a team of volunteer shipping and logistics experts to facilitate the deployment of much-needed food and supplies in Mamelodi. Over the past two years, the team has shipped over $225,000 worth of medical, construction
and business supplies to Charity. Also, as part of its annual Thanksgiving Food Drive, Crossroads has collected and shipped over 140,000 pounds of food to be distributed by Charity to those in Mamelodi who are starving.

PERSONAL CONNECTIONS

In the past two years, a project entitled “GO Mamelodi” brought nearly 900 members of Crossroads to meet and serve alongside members of Charity and Faith Mission. As a result of these trips:

• Hundreds of Americans and South Africans formed strong,
lasting relationships, with many still communicating via
e-mail.

• Hundreds of Americans spent an evening in the homes of
the people of Mamelodi. This is groundbreaking as very few
Americans have ever set foot in Mamelodi and many South
Africans refuse to visit the townships.

• Hundreds of backyard gardens were planted in Mamelodi’s
squatter villages providing much-needed vegetables to those
who are dying of malnutrition.

• Dozens of homes were constructed using both South African
block construction and American wood construction.

• Thousands of Mamelodi kids attended programs with music
and games designed just for them, a first in the township.

• Nearly 900 suitcases packed full of children’s classroom
supplies were delivered and teachers from Crossroads
partnered with teachers at Charity’s school to discuss best
practices in education, classroom management and
administration.

• A children’s library was set up at Charity’s school, complete
with 6,000 donated books.

• Because of the extraordinary presence of hundreds of
Americans in the township, important public officials,
including the South African Minister of Social Development,
the Mayor of the City of Pretoria and the Deputy Speaker of
the South African Parliament visited Charity and committed
to help Charity in its efforts.

• Both Crossroads and Charity leaders were interviewed on
several national TV and radio programs.

• After the first trip, Titus received a call from the South
African Vice President saying, “I’ve seen your church and
those Americans all over the news, and I want to learn more
about what you’re doing and how your model can be
expanded nationwide.”

• After the second trip, the Minister of Social Development
was so impressed with what was accomplished and the hope
that Charity & Faith is bringing to the people of Mamelodi
that he instructed his staff to begin negotiations with Titus to
rent the second floor of the hospice, thus providing
additional support services to the poor of Mamelodi and
helping to offset a majority of the hospice’s operating costs.

2008 AND BEYOND

Crossroads is now sending three or four teams to Mamelodi each year, and we plan to send up to 400 people to Mamelodi in November 2008, with regular annual trips thereafter. Crossroads hosted 35 Charity members in our homes in May 2007, and we are bringing more of our South African partners to the U.S. in May 2008. Charity members join us in a one-day “mega serving” opportunity where 4000 church attenders
volunteer at over 175 projects of non-profit organizations in Cincinnati and surrounding areas.

Crossroads and Charity both hope to hire full-time professionals in Mamelodi to manage the partnership, and are working diligently to ensure the long-term stability of the infrastructure we have already built.

Finally, Crossroads and Charity are both 100% committed to the partnership and believe this model of relationship and service can change the world, through widespread replication with other churches and organizations in the US and Africa.



***How can you help us change the world? Well, we need your prayers and we need your money! Please ... if you were considering any gifts to us this year (birthdays, anniversary, Christmas ... or even if you weren't!), we ask that you please redistribute that money towards this trip. Checks can made out to Crossroads and are 100% tax deductible. Once our deposit is raised and paid (by May 5th, in case you forgot. Hehe.), contributions can be made online to our account. Your contributions go far beyond changing our lives and rocking our world forever ... they go towards combatting poverty, providing health care, shelter, food, love, and so much more to an entire village impacted by life-shattering poverty, sickness, and oppression.

Checks should be made out to Crossroads and mailed to Crossroads,ATTN. GO MAMELODI, 3500 Madison Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45209. Please write our names (Jeff and Joyce Kendrick/Go Mamelodi) in the memo).

We thank you in advance for your prayers and financial support! And please know that no contribution is too small (or too large. We like the large contributions, too!)

We love you!***

The Messy Church

Life is messy, people are messy … and the church is therefore messy. But would we want it any other way? If the church were perfect, that would simply mean we had stopped letting in the world’s wounded … that we had stopped being a triage space for the desperate, the needy, the oppressed, the orphaned, the widow. May it never be so.

Build Homes, Feed the Hungry in Mamelodi, South Africa

... and never leave your home! Jeff and I have commited to going to Mamelodi, South Africa this coming November. How can you help and what will we be doing? We're glad you asked! (Well, maybe you didn't ask, but I'm going to tell you anyway!)Please read on. (The following is the FAQ from our church's website. (The links in the copied FAQ below are disabled. Please click on the GO Mamelodi website for access to more information.)

GO ahead and ask.


Quick Facts
DESTINATION: Mamelodi, South Africa
DATES: Nov 13-22, or Nov 20-29, 2008
DAMAGE: (breathe in) $3000 for one week. $4500 for two weeks. (breathe out…more below)
DEADLINE: 5/5 at 5pm for all applications and deposits
The Important Stuff
(You should know this)

Where are we headed?
Mamelodi, South Africa—A community of one million people about a half hour outside of Pretoria, the capital city of South Africa. This is where our partner church, Charity & Faith Mission Church, is located. It’s a place overrun with serious problems like HIV and extreme poverty, as well as serious (serious!) dancing, singing and joy. We guarantee you’ve never been anywhere like it. If you're interested in more background on our South African partnership, you can read this.

Why are we going?
Because when a lot of us GO, God shows up…and we want to see what happens this time around. Also, we are in year four of our partnership (see background document) and we want to throw some fuel on that fire. We are specifically going to create more friendships, build homes, plant food, develop more infrastructure, love on kids and do pretty much anything else we can think of to make a difference.

When are we going?
Group 1 leaves Cincinnati on Thursday, November 13, returning on Saturday, November 22. Group 2 leaves Cincinnati on Thursday, November 20, returning on Saturday, November 29 (two days after Thanksgiving). You can preference either week, and, if we have space, people can go for both weeks at an additional cost. We are going in November because 1) it’s cheaper to go in the fall (see below), 2) it takes less vacation time if you use the Thanksgiving holiday, and 3) based on current plans this is probably your last chance to travel on a big trip to Mamelodi until early 2010…don’t miss it!

***Jeff and I will be heading out for the second week. What's especially cool about this week is that it is our 5th wedding anniversary and it falls on the same exact same day as the day we got married in 2003; the same Wednesday before Thanksgiving on November 26 (Thanksgiving is the 27th this year), just like in 2003 when we got married! What an awesome way to spend celebrating our love for God and each other ... by sharing that love with the people in South Africa!***

Who can go?
We have space for up to 200 participants each week. If we have more than 400 sign up we will hold a random lottery to pick who gets to go (though that has never happened). This trip is for anyone—Crossroads people, non-Crossroads people, friends and family from out of town, people from all over the faith spectrum—basically any person who wants to serve others. The only requirement is that you are 18 years old (or 13 years old with a parent or guardian). And groups of two or more, like families or small groups, can let us know they'd like to travel and work together.

How much does it cost?
$3000 for one week. $4500 for two weeks. This covers your flight, hotel, meals, work supplies and activities. Stuff not covered are things like souvenirs, snacks at the airport, passport fees (if you need a new one) and shots (if you decide to get them). Also, because we are going in the fall, our per person trip cost is $500 cheaper from what it was the last two years. Wahoo! Love those fall airline prices!

What if I don’t have that much money?
Join the club. We have a handshake. Close to 90% of people who have been to Mamelodi did not have the funds sitting in their bank account when they decided to go. And nearly everyone raised the funds. Don’t let money stop you. Raising money is actually a very cool part of this experience. We’ll talk a lot more about the finance stuff—and help you generate ideas for how to raise funds. We have an awesome web system that helps with this process, and a little faith goes a long way. Have some and see what happens.

Is there a deposit?
Of course. Airlines and hotels demand one and so must we. The deposit is $300 per person ($450 for two weekers) and is due with your application. It can be paid online via credit/debit card, or via check (mailed to Crossroads or dropped off in the office with “GO Mamelodi – your name” in the memo). And the deposit is non-refundable (unless you lose a lottery) because it costs us that much to change your tickets if you cancel. If you don’t have this much money readily available, but truly feel called to go, please talk to us.

How do I sign up?
Fill out an application no later than May 5 at 5pm. We’ll ask you all kinds of questions like if you’re part of a group, who you’d like as your roommate, what you want to work on, if you smell and so on. Once you complete your application, you will need to pay your deposit of $300, either online or by mailing a check. Applications are not complete until the deposit is received in the Crossroads office. All applicants will be contacted by May 9 to confirm their trip participation.


The Other Stuff
(More info to convince you that we know what we're doing)

What work will I be doing?
We’re not totally sure. Most participants will be put on one of our three main teams: construction, planting food or working with kids. We can’t guarantee where you’ll be working, or exactly what you’ll be doing because our work changes based on need (as identified by Titus). People have had awesome experiences on all three teams. Also, we form small teams of trained professionals (i.e. medical, business, IT, etc.) called SWAT teams to help transfer skills and do more specialized work. See the application for more details.

***The teams we plan on serving on will be different for both of us. Jeff will be on the IT SWAT team, helping to set up computers and teaching the South Africans how to use them. This is huge in helping them get online in more areas, helping to create jobs and businesses, foster independence, and move towards relieving the devastating poverty of Mamelodi. I will most likely be spending time serving the children there. Children in poverty and AIDS stricken Mamelodi rarely get the love and attention they desperately need. The percentage of children orphaned by AIDS is staggering and the percentage of children stricken with AIDS is devastating. Those who are fortunate to not be orphaned are often left on their own as the parent(s) work hard to support their families. Then again, I may be planting food gardens or building homes! Both of us will be available to serve where the need is the greatest.***

What else are we doing in South Africa?
Seriously? Geesh. We will go on a safari, go to an African market, go to the Apartheid Museum, some of us will celebrate Thanksgiving African style (do they even have turkeys?), go to worship services in tents, eat bugs (joke), stay a night in people’s homes (only if you want to) and generally have a seriously awesome adventure. Let’s just see what happens.

Will I have to preach or pray in front of people?
Not unless you want to. This trip is for everyone, regardless of where you are on your spiritual journey. You will not be required to do anything you are not comfortable doing back at home.

What is the travel like?
It takes about 24 hours to get there. It’s a great time to catch up on sleep, talk to the 100 or so people you are traveling with, read, watch movies on your 21st century in-seat entertainment system, listen to every song on your iPod twice, or just do nothing…which you probably haven’t done in a long time. Everyone departs from Cincinnati or Dayton (out-of-towners need to get themselves here) and lands in Johannesburg. And you will fly on a commercial airline, most likely Delta or South African Airways.

Can I use miles, fly in first-class, or make my own travel plans?
Nope. We are taking this trip as one group with one mission. And that means we work together, eat together and travel in the back of the plane together. Because of the complexities of getting 400 people to the other side of the world, all of our travel plans are centrally booked. No exceptions. You will, however, earn many thousands of miles for your flights. So that’s kinda cool.

Where are we staying?
In a Holiday Inn-type hotel in the city of Pretoria, about 30 minutes from Mamelodi. You’ll have access to the basic stuff – showers, beds, food, strangely compelling Afro-Euro TV programming, etc. We will eat breakfast and dinner together at the hotel. And yes, you will have a roommate. And no, there is no shacking up in co-ed rooms unless you are married.

Is it safe in South Africa?
Of the hundreds of people who have been to Mamelodi before, not a single person has had a serious incident. If you are smart, you will be perfectly fine. We will always travel in groups, and we will always have people with us who speak the many languages (English is common). You’ll probably need to get some standard shots (that’s up to your doctor), and we’ll have plenty of water available. And the only place you will see an animal that is capable of eating you is on the safari…where you’ll be in a big truck.

What if I can’t do the work?
While we have jobs for all skill sets, ages and 5k times, please know that the trip can be exhausting. We will be on our feet a lot, getting up early, and the 18 or so hours in a plane is an obstacle we can’t change. If you have concerns about your physical situation, please talk to us. We want everyone to go, but if you ignore your physical limitations up front, you could end up being miserable.

What is the trip preparation like?
We will have a series of meetings (approx. one per month) leading up to the trip, where you will learn more about South Africa, learn more about what we are doing, meet others who are going on the trip and just have a good time. We also have a website full of trip resources. Out-of-town people will have a special coordinator assigned to keep them in the loop via e-mail so they don’t have to keep coming to the ‘Nati.

Anything else you really want to tell me?
Thanks for asking. If you want to take a vacation to South Africa, then we encourage you to do so. It’s beautiful. That being said, this is not that trip. Deciding to go with us means you want to be a part of our mission to change the world. In pursuit of that group goal, however, you may not get to do everything you want to do in the way you like to do things. It’s a posture of submitting to something bigger than yourself. But if you do it, we promise an incredible experience! We can do more together than we can as individuals.

***How can you help us change the world? Well, we need your prayers and we need your money! Please ... if you were considering any gifts to us this year (birthdays, anniversary, Christmas ... or even if you weren't!), we ask that you please redistribute that money towards this trip. Checks can made out to Crossroads and are 100% tax deductible. Once our deposit is raised and paid (by May 5th, in case you forgot. Hehe.), contributions can be made online to our account. Your contributions go far beyond changing our lives and rocking our world forever ... they go towards combatting poverty, providing health care, shelter, food, love, and so much more to an entire village impacted by life-shattering poverty, sickness, and oppression.

Checks should be made out to Crossroads and mailed to Crossroads,ATTN. GO MAMELODI, 3500 Madison Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45209. Please write our names (Jeff and Joyce Kendrick/Go Mamelodi) in the memo).

We thank you in advance for your prayers and financial support! And please know that no contribution is too small (or too large. We like the large contributions, too!)

We love you!***

Before I speak

I love prayer. Anyone who knows me well knows that prayer is a passion of mine. I consider it a privilege to be able to talk freely and honestly to God about everything in my life; my fears, doubts, longings, desires, failures, victories, friends, family, petitions for others and myself ... oh, the list never ends!

I am so blessed that the Lord has called me to use certain gifts that He has given me to honor Him and bless others. This morning He really convicted and challenged me about how I use those gifts ... and when. What He taught me today is that in order to use those gifts effectively, I need to make sure of one thing: that I spend much time before Him in prayer before I even open my mouth.

No surprise to those of you who happen to read my blog occasionally, God brought this to my attention through my daily devotion from Tozer. Here it is.

April 4

Prayer: Long Before the Lord

But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. --Exodus 34:34

It is written of Moses that he "went in before the Lord to speak with him...and he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel." This is the Biblical norm from which we depart to our own undoing and to the everlasting injury of the souls of men. No man has any moral right to go before the people who has not first been long before the Lord. No man has any right to speak to men about God who has not first spoken to God about men. [Emphasis mine] And the prophet of God should spend more time in the secret place praying than he spends in the public place preaching....

One swallow does not make a spring nor one hot day a summer; nor will a few minutes of frantic praying before service bring out the tender buds or make the flowers to appear on the earth. The field must be soaked in sunshine over a long period before it will give forth its treasures. The Christian's heart must be soaked in prayer before the true spiritual fruits begin to grow. The Root of the Righteous, 121-122.

"Lord, it seems like much of what we've been emphasizing all year requires that we slow down from our frantic pace. It takes great spiritual discipline to 'spend more time in the secret place praying than we spend in the public place preaching.' Quiet my heart today, slow me down I pray. Amen."

The Cry of a Soul on its way Up

While I'm still processing so much from our latest church journey called "Consumed", God brought the thought back to me of a prayer I publically displayed, boldly and brightly:

Less of me, more of YOU.

These are the words that I painted on the wall in the Prayer Experience. It's not only a reminder of when I scrawled out that prayer on the wall with bold, colorful sharpies, words lost in a landscape of thousands of other prayers of gratitude and love and healing and surrender - but a personal reminder that He is delighting in me that I am longing for more of Him. Perhaps this shall be my personal mantra, my personal prayer for this very season that I am in right now. Less of me, more of YOU.

So ... my daily Tozer devotion is emailed to me at 1:30 a.m. every day. I had a bad night of insomnia so I decided it would probably be a good thing to spend some time reading him and spend some quiet time in prayer and contemplation. Tozer has a way of cutting straight to the core and it's one of the things that I love so much about his way of teaching: 'Here it is', he seems to be saying, 'plain as day, now what are you going to do about it?'

It really hit home and spoke volumes to me this morning. I figured I'd go ahead and share it with the rest of you.

March 28
Pastoral Ministry: Just a Huckster

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. --Philippians 3:13-14

Some young preacher will study until he has to get thick glasses to take care of his failing eyesight because he has an idea he wants to become a famous preacher. He wants to use Jesus Christ to make him a famous preacher. He's just a huckster buying and selling and getting gain. They will ordain him and he will be known as Reverend and if he writes a book, they will make him a doctor. And he will be known as Doctor; but he's still a huckster buying and selling and getting gain. And when the Lord comes back, He will drive him out of the temple along with the other cattle.

We can use the Lord for anything--or try to use Him. But what I'm preaching and what Paul taught and what was brought down through the years and what gave breath to the modern missionary movement that you and I know about and belong to was just the opposite: "O, God, we don't want anything You have, we want You." That's the cry of a soul on its way up. ~A. W. Tozer Success and the Christian, 29.

"Lord, give us that hunger to know You; deliver us from the pride that makes us want to use You. Let me pray today with John, 'He must increase, but I must decrease.' Amen."

Quote of the Day

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." ~ Alvin Toffler

Thank you

I had a crazy, beautiful and baffling thing happen to me this week. I was at church for my Bible study. There were hundreds of people roaming around, meeting in their groups and just hanging out.

Out of nowhere, a beautiful woman who I didn't know came up behind me at my table and asked if I was Joyce. I said yes and she gave me a pink giftbag with my name on it. I looked at her quizzically and she told me that she was asked to give this to me anonymously, smiled at me and walked away.

I was a bit overwhelmed and didn't want to open the bag in front of the rest of my group so I placed it beside me and we continued with our Bible study (which was fantastic, by the way. Jeff and I have been doing this study with such a wonderful and diverse group of couples ... we love them so much and have made some really great new friends in the process).

When our group ended, I picked up the bag and opened it. Inside was a beautiful little box. I opened the box to find a note:

"Joyce, Bless you & buy yourself a nice new outfit! Enjoy!"

No signature. And $75 worth of gift cards to Macy's!!!! I am never able to go to Macy's! Especially not to buy myself an outfit! (I buy 95% of my clothing at Goodwill.)

Wow.

I don't know who. I certainly don't know why. But I do know that I am overwhelmed. I do know that I feel incredibly humbled (why me?!), grateful, excited, loved, and completely amazed that I was on someone's mind and that, for whatever reason, they wanted to bless me.

Wow again.

So whoever you are ... thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you so very, very much. Thank you for thinking of me. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for your generous heart. Thank you for making my heart swell with joy. Thank you for bringing tears of wonder and amazement to my eyes.

And thank you for the new dress I will be buying!

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. (Philippians 1:3,4 The Message)

A Call to Lament and Repent

A Call to Lament and Repent: Guide Our Feet to the Path of Peace

“By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” —Luke 1:78-79 (NRSV)

This season of Lent, we are truly living “ in darkness and in the shadow of death” as we mark, on March 19, 2008, the fifth anniversary of the war with Iraq. It is a war that is being waged by our country, financed by our taxes, and fought by our sisters and brothers. As U.S. Christians, we issue a call to the American church to lament and repent of the sin of this war.

We lament the suffering and violence in Iraq . We mourn the nearly 4,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have died, the unknown numbers of both who are wounded in body and mind, and the more than 4 million Iraqis who are displaced from their homes. With the families of U.S. soldiers torn apart, our families are also torn apart.

We lament the effects of this war on our country. The war has undermined our religious and national values. International perceptions of the U.S. church’s support for the war have hurt the cause of Christ. The abuse of prisoners and use of torture have damaged the U.S.’s moral standing in the world. The war is squandering billions of dollars that are urgently needed for other domestic and international needs.

We repent of our failure to fully live the teaching of Jesus to be peacemakers. Some of us believe our faith leads to a rejection of war, while others affirm just war principles—but after five years of conflict, we are convinced that continuing occupation and war in Iraq cannot be reconciled with just war teaching, and it is the obligation of Christians to help bring unjust wars to an end. The U.S. occupation must end; a transition to an international solution to Iraq must be found. A peaceful resolution is possible and must be pursued. Our country should end this war, not try to “win” it, and we must help the Iraqi people build a safer and more peaceful country.

We believe repentance means more than just being sorry. Repentance requires a change of heart and a commitment to a new direction. Repentance means transformation—breaking out of our conformity to a foreign policy based on fear and war to a policy that is rooted in seeking justice and pursuing peace. There is a better way—and the U.S. church must take the lead.

We dedicate ourselves to the biblical vision of a world in which nations do not attempt to resolve international problems by waging war on other nations . We believe the followers of the Prince of Peace should be the hardest ones, not the easiest, to convince to go to war. We are not utopians—we acknowledge that human beings and nations will have conflicts. But given the toll that the habit of war has taken in our violence-torn world, we must begin to learn to resolve our inevitable conflicts by learning the arts and skills of conflict resolution and a new international approach to just peace-making and law enforcement. We must seek a world in which we allow our Lord “ to guide our feet into the path of peace."

As a sign of repentance and commitment to lead our nation toward a new path, I pledge to:

● Pray for our nation to learn lasting lessons from th e tragedy of the war in Iraq and commit to greater wisdom in the future.

● Help heal our nation by talking and listening to our fellow Christians, finding better ways to resolve conflicts—by seeking the reconciliation of our divisions and working together for a more peaceful world.

● Reach out to the veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, who often, after making terrible sacrifices, feel abandoned.

● Urge our elected representatives to:

pursue a foreign policy consistent with moral principles, wise political judgments, and international law
ensure that veterans and their families are provided with the medical, psychological, financial, and spiritual support they need
fulfill our responsibility, working with the international community, to stabilize and rebuild Iraq, provide humanitarian support, and resettle those displaced by war.
Repentance requires a change of direction and a new commitment to follow Jesus, who tells us very clearly, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”

Sign the statement

This ain't no bull

Mixing the church and state is like mixing ice cream with cow manure. It may not do much to the manure, but it sure messes up the ice cream.

--Rev. Tony Campolo, p.20 Jesus for President

Read it.

Wow.

www.jesusforpresident.org

Consider this

To cure us of our immoderate love of gain, we should seriously consider how many goods there are that money will not purchase, and these the best; and how many evils there are that money will not remedy, and these the worst.
Charles Caleb Colton

Quote of the Day

I think joy and sweetness and affection are a spiritual path. We're here to know God, to love and serve God, and to be blown away by the beauty and miracle of nature. You just have to get rid of so much baggage to be light enough to dance, to sing, to play. You don't have time to carry grudges; you don't have time to cling to the need to be right.

- author Anne Lamott, in a recent interview. (Source: The Washington Times)

Today

Well, today are the Ohio Primaries. Ohio does things differently from other states that I have voted in ... and I like it. Even though I voted for a different party in the last election, I was able to go to the polling place, ask for the ballot of the party I want to vote in this time, sign a form stating that I am changing my party affiliation, and bam! Time to vote! Sweet.

Definitely out of character for me, I was up and out of the house by 8 am this morning and on my way to the polling place.

Oh. Who did I vote for? Well ... it wasn't for the last party I voted for. You know, the one that sent us to war. The one that has destroyed our economy. You know the one.

And um, I voted for a man.

Do the math.

And yet there's more!!!!!! Yay!

If you read the previous blog below, this speaks for itself. If you haven't, read that one first!!! Oh my gosh ... this guy is hilarious!

And I am really impressed by the accuracy -- it's circumsized and all!!!!

Seen the Virgin Mary Pretzel? Now See Mose's Staff! Item number: 120225438566

Starting bid: US $0.99
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End time: Feb-28-08 17:42:22 PST (6 days 23 hours)
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Ships to: United States
Item location: Sippy Downs, Queensland, Australia
History: 0 bids

Starting time: Feb-21-08 17:42:22 PST
Starting bid: US $0.99
Duration: 7-day listing
Payment methods: PayPal
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Meet the seller
Seller: notanotheronlinebuyer( 4 )
Feedback: 100% Positive
Member: since Dec-15-07 in Australia

Description

Forget that dodgy 'Virgin Mary Pretzel'. We all know it is just a wonky-shaped normal pretzel (or perhaps shaped and cooked that way...!)

This is an actual copy of Moses' staff - straight out of the packet!

I could not believe it. Moses' staff - the same staff that separated the oceans and split the stone tablets.

What powers does it hold - they could be endless:

* hold it up at the office and give commandments - it worked for Moses

* stuck in floods? - hold it up and see if it separates the waters

* work in construction? if the real thing can split stone, maybe this can too.

I can't explain why, but the good Lord put this replica pretzel of Moses' staff in my pretzel packet for a reason.

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Item title: Seen the Virgin Mary Pretzel? Now See Mose's Staff!

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Get it while it's hot!!!

Ok, so it's not hot. It's hard. And crunchy. And salty. But this is a real item up for bid on eBay. I just had to share!

***Warning: Crude language in some of the questions. Don't say I didn't warn ya***

CNN even has a video on the story here: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/02/21/harrington.virgin.mary.pretzel.kval

Check eBay if you think I'm kidding about this. *****UPDATE: ebay has removed this item. This Listing Is Unavailable


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Too bad. It was a lot of fun. But here's the listing in full, just for your viewing pleasure!!*****

(BTW, Jeff thinks it looks more like the Easter Bunny than the Madonna & Child. What do you think?)

The Virgin Mary Pretzel
Item number: 180217528954

Current bid:
US $99,000,100.00
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End time:
Mar-01-08 14:00:00 PST (8 days 21 hours)
Shipping costs:
Check item description and payment instructions or contact seller for details
Ships to: United States
Item location: Eugene, OR, United States
History: 94 bids
High bidder: a***r(

Starting time:
Feb-20-08 14:00:00 PST
Starting bid:
US $10.00
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Meet the seller
Seller: insanitydrummer( 2 )
Feedback: 100% Positive
Member: since Jan-04-05 in United States

Description

You are bidding on the coveted Virgin Mary Pretzel. A member of the staff at The Donkey Show (101.5 KFLY and 106.3 KZZE) stumbled across this religious icon a little over two years ago in a Rold Gold pretzel snack bag. Of course we saw the financial implications of this relic, and decided to sell it to the highest bidder. This is a once in a lifetime auction, this pretzel is in mint condition, and could be yours if the price is right. If it was not for the Lord Jesus Christ smiling upon the pretzel factory on the day of this little pretzel's conception, you would never have the opportunity to have it for your very own. Think of the magic that would enlighten your soul every time you looked at The Virgin Mary Pretzel sitting on your mantle or nightstand, right next to your rosary and bible. Jesus decided to commemorate his virgin mother in a salted treat that can be yours with the highest bid. Bid with confidence, as this item is being posted by a radio show, and we can't legally lie about something of this magnitude! This little morsel is 100% legit, in the most Holy of ways. This item comes with the original packaging, with "sell by" date included!

Questions from other members
Question & Answer

Q: How would you rate the pretzels freshness? Do you think it is still edible?
A: It is just as crisp golden and delicious as the day it blessed us by coming into our world through a holy deliver. (out of a oven)

Q: Have you seen the replica for sale for $5000????
A: It is just the image of ours reversed. Don't be fooled by the fool!

Q: Would you be willing to throw in honey mustard dip?
A: In no way would we ever add anything that would lead to the eating of this pretzel, for it is a gift from the heavens!

Q: Would you consider this item a Holy Relic?
A: I consider it a pretzel that looks like the picture it sits next to. Don't read into it.

Q: This is the work of the devil!!! Repent all you sinners!!!
A: Halleleuja!!!

Q: This is so fucking stupid...
A: A COLLECTIVE RESPONSE TO EVERYONE WHO THINKS THIS IS "SO FUCKING STUPID," Welcome to the stupid auction, thank you for stopping by the stupid auction, you must enjoy spending your time on stupid things. We appreciate you stupid hit and your stupid bid, so send us your stupid money and we will send you the stupid pretzel.

Q: CON ARTIST
A: Jerk

Q: Did you eat paint chips when you were a child?
A: Good one David Spade

Q: PRAISE THE LORD! It is miraculous! Are you sure this salty delicacy of a divine nature is mint? No chips, cracks, repairs, loss of salt? What is the expiration date on the bag? Is it still fresh or has it turned soft and rancid? Since it is not stated in the listing, I assume shipping is FREE Priority with insurance. Do you take checks? I don't use PayPal. Most importantly, should this sacred biscuit end up with a non-paying bidder, will it be available after the strike? PRAISE EBAY BOYCOTT!!
A: The pretzel has been locked in a box for almost 3 years since it was found. The original packaging is included, but seeing as this is a collaborative effort, the bag is not on my person as I answer this question. Yes shipping is free priority with insurance, no we will not take a check, PayPal only

Q: Is she salty?
A: Of course she is salty, she's a damn pretzel

Q: Thank you for confirming that eBay attracts the galactically stupid.
A: You betcha

Q: can you get me 10 of this. I am willing to pay $100,000.00 for all 10. Let me know as soon as possible cause I already have a buyer lined up for all of them. Shamcy
A: We didn't make it dude, God did.

Q: How many little nuggets of holy salt are visible on the blessed pretzel? Are you willing to sell the divine salt nuggets individually, or is it strictly a package deal?
A: Sorry this salty treat is far too divine for us to risk her life scraping the salt off...

Q: Does this pretzel come with the original Rold Gold package? What are the dimensions?
A: Yes the packaging comes with the pretzel... and the dimensions are the size of a pretzel... About 1 1/2" tall

Q: Just curious, item is described as "coveted", "a religous icon", and as a "relic". Could you provide any proof to support these claims? (or atleast look them up in the dictionary, so that you can re-think your description?)
A: No

Q: I notice your 'God Given' pretzel also resembles the Hindu symbol for 'Om: Symbol of the Absolute'; would you be willing to rename your offer to 'The Hindu Om Pretzel; previously known as the Virgin Mary Pretzel' in exchange for my bid?
A: Sorry, auction is as is

Q: "Good Morning" or is it "Welcome to Planet Eerf" my question is - if I were to win - and I am in Eugene - would I have to pay shipping costs???
A: No, shipping is free on this item

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I Pledge Allegiance

Shane Claiborne has a new book and tour happening. It's called Jesus for President. Shane has been so influential in helping me to see and rethink things in so many ways. His way of living and acting has helped teach me more about living out a life that reflects living a life of seriously following Jesus rather than the religion of "Christianity". Shane will be bringing his tour to Cincinnati in June (the venue isn't posted yet) and I will also be seeing him at Cornerstone Festival this summer. Please make a point to go and see this man speak when he comes around this summer. And prepare to be blown away.

The following is a litany that will be shared during this tour. It's a perfect time and year to begin praying, reciting, and living this out now.

Jesus For President Litany of Resistance
Created with the help of our friends Jim Loney (CPT Reservist) and Brian Walsh (activist theologian)
--------------------------
One: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world
All: Have mercy on us
One: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world
All: Free us from the bondage of sin and death
One: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world
All: Hear our prayer. Grant us peace.

One: For the victims of war
All: Have mercy
One: Women, men and children
All: Have mercy
One: The maimed and the crippled
All: Have mercy
One: The abandoned and the homeless
All: Have mercy
One: the imprisoned and the tortured
All: Have mercy
One: The widowed and the orphaned
All: Have mercy
One: The bleeding and the dying
All: Have mercy
One: The weary and the desperate
All: Have mercy
One: The lost and the forsaken
All: Have mercy

One: O God -- Have mercy on us sinners
All: Forgive us for we know not what we do
One: For our scorched and blackened earth
All: Forgive us
One: For the scandal of billions wasted in war
All: Forgive us
One: For our arms makers and arms dealers
All: Forgive us
One: For our Caesars and Herods
All: Forgive us
One: For the violence that is rooted in our hearts
All: Forgive us
One: For the times we turn others into enemies
All: Forgive us
One: Deliver us, O God
All: Guide our feet into the way of peace
One: Hear our prayer.
All: Grant us peace.

One: From the arrogance of power
All: Deliver us
One: From the myth of redemptive violence
All: Deliver us
One: From the tyranny of greed
All: Deliver us
One: From the ugliness of racism
All: Deliver us
One: From the cancer of hatred
All: Deliver us
One: From the seduction of wealth
All: Deliver us
One: From the addiction of control
All: Deliver us
One: From the idolatry of nationalism
All: Deliver us
One: From the paralysis of cynicism
All: Deliver us
One: From the violence of apathy
All: Deliver us
One: From the ghettos of poverty
All: Deliver us
One: From the ghettos of wealth
All: Deliver us
One: From a lack of imagination
All: Deliver us

One: Deliver us, O God
All: Guide our feet into the way of peace
One: We will not conform to the patterns of this world
All: Let us be transformed by the renewing of our minds
One: With the help of God’s grace
All: Let us resist evil wherever we find it

One: With the waging of war
All: We will not comply
One: With the legalization of murder
All: We will not comply
One: With the slaughter of innocents
All: We will not comply
One: With laws that betray human life
All: We will not comply
One: With the destruction of community
All: We will not comply
One: With the pointing finger and malicious talk
All: We will not comply
One: With the idea that happiness must be purchased
All: We will not comply
One: With the ravaging of the earth
All: We will not comply
One: With principalities and powers that oppress
All: We will not comply
One: With the destruction of peoples
All: We will not comply
One: With the raping of women
All: We will not comply
One: With governments that kill
All: We will not comply
One: With the theology of empire
All: We will not comply
One: With the business of militarism
All: We will not comply
One: With the hoarding of riches
All: We will not comply
One: With the dissemination of fear
All: We will not comply

One: Today we pledge our ultimate allegiance… to the Kingdom of God
All: We pledge allegiance
One: To a peace that is not like Rome’s
All: We pledge allegiance
One: To the Gospel of enemy love
All: We pledge allegiance
One: To the Kingdom of the poor and broken
All: We pledge allegiance
One: To a King that loves his enemies so much he died for them


All: We pledge allegiance
One: To the least of these, with whom Christ dwells
All: We pledge allegiance
One: To the transnational Church that transcends the artificial borders of nations
All: We pledge allegiance
One: To the refugee of Nazareth
All: We pledge allegiance
One: To the homeless rabbi who had no place to lay his head
All: We pledge allegiance
One: To the cross rather than the sword
All: We pledge allegiance
One: To the banner of love above any flag
All: We pledge allegiance
One: To the one who rules with a towel rather than an iron fist
All: We pledge allegiance
One: To the one who rides a donkey rather than a war-horse
All: We pledge allegiance
One: To the revolution that sets both oppressed and oppressors free
All: We pledge allegiance
One: To the Way that leads to life
All: We pledge allegiance
One: To the Slaughtered Lamb
All: We pledge allegiance
One: And together we proclaim his praises, from the margins of the empire to the centers of wealth and power
All: Long Live the Slaughtered Lamb
One: Long Live the Slaughtered Lamb
All: Long Live the Slaughtered Lamb

The times they are a'changin'

There's a shift in the wind. Those of us who are Christ followers have felt it for some time. Now the rest of the world is beginning to as well.

All of my Christian life, I've been voting as the religious rightwing has advised me to. These past couple of years, something has changed.

I began to get concerned about issues that I believe are close to Jesus' heart. And as I did, I began to take action. No, I didn't carry protest signs -- not against abortion clinics or even the war. Instead I began to act as I thought Jesus would (and I cannot picture Jesus carrying a protest sign in any situation, so I don't either. However I do wear buttons or shirts declaring my love of peace and such ... I find it far more productive to be known for what I stand for rather than what I am against). I decided the best action is to do: care and love those in situations that break Jesus' heart and call us to action -- the poor, the afflicted, the "least of these". Everywhere in the New Testament, Jesus talks about loving our neighbors. And who is our neighbor? The modern-day Samaritan, the one that society has overlooked and rejected, the one we cross the street to avoid -- and everyone else in-between.

There's a fresh voice among those who are considered "evangelicals" and I couldn't be happier that finally ... finally! ... we're being heard. My ministry leader and friend Andrew posted this great article on his blog (and so much other incredible stuff ... you should really read his blog. It's exciting: http://iniconium.blogspot.com) and I had to post it here as well.

Thanks, Andrew!

Evangelicals a Liberal Can Love
By
NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: February 3, 2008

At a New York or Los Angeles cocktail party, few would dare make a pejorative comment about Barack Obama’s race or Hillary Clinton’s sex. Yet it would be easy to get away with deriding Mike Huckabee’s religious faith.

Liberals believe deeply in tolerance and over the last century have led the battles against prejudices of all kinds, but we have a blind spot about Christian evangelicals. They constitute one of the few minorities that, on the American coasts or university campuses, it remains fashionable to mock.

Scorning people for their faith is intrinsically repugnant, and in this case it also betrays a profound misunderstanding of how far evangelicals have moved over the last decade. Today, conservative Christian churches do superb work on poverty, AIDS, sex trafficking, climate change, prison abuses, malaria and genocide in Darfur.

Bleeding-heart liberals could accomplish far more if they reached out to build common cause with bleeding-heart conservatives. And the Democratic presidential candidate (particularly if it’s Mr. Obama, to whom evangelicals have been startlingly receptive) has a real chance this year of winning large numbers of evangelical voters.

“Evangelicals are going to vote this year in part on climate change, on Darfur, on poverty,” said Jim Wallis, the author of a new book, “The Great Awakening,” which argues that the age of the religious right has passed and that issues of social justice are rising to the top of the agenda. Mr. Wallis says that about half of white evangelical votes
will be in play this year.

A recent CBS News poll found that the single issue that white evangelicals most believed they should be involved in was fighting poverty. The traditional issue of abortion was a distant second, and genocide was third.

Look, I don’t agree with evangelicals on theology or on their typically conservative views on taxes, health care or Iraq. Self-righteous zealots like Pat Robertson have been a plague upon our country, and their initial smugness about AIDS (which Jerry Falwell described as
“God’s judgment against promiscuity”) constituted far grosser immorality than anything that ever happened in a bathhouse. Moralizing blowhards showed more compassion for embryonic stem cells than for the poor or the sick, and as recently as the 1990s, evangelicals were mostly a constituency against foreign aid.

Yet that has turned almost 180 degrees. Today, many evangelicals are powerful internationalists and humanitarians — and liberals haven’t awakened to the transformation. The new face of evangelicals is
somebody like the Rev. Rick Warren, the California pastor who wrote "The Purpose Driven Life.”

Mr. Warren acknowledges that for most of his life he wasn’t much concerned with issues of poverty or disease. But on a visit to South Africa in 2003, he came across a tiny church operating from a dilapidated tent — yet sheltering 25 children orphaned by AIDS. “I realized they were doing more for the poor than my entire megachurch,” Mr. Warren said, with cheerful exaggeration. “It was like a knife in the heart.” So Mr. Warren mobilized his vast Saddleback Church to fight AIDS, malaria and poverty in 68 countries. Since then, more than 7,500 members of his church have paid their own way to volunteer in poor countries — and once they see the poverty, they immediately want to do more.

“Almost all of my work is in the third world,” Mr. Warren said. “I couldn’t care less about politics, the culture wars. My only interest is to get people to care about Darfurs and Rwandas.”

Helene Gayle, the head of CARE, said evangelicals “have made some incredible contributions” in the struggle against global poverty. “We don’t give them credit for the changes they’ve made,” she added. Fred Krupp, the president of Environmental Defense, said, “Many evangelical leaders have been key to taking the climate issue across the cultural divide.”

It’s certainly fair to criticize Catholic leaders and other conservative Christians for their hostility toward condoms, a policy that has gravely undermined the fight against AIDS in Africa. But while robust criticism is fair, scorn is not.

In parts of Africa where bandits and warlords shoot or rape anything that moves, you often find that the only groups still operating are Doctors Without Borders and religious aid workers: crazy doctors and crazy Christians. In the town of Rutshuru in war-ravaged Congo, I
found starving children, raped widows and shellshocked survivors. And there was a determined Catholic nun from Poland, serenely running a church clinic.

Unlike the religious right windbags, she was passionately “pro-life” even for those already born — and brave souls like her are increasingly representative of religious conservatives. We can disagree sharply with their politics, but to mock them underscores our own ignorance and prejudice.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/opinion/03kristof.html?em&ex=1202360400&en=12a296b39c5d5a22&ei=5087%0A

Now Reading

You should, too.

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=special.TGA&item=TGA_main

We are Family

This is the first family picture that we've ever had of all of Jeff's side of the family. We were all together for Christmas this year and our church took family pictures for everyone! Thanks, Crossroads!

Back row: Me, Jeff, Don (Jeff's dad), Nevan & Nyla (Jeff's kids -- aren't they cute?!?), Toby (Jeff's sister's husband) Front row: Chris (Jeff's mom), Justin (Donna & Toby's son), Donna (Jeff's sister)

Jesus is Cool, BUT ...

You can't remove Christ from Christmas

Thanks, Roland, for saying this better than I could. Merry Christmas!!

(CNN) -- This whole push to remove Christ from the Christmas season has gotten so ridiculous that it's pathetic.

Because of all the politically correct idiots, we are being encouraged to stop saying "Merry Christmas" for the more palatable "Happy Holidays." What the heck are "Seasons Greetings"? Can someone tell me what season we are greeting folks about? A Christmas tree? Oh, no! It's now a holiday tree. Any Christmas song that even remotely mentions Christ or has a religious undertone is being axed for being overtly religious. And I'm sorry, forget X-M-A-S. Malcolm X? Yes. X replacing Christ? No.

Don't get me wrong; I'm very respectful of other religions. I don't want anyone to be afraid of discussing the Jewish faith when we address Hanukkah. And we shouldn't dismiss Muslims when the annual pilgrimage to Mecca is held during December. In fact, Americans are so ignorant of other faiths that we can all learn from one another.

But this seeming backlash against Christianity is bordering on the absurd, and we should continue to remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.

I know that may sound strident, but it's true. We spend an inordinate amount of time focused on shopping and buying gifts, but really, what does any of this have to do with the birth of Jesus? We have families all over the nation killing themselves to buy a tree they can't afford, running up their credit to buy toys and other gifts, all in an effort to make someone else happy.

What if families decided to forgo gifts, and instead, used their shopping days giving back to those in need? What if more of us went into our closets, grabbed old toys and clothes, repackaged them, and provided them as gifts to those without? Instead of gorging on food, what if we used some of the dough to feed those who are in need? What if we blew off those gift cards to electronic retailers and signed up with Networkforgood.org, and gave someone a gift card to their favorite charity?

Sure, I know I sound like a reincarnation of a flower child, but really, do we have to be so crass during the Christmas season?

Its time that we return to traditional values, and end this ridiculous charade. It's important that we take a fuller account of WHY we celebrate Christmas, as opposed to falling for the barrage of ads that tell us what is most important.

Parents, don't be so consumed with the notion that your children will have a terrible Christmas because the tree isn't overflowing with gifts. The true love that you show them is more important than anything else.

America might be the king of capitalism, but secularism must never become so prevalent that our religious traditions are discarded.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/20/roland.martin/index.html


Roland S. Martin is a nationally award-winning journalist and CNN contributor. Martin is studying to receive his master's degree in Christian communications at Louisiana Baptist University, and he is the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith." You can read more of his columns at http://www.rolandsmartin.com/.

A Personal Blog *gasp!!*

My church has a new & awesome website: http://www.crossroads.net/ . One area is called "Forum", where news, questions, and general sharing occurs. Someone posed the question today: "How are you changing and questions you are wrestling with"? Great question! So here was my response. Please tell me (honestly) what you think:

Thanks for this. It's a great topic. It's one of the things that I love so much about Crossroads -- the opportunity to be honest and live our lives transparently and openly.

The Lord is challenging me in a number of areas, one 'biggie' is being able to see Jesus in all people, not just the ones I consider "godly" or "righteous". As a result of this conviction that He's put on my heart, I have had to face some pretty difficult and ugly things about myself. That's a good thing, but painful nonetheless.

True, sincere, and unconditional love of all people is my current "big" area of struggle/growth. I'm not proud of this. On the contrary, I'm really ashamed. It's easy for me to love those that are approachable, approving, law-abiding, encouraging, funny, and somewhat mature in their faith and Bible knowledge. Oh. And it helps if they interpret the Scripture in a similar manner as I do and like/dislike the same authors, music, preachers, and teachers. Pretty selfish, smug, and self-righteous of me, isn't it? Ouch. Talk about growing pains.

What's ironic and conflicting is that there is nothing I love more than seeing people grow and receive healing change by the love and power of God. But that's part of it, I guess. I like to see growth in people and get frustrated when I see their lives and behaviors not changing, just staying in the same place day after day, year after year.

As I've been searching the Scriptures and praying about this (and more importantly, listening), I've found out so much about my own attitudes regarding this part of me and even more about the Person of Jesus. I've been taking a close look at His friends, those He deeply loved and embraced. They weren't the "beautiful people". In fact, they were the opposite. They were those that society mocked, scorned, and avoided. Thieves, prostitutes, drug addicts, murderers -- people that I make every effort to avoid in my "precious Christian bubble". Sure, I am kind to these folks that I consider "different" from myself, I pray for them, and am tolerant of them. But do I love them? Do I love them the way that I love others more like myself? Most importantly, do I love them the way that Jesus does?

So I am on a personal journey to love people, really love them. Just as they are, just where they are. In this process, I am learning to repent of my attitudes, my indifferent heart, and receive the forgiveness offered to me for these ugly and shameful traits.

It's a good journey so far. I am beginning to recognize when these attitudes pop up, ask for forgiveness, and be ever-so-grateful for the more tender and sensitive heart God is giving me.

And you know what? In God's eyes, I'm no different than anyone else. When He created us, He did that personally and intimately. And when Jesus died on the Cross, He did that for each and every one of us, just as personally and just as intimately.

Lord, please never let me forget the filth you have rescued me from and the filth that continues to exist in my heart. Thank you for loving me RIGHT WHERE I AM, JUST AS I AM. Help me to give that same love to others.

Feeding the Hungry

Here's an awesome news story about my church's Thanksgiving food drive. Jeff and I dropped off our box last Saturday and were amazed at the people, the traffic, and the fun everyone had -- truly a joyful experience.

Enjoy the clip!

http://www.wlwt.com/video/14661951/index.html

A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words

What it is speaking to you?

Tozer on Failure & Success

This was in my inbox this morning. I'll let Tozer speak for himself.

October 1

Failure and Success: Paralysis From Past Mistakes

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. --Psalm 103:11-12

Do not let any of the things of the world or past mistakes paralyze your hearts. I believe there are Christians who have allowed some of their past mistakes to paralyze them. You were so bright and cheerful in your spiritual life once, and then you made some tragic mistake or had something happen to you. You got out of it somehow, and prayed and wept your way out of it. But it did something to you, and now you cannot lick it. Past wrongs that have been done to you, past failures, times you thought you were going to win and did not, or present sins or discouragement -- these things are not mental at all. They are deeper than that; they are subconscious, and they prevent us from believing.

I most urgently exhort you, and I trust God Almighty to deliver you; to sponge that out of your spirit; to sponge that out of your heart so you are not hindered by unbelief. Rut, Rot or Revival: The Condition of the Church, pp. 162-163

"Lord, I'm surely not the only one who desparately needs this reminder this morning. So many of us struggle with past sins, failures, or hurts. I pray for all of my fellow-servants who need deliverance, who need to have the past sponged out of their spirits and hearts. Amen."

Revival: Blessing on Our Terms

On Wednesday night, our pastor challenged us to run -- run as God ran to the prodigal son, run as Jesus runs to embrace and love those who are lost, run to share Jesus with those we know who don't know Him. There was a huge burst of applause and cheering as everyone promised to take up the challenge.

And then service was over.

This morning, I woke up and opened my devotion from A.W. Tozer. Once again, Tozer stopped me in my tracks and sent me to my knees. Here it is:

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."
-Matthew 16:24

Here is what grieves me, and I believe this also grieves the Holy Spirit: My hearers rise to this call emotionally, but they will not confirm it by a corresponding change in their way of life. Their goodness is like the morning clouds-by 9:00 o'clock the sun has burnt off the fog. This is what happens to many people's good intentions. They rise emotionally to an urgent message that we become a New Testament church, that we become a model church, that we have the order of the New Testament and the power of the Holy Spirit in order that we might worship, work and witness. Emotionally they rise to it, but they will not confirm their emotions by corresponding changes in their way of life.

They want to be blessed by God, but they want God to bless them on their terms. They look pensively to God for victory, but they will not bring their giving into line. They will not practice family prayer, rushing off without it. They will not take time for secret prayer and will not forgive those who have wronged them. They will not seek to be reconciled to those with whom they have quarreled. They will not pick up their crosses and say, "Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee." Rut, Rot or Revival: The Condition of the Church, 146-147.

"Lord, may my desire for You rise above emotions. I do want to be blessed of You, both personally and in my ministry. I commit myself this morning to a willingness to take my cross and follow You-and to take the necessary action to come on Your terms. Amen."

Leadership: Obedience, Servanthood & Maturity

Ahh, how I love Jean Vanier. His book, Community and Growth (Paulist Press, 1989) was one of the key books I treasured when I lived in community at Jesus People USA. There is so much amazing stuff in this book. I encourage you to read about him and his life in communtiy with God and others. Really, really good stuff.


“In order to be able to assume the responsibility for other people’s growth, leaders must themselves have grown to true maturity and inner freedom. They must not be locked up in a prison of illusion or selfishness, and they must have allowed others to guide them.

“We can only command if we know how to obey. We can only be a leader if we know how to be a servant. We can only be a mother—or a father—figure if we are conscious of ourselves as a daughter or a son. Jesus is the Lamb before the He is the Shepherd. His authority comes from the Father; He is the beloved Son of the Father” (p. 225).

Healing marriage

I usually don't post testimonies but I should more often. There is something powerful and beautiful in a person's personal testimony of what God has done in their life. Denise Jackson has one of these testimonies that I found, of all places, on CNN.com.

Jeff and I are on a marriage ministry in our church. Jeff had one previous marriage, I had two. We continue to be amazed that even our marriage, which began on pretty rocky ground, has been transformed into something beautiful and sacred. We attribute it to God and God alone. We've seen amazing restoration and healing in other people's marriages as well, with God at the helm doing what He does best.

This testimony of Denise Jackson blessed and encouraged me. I hope it does you, too.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Denise Jackson knew that her marriage to Alan Jackson wasn't perfect. She was too needy and insecure in the relationship, and he was on the road a lot, becoming one of country's biggest superstars.

Denise Jackson's marriage to Alan Jackson was crumbling until she turned to God.

Still, she wasn't prepared for the shock she got in 1998, shortly after the birth of their third child, when Jackson -- her sweetheart since their teen years -- told her that he didn't want to be in the marriage anymore. Hurt and disillusioned, she tried everything to get him back, and turned to prayer.

A revelation came one day when a friend told her she wouldn't pray for Alan Jackson to come back, but instead, would pray for Denise Jackson to become the woman that God intended her to be. From that day on, Denise Jackson began to reassess the role God played in her life -- and, instead of focusing on how to repair her relationship with her husband, put her efforts into rebuilding her relationship with God. In the end, she says, becoming closer to God helped her become closer to her husband -- and save her marriage.

Jackson writes about her journey in the new book "It's All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life." And while her husband is on the cover of the book and included a CD of two songs, after the first few chapters, it becomes clear that the country singer is not the ultimate focus of her book.

Q: What made you want to write this book?

DENISE JACKSON: Honestly, I've had this desire in my heart for nine years, soon after we separated. I really started thinking about how my story is a story of hope, and I really wanted to share with people how nothing is impossible with Him and how He can tackle relationships and restore them, and really just so people can be drawn to Him.
One of the points I make in the book is that I have everything in the world ... and yet at one point, I was insecure and my marriage was not right, and how none of that stuff really brings lasting joy and contentment, but the thing that does is available to everybody, and that's a relationship with God.

Q: What kind of pressure did you feel to have this perfect relationship with your husband?

JACKSON: I put so much pressure on myself. Everyone, I felt, was looking at us under a magnifying glass and I had to be the perfect wife, who was the perfect size, who wore the perfect gown, who had the perfect jewels, and it was so stressful to live like that and to base your self worth on what you thought other people felt about you. So that's why it was so freeing to really come to the place in my life where I realized that I shouldn't base my self worth on any of that, that my self-worth really comes from being a child of God.

Q: When your marriage broke up, you describe it as a total shock.

JACKSON: All along in our marriage we'd have these discussions about something just doesn't feel right, and it really boiled down to a codependency. Alan was the stronger one, I was the weaker, needier partner, and it just didn't feel balanced. And he kept wanting a partner who would be equal and who he could respect, but we really just didn't know how to get there. So that was really the issue that played out over the years. But it really wasn't until '98 that he said, "You know what, I can't live like this anymore, and I don't know if we know how to fix it," and that's when he left.

Q: He revealed that he was unfaithful at one point. How did you regain the trust?

JACKSON: First of all, I had to be able to forgive him, and that's a free gift that you offer someone. So I was willing to do that but in return he had to show me in tangible ways that he was trustworthy. And over an extended period of time he showed me in numerous ways.

Q: Do you always have that doubt though?

JACKSON: It's been almost 10 years, and initially when we got back together I did worry and wonder -- was he really and truly committed to our marriage? But now I have such a peace and contentment about it, because he has shown me over and over and over that he does want to be in the marriage, and it's evident; it's evident every day.

Q: After he left, did you ever feel like, "OK then, I'm just gonna take everything you have" and get revenge?

JACKSON: I have to admit that I did have those feelings, especially when we had been separated for several months and he really wasn't acting as if he was interested at all in reconciling. But then again, as I just stayed in my Bible study and really developed this relationship, I think God just softened my heart and made me want to have him back.

Q: Was Alan worried about you writing this book?

JACKSON: I think he was a little nervous at first. None of us want to tell people about our mistakes. But I also feel like he knew how passionate I was about this message and he knew that in order to really tell it fully that I was going to have to reveal some details about our marriage and our relationship, and he really consented for me to do that and graciously wrote the forward for the book and included the two wonderful songs that you can get with the book. He's been wonderfully supportive of the whole thing.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/books/08/31/celeb.qa.denisejackson.ap/index.html

The Beginning of Love

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.” -- Thomas Merton

Quote of the Day

I love this quote about sharing about Jesus with others. Just show the One I love.

Have you ever seen someone pull a photo out of their wallet and argue about the supremacy of this particular loved one? Of course not. They show you the picture and give you the opportunity to see what they see. -- Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis

20/80 or 80/20?

by Dan Kimball
http://www.vintagefaith.com/artilces/20-80.html


If you attend enough church growth conferences, you eventually hear the Pareto Principle taught in regards to church growth. Basically, it states that 80% of results flow from just 20% of our efforts.


Considering this, I would say that in church leadership we’d generally agree that 80% of true discipleship and spiritual growth occurs from mentoring, from home groups, from smaller group gatherings, and so on. I’d also bet—if we are brutally honest—that we’d agree that probably only 20% of true discipleship is a result of our weekend services. So why then, do we focus 80% of our time and effort in what produces 20 percent of what we should be considering as results—becoming disciples?


I know that the larger worship gathering is a part of spiritual formation. But what concerns me is that the more I talk with church leaders, the conversation generally revolves around the weekend service. We focus so much of our discussion about the style of music we use, the atmosphere, and our preaching style. We spend lots of time and many meetings coming up with ideas for the weekly event: creative team meetings, band rehearsals, PowerPoint, and tech meetings. The larger the church, all the more time goes to this. Our sermons take 10 to 20 hours a week to prepare. When we evaluate our budget, my guess is that in terms of staffing, where we use volunteers, and money, a great percentage goes to what happens on Sundays at the “big event.” The big event comes, people come, sit, and then go home. But is what we spend 80% of our energy, conversations, and thoughts on producing 80% of what makes disciples?

Sometimes I wonder if Jesus were to look at our time, our focus, what we think about, and what we talk about, what would he say we should spend most of our time doing? If we generally agree that 80% of our results of making disciples come from what we do outside of the weekend event, then what are we doing (for those that do this)?

You may think you don’t do it, but what do you spend the most time on in your week? What do you think about the most? What do you desire to improve the most? I know we desire to make disciples, but could our time be spent in an inverted way, according the Pareto Principle, where we spend 80% of our time on what produces 20% of true spiritual growth?

100 Pianos

Every morning, I get a devotional in my mailbox by Tozer. I became a big Tozer reader when I was living and serving at Jesus People USA -- Glenn Kaiser turned me on to his writings. This guy doesn't pull punches; he cuts to the quick.

This morning's devotion really hit home with me. As most of you know, I am part of a "seeker-driven" church and it is our desire that people will find community in each other as they seek relationship with Jesus and will grow in both community and with Christ as a result.

This morning, Tozer showed me a beautiful picture of how true community comes about. I thought I'd share it with you.

Happy Monday. :)

The Church: 100 Pianos

..that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You,that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. --John 17:21

Someone may fear that we are magnifying private religion out of all proportion, that the "us" of the New Testament is being displaced by a selfish "I." Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become "unity" conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The whole church of God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and a higher life. The Pursuit of God, page 90.

"Lord, let this start with me. Give me a closer walk with You today. Then as a leader enable me to encourage others as well, individually, so that all to whom I minister might be in harmony as we individually are close to You. Amen."

Quote of the Day

"This disparity between economics and justice is an issue of worship. According to the narrative of Scripture, the very heart of how we show and distinguish true worship from false worship is apparent in how we respond to the poor, the oppressed, the neglected and the forgotten."
-Mark Labberton

Blue Like Jazz: The Movie

Blue Like Jazz is definitely one of my favorite books. I have bought extras just to give away. But as a movie? I dunno. Donald Miller is pretty pumped about it. Here's his announcement.

13 JUN 07 Steve Taylor and Ben Pearson have been in Portland for the past week and we’ve pretty much completed the screenplay for Blue Like Jazz the movie. We’ve been working on the script for about a year, either with me flying to Nashville for a week at a time to sit around a table and hash out the story, or with Steve and Ben coming to Portland to stay at my house. When studios became more excited about the screenplay, we felt the need to wrap it up, and in the last few days we’ve pretty much done so. And I dont know if I’ve had more fun, or been more challenged, with any other writing project. I’m excited to see how the guys end up shooting the story.

To say we’ve given the book a Hollywood treatment is an understatement. The book itself would be, of course, difficult to turn into a movie, and so we took creative liberties. But in my opinion, the movie will be infinitely better than the book. Essentially we’ve taken the major, real life characters from the book, and gave them a story all their own. The end result is provocative and humorous and in my opinion quite moving. I cant wait for people to see the film.

We think production will be able to start next year, and the film will be shot on location in Portland. And I am as excited about showing off my town as I am about telling the story. I will keep you posted.

Don

Do Christians love to be hated?

Dan Kimball (I know, I know, I write about him alot, but he is constantly challenging me and stretching me) wrote on his blog about the response that some Christians have to the verses of being hated. "Everyone will hate you because of Me..." (Matthew 10:22) and "Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you." (1 John 3:13). I know (or have known) a lot of Christians that use these scriptures when they are rejected by nonbelievers and they just seem to shrug it off or, even worse, wear it as some sort of martyr badge. To me, it just always seemed like an excuse -- I mean, what do you expect when you walk up to a complete stranger and shove a tract into their hands about sin and hell and smile at them and say "God loves you". I'd be like uh, thanks, buddy, but no thanks. Kimball asks some great questions and offers some of his insights. I've posted some of the questions he's posed. You can read his take on answering them here:

http://www.dankimball.com/vintage_faith/2007/06/do-some-christi.html

Is it the gospel that is rejected
or is it the personality of the Christian and the evangelistic approach that is
being rejected and "hated"?

With this view, people skills then don't make too much
difference or matter a ton. Our tone of voice or how argumentative we are
doesn't make a difference. When and how we share about the gospel doesn't make a
difference - as long as we feel we said it and got it out. So when we have
people respond back that they don't want to hear it - then we feel we are simply
fulfilling what Jesus said about being "hated" and we can run back to our
Christian circles feeling like we have done our duty and the Lord must be
pleased as we are "hated" by the world and rejected.

- Yes, I fully know the gospel is a stumbling block and
people will reject the gospel. But I am wondering are people rejecting the
person because of how they go about sharing the gospel, more than rejecting the
gospel itself?

- Are people "hating" the personalities of the Christian
and the sometimes awkwardness of the approach used than actually hating the
gospel itself?

- Could it be the lack of interest that the Christian can
show for the other person, the lack of listening to the other person and people
skills (yes, I know the Spirit is who does it, but the basic ways we communicate
do matter) - so when people say "I'm not interested", it is because we haven't
really shown interest in them as a person to befriend them, hang out with them,
be caring about them, going to movies with them, building trust so when we do
talk about the gospel, we have earned the right and trust for them to want to
hear what we say?

- Could it be, that for some people, the "they will hate
us" saying of Jesus, makes it easy to stay enclosed in our Christian bubble,
stay on Christian blogs and talk with other Christians all the time, and feel
like we have done our job evangelistically if we have shared with a stranger on
a plane or with someone new at our workplace and they didn't respond?

- Do some Christians use "they will hate us" as an excuse
for lack of fruit or effort to be out among non-Christians?

Quote of the Day

Warren Buffett, the third-richest man in the world (he's worth $52 billion), has criticised the US tax system for allowing him to pay a lower rate than his secretary and his cleaner. Speaking at a $4,600-a-seat fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, Buffett said:

“The 400 of us [here] pay a lower part of our income in taxes than our receptionists do, or our cleaning ladies, for that matter. If you’re in the luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent” ...

Shane Claiborne/Rich Mullins

As I mentioned in the previous post, Shane Claiborne was here a couple of weeks ago speaking. He shared an awesome quote from Rich Mullins that stopped me in my tracks. I found that quote in an interview that Shane did with Relevant magazine a while back and thought it was worth sharing with the rest of you.

A lot of what we believe about money and its hold on our lives comes from the story of the rich young ruler. What are your thoughts on that story?

I think that is one of the stories that we’ve kind of lost. Rich Mullins—I often talk about him when I talk on that parable—showed up in chapel and said, “You guys are all into that born-again thing, and that’s awesome; we’ve got to be born again. You know Jesus said that to Nicodemus. But if you tell me that I got to be born again, I can tell you that you’ve got to sell everything you have and give it to the poor, because Jesus said that to one guy, too.” I love that. And then he said, “But I guess that’s why God invented highlighters, so we can we highlight the verses that we like and ignore the other ones.”

The interview in its entirety can be found here: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/beta/issue_26_claiborne.php

It's well worth the read.

Fire on Potter Street: What happened, how you can help

Shane Claiborne is the founder and member of The Simple Way Community in Philadelphia and the author of The Irresistable Revolution. (If you haven't read it, run out and get it. It's an amazing and important book. It can change your life. Seriously.) On June 22, there was a devastating fire that destroyed the community and many families homes and belongings on Potter Street as well as many of the ministries that The Simple Way operates. Please read the details of the fire below (as posted on their site) and ways you can help. Please pray for these folks. They're doing important work for the Kingdom and are the hands and feet of Jesus to a lot of beautiful and needful people in that area.

The picture is of me and Shane (yes, I'm standing up!) when he was here a couple of weeks ago.

Updates, photos, video, and information about the community and how to help can be found at http://www.thesimpleway.org/

6/20/07 11:25PM (UPDATED)
This morning, a 7-alarm fire consumed an abandoned warehouse in our Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia. The Simple Way Community Center at 3200 Potter Street was destroyed as well as at least eight of our neighbors’ homes. Over 100 people were evacuated from their homes, and 400 families are currently without power. Despite this tragedy, we are incredibly thankful to share that all of our community members and every one of our neighbors is safely out of harm’s way.

This fire will forever change the fabric of our community. Eight families are currently homeless, and in many cases have lost their vehicles as well as their homes. One of our neighbors, the Mahaias Family, lost their three cars as well as the equipment one family member uses for her massage therapy business. Teenager Brian Mahaias is devastated not because he has lost his belongings, but because he fears that this fire will force him to move away from this neighborhood that is his family as well as his home.

The Simple Way has lost a community center that was home to our Yes! And… afterschool program, community arts center, and Cottage Printworks t-shirt micro-business as well as to two of our community members. Community members Shane Claiborne and Jesce Walz have lost all of their belongings, Yes!And…’s after school studio and library were ruined, and community member Justin Donner’s Cottage Printworks equipment and t-shirts were destroyed.

We are thankful that we are able to help each other during this time of need, and we will continue to keep your informed about today’s events.

We have established funds to support the families who have lost their homes, the Yes! And… afterschool program, and the Simple Way community.

These funds have been established through a partner organization, EAPE. Tax-deductible donations can be made at http://tonycampolo.org/simpleway_donation.php. Please make sure to designate “TSW-Kensington Families Fund” or “TSW-Rebuilding Fund”.

-The Simple Way Community

Love your Enemies

Jesus said, "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account." Matthew 5.11

Jesus said, "You have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: 'You must not kill; and anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court.' But I say this to you: anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court." Mt. 5.21-22

Jesus said, "You have learnt how it was said: 'Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.' But I say to you, Offer the wicked man no resistance. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; if a man takes you to law and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone orders you to go one mile, go two miles with him." Mt. 5.38-41

Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy; But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those whose persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Mt. 5.43-46

Jesus said, "You will be hated by all men on account of my name; but the man who stands firm to the end will be saved. If they persecute you in one town, take refuge in the next; and if they persecute you in that, take refuge in another." Mt. 10.22-23

Jesus said, "No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay." Lk 3.14

Jesus said, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly." Lk. 6.27-28

Jesus said, "Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judge yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned." Lk 6.27

Jesus said, "What is written in the law? What do you read there? He replied, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." "You have answered right," said Jesus "do this and life is yours." Lk 10.26-28

Jesus said, "This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you." Jn. 14.22

Jesus said, "What I command you is to love one another." Jn. 14.27

Jesus said, "If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they kept my word, they will keep yours as well. But it will be on my account that they will do all this, because they do not know the one who sent me." Jn. 15.20-21

Jesus said, "I have told you all this so that you may find peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but be brave: I have conquered the world." Jn. 16.33

Being Robust

Scot McKnight is the Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University. The author of more than ten books and numerous articles and chapters in multi-authored works, McKnight specializes in historical Jesus studies as well as the Gospels and the New Testament. As an authority in Jesus studies, McKnight has been frequently consulted by Fox News, WGN, US News & World Report, Newsweek, TIME, as well as newspapers throughout the United States. [1] McKnight is also an advocate of the New Perspective on Paul.

Is Your Gospel Robust?


Scot McKnight on why our gospel is right, but not right
enough.


A few weeks ago Scot McKnight shared how the gospel we preach is having an adverse impact on the church. Last week at the Spiritual Formation Forum he spoke in greater detail about this problem. He called the standard evangelical gospel, outlined below, “right, but not right enough.”

Essentially, we’ve watered down the good news in a way that has marginalized the church in God’s plan of redemption.


This fact was driven home recently by a friend of mine who teaches at a Christian college. He said a hand in the class went up in the middle of his lecture about the church and culture. The student, in all sincerity, asked, “Do we really need the church?” My friend was struck by the question, and by the fact that the classroom was filled with future church leaders. Something is amiss when even Christian leaders are questioning the necessity of the church. That something, according to McKnight, is the gospel we’ve been preaching.


Scot McKnight summarized the “Standard Gospel Presentation” this way:


God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.Your problem is that you are sinful; God can’t admit sinners into his presence.Jesus died for you to deal with you “sin-problem.”If you trust in Christ, you can be admitted into God’s presence.


He went on to say that the problems with this popular evangelical gospel include:


1. No one in the New Testament really preaches this gospel.

2. This gospel is about one thing: humans gaining access to God’s presence.

3. This gospel creates an individualist Christian life.

4. This gospel sets the tone for the entire evangelical movement.

5. This gospel leads to spiritual formation being entirely about “me and God.”

6. The evangelical gospel has created a need for evangelical monasteries.

7. The evangelical gospels turns the local church into a volunteer society that is unnecessary.

8. The evangelical gospel is rooted in Theism or Deism, but not the Trinity.


In contrast to this anemic gospel, McKnight believes a more accurate and “robust” gospel presentation would include the following features:


1. A robust gospel cannot be “tractified.”

2. God made you as an eikon (Greek for “image”) to relate in love to God, to self, to others, and to the world.

3. The “fall” cracked the eikon in all for directions.

4. Bible readers cannot skip from Genesis 3 to Romans 3.

5. Genesis 4-11 reveals the “problem” of sin: the climax is a society of eikons trying to build their way to God.

6. Genesis 12 begins to restore the eikon by a covenantal commitment and forming the family of faith. The rest of the bible is about this elected family of faith.

7. The “problem” is finally resolved in “four atoning moments”: the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

8. The “locus” of resolution is the family of faith: three big words in the bible that describe this family of faith are Israel, the Kingdom, and the Church.


This understanding of the gospel would not marginalize the church, but instead make the community the heart of God’s work in the world. Is McKnight’s more robust gospel better than the pervasive 4 spiritual law version? Is the tract gospel the source of our diminished ecclesiology and individualism? Are we even open to a wider discussion about the nature of the gospel, or is such a thing taboo—to only be permitted in “emerging” circles?



http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2007/06/is_your_gospel.html#more

Core/Non-Core Beliefs: More from Dan Kimball

I think what I like most about Dan Kimball is that, unlike a lot of what I see (or perceive) in the emerging church, is that he always, always keeps Jesus as the central core of who we are and what we are doing. I think that often the lines get blurry in emerging churches as we get so caught up showing people the love of Jesus that we fail to show them Jesus Himself. Dan Kimball never seems to forget this & constantly reminds us to do the same.

This latest entry is directly from his blog at http://www.dankimball.com/vintage_faith/2007/06/what_to_use_for.html#comments.

Be challenged and enjoy.

What to use for a metaphor of "core" or "non-core" beliefs

I was part of the Emergence event this weekend that was in Seattle that Zondervan put on. It was an informal panel discussion based a lot out of the Listening to Beliefs of Emerging Churches book.

On the panel was myself, Mark Driscoll, Doug Pagitt, Karen Ward, and the moderator of the panel was the NPR radio host of "Speaking of Faith" Krista Tippett.

I got to go out with Mark D. afterward on Friday night and he took me to a Seattle hang out and we chatted for a couple hours. It is always good to hear what is going on in his life and in the incredible growth and story of Mars Hill Church. Then Saturday, I went to Karen Ward's church, Church of the Apostles, which I have been wanting to go to for many years. Then Saturday and Saturday night hung out with Doug as went to where he spoke at Mars Hill Graduate School. And it was fun to see my old dear friend from Santa Cruz, Wendy Elizabeth who was at the event too and hung out with us.

The format of the panel was fairly loose - we sat in chairs in a row and had informal sort of dialog about a wide variety of issues. In the beginning to start it, we each presented a little about our church. So I walked through how as a 3 year old church, we are "asking God to transform us into a-worshiping-community-of missional theologians".

When I got to the "theologians" part I tried to describe how we want to focus in terms of doctrines and beliefs on the ones which throughout church history and whether one was reading the Bible in the year 500 or 1500 or 2007, would be truths that have been understood by Spirit-filled believers. I labeled these are "Core Beliefs". These are the ones which I believe we should be uniting over and focusing on, especially as we are living more and more in a post-Christian culture.

I then put up another slide showing what I called "Non-Core" beliefs - which are doctrines and beliefs that have a diversity of opinions on them throughout church history. These are ones that someone may have a personal opinion about - yet at the same time there are godly, Spirit-filled scholars and theologians who have differing opinions. Which to me, shows that God knows what is truth on these matters, but we as sin-tainted human beings have a harder time understanding for 100% certainty on these issues.

For example, in the "Core Beliefs" I listed that Jesus will return and there is judgment that will happen. But in the "Non-Core Beliefs" I listed that how Jesus will return but the timetable is not clear. The clarity is that He will return, but the unclarity is how He will return (amillennial, premillennial, post-trib, pre-trib etc.) We may have an opinion, we may think we are right. But the fact is, there are differences of opinions about these issues throughout church history and in the church today. Or that God created everything ex nihilo "out of nothing" (as I believe) but not argue about whether it was a literal 6 day creation or if it was a 6,000,000 year creation. We may have an opinion, but there are godly Spirit-filled Christians who agree on ex nihilio, but differ on how long it took and whether Genesis 1 and 2 was supposed to be looked at as literal 24 hour days or not.

So I was trying to stress, that I wish we would focus on what I called "Core Beliefs" and unite on those. I hope we don't fight, point fingers, slander, argue about the "Non-Core Beliefs". I have read and heard such ugly attitudes from Christians about these things in the "non-core beliefs". I know that "the role of women in the church" is such a very hot and understandably emotional issue, and some may say it is not a "Non-Core Belief" but a "Core Belief". But the fact is, there are wonderful people who take the study of Scriptures very seriously, and hold the Scriptures with high authority and do have differences of opinion on that and are complementarians or egalitarians. So I put that in the "Non-Core Beliefs" category, as something we shouldn't fight over or slander others if another church holds a different opinion than our own.

After I said this, I was challenged that coming up with distinctions and using a metaphor of "Core" and "Non-Core" is not a good thing to do and metaphors fall short etc. I agree that every metaphor falls short. But as I have been thinking about it, I cannot think of another way to put it. I know God does not see "core" and "non-core" beliefs, as the whole Bible is inspired and He knows what He meant in the ones we have a harder time figuring out.

If someone has a metaphor, or way of describing what I am trying to communicate with this, I would love to hear it. I just looked at the slides I used again, and of course there could be a hundred things listed on each one. But it was best attempt at trying to explain the difference of "core" and "non-core" and make a summary of what I was trying to communicate for a slide presentation. I do wish we would stop pointing fingers and mocking, slandering, bickering, and all that happens about the "non-core" beliefs though. Especially in the days we live in. I did include Apple/PC and the DLR/SH letters stand for "David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar" and that who is the better singer for Van Halen is a "non-core" issue.

I don't want to make light of the seriousness of doctrines, but I also was trying to stress that I hope we don't go too far and argue about things I wonder if we will be ashamed at one day with other brothers and sisters in the "non-core" list. Maybe it is too hard to even try and make some sort of list and use a metaphor. But that is my thinking as of 12:08 AM as I sit in Timberline Lodge in the mountains of Oregon. I am here for the Doctor of Ministry class that I am in, and we are here all week.

Posted by Dan Kimball on June 05, 2007 at 12:22 AM Permalink

Dan Kimball on the Consumerism of the Church

Dan Kimball is a guy who has really challenged me in the past few months. I am on my second read of "They like Jesus but not the Church", this time around with highlighter and pencil in hand. Super challenging, incredibly enlightening.

This is from "Out of Ur"'s blog. Well worth the read.

Vintage Consumerism

Dan Kimball on the history and impact of consumer Christianity.

We caught up with Dan Kimball, pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California, and author of They Like Jesus but Not the Church (Zondervan, 2007), at a conference where he was talking to other leaders about consumerism and the church. Kimball says the size of a church isn’t what makes it consumer driven, but how the leaders define success.

You’ve been talking to other pastors about consumerism in the church and the impact it’s had on our theology. How do you begin to recognize that impact?

You hear a lot of the complaints and valid criticism about the church being “a provider of religious goods and services,” as Darrell Guder says in the Missional Church. I started thinking about my own church and asking could the leadership be the ones who are really guilty of this? How did that happen?

I began to think about our meeting spaces. The early church met in homes where it is easier to participate, people can contribute, can be more vocal, make a meal, whatever. And then worship moved to the Roman basilicas and the format changed. People became more passive, but they still walked around and engaged. After the Reformation pews were brought in and people began to understand church different because they become passive. Expectations of a pastor and a leader become different. People expected us to do things for them.

So how has that translated into the church today?

We’ve been taught that this is how church goes. This is what you’re supposed to do. But now we’re making it better and bigger—better seating, better lighting, better sermons, better parking, better children’s ministry, better youth ministry. We’re simply fueling the whole thing.

But all of the consumer assumptions underneath are the same.

Yeah. And we haven’t yet challenged those assumptions. But my bigger question is what is this producing? Is it really producing people who are living and demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit in their lives? Are they loving one another and loving God more? What are we looking at for success?

So what is your sense? Are the ‘bigger and better’ churches producing the fruit of the Spirit?

I think it depends on the church leadership. As you talk to different leaders you pick up what they focus on. Ask them how they define success or what are they most excited about. That’s an interesting question. It reveals a lot. You can have a church of twenty thousand but what are you looking at as success? If I walked up to a person at your church would they say I’m here to get my religious goods and services. Or would they say I’m an active participant in the mission of this church, and this big worship meeting is just one part of it. Of course you can go to a small worship meeting and have the same exact thing. So it’s not about big church or little church necessarily.

So what are you guys doing at Vintage Faith to question those underlying assumptions of consumer faith?

We are asking God to transform us into a worshiping community of missional theologians.

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Say that again.

We’re asking God to transform us (because it can’t be done through human effort); into a worshiping community (because we want to be worshipers first); of missional theologians (because if we’re on a mission in our culture we have to be thinkers).
We’re calling the church more of a missional training center as much as we can. We’re launching community groups. We’re calling them "community groups" even though we see them as house churches, but that name has weird connotations for some.

And what about your worship on Sunday, does that look different too?

Not really. Sunday meetings are just one part of the rhythm of the week when we all gather together, and we try to express worship to God and to teach in ways that creatively reflect who we are and the values we are striving to hold. Sundays are about community, care, worship and Scripture. But I’d hope that if you were to walk up to someone in our church and ask them “What is church?” they wouldn’t talk about the big meeting but about being on a mission.

Posted by UrL on May 29, 2007

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2007/05/vintage_consume.html#more

Grateful list part one

I'm grateful for Jesus. You have rescued me. You have rescued my family. You have made us whole. You have transformed our lives. You did this all by Your own sacrifice. You amaze me. I love You.

I'm grateful that I went to Bible College. I learned so much of the Word of God. Thanks, Zion.

I'm grateful for my brother. He introduced me to Jesus. His life of faithfulness and unconditional love is an example to me and an inspiration. I love you, Joe.

I'm grateful for my parents. They taught me about forgiveness, laughter, healing, and love. They taught me about letting go, about rejoicing in each other's victories and successes. No regrets. The best is yet to come. I love you, Mom & Dad.

I'm grateful for my sisters. My oldest sister taught me what love and loyalty and family first means. My middle sister taught me how far being kind and persistant and working hard can get you. I love you, Joan & Lynn.

I'm grateful for being sick. Having a potentially fatal disease makes you prioritize. It makes you rethink what is important and what isn't. It forces you to cherish each moment. It teaches you to revisit and explore wonder. It teaches you to anticipate Eternity with expectation and joy.

I'm grateful that I lived in community. I learned so much about grace, living by faith, justice, tolerance, equality amongst the brethen (and sistren?), sharing, selflessness, and dying daily. Thank you, JPUSA. I love you guys.

I am grateful for my husband. Your love of Jesus has shown me God in a way I'd forgotten -- God of miracles, God of answered prayer, God of healing, God of restoration, God of wonders, God of love, God never-failing, God everlasting. You show me a life of unfailing and incredible faith. You crack me up every day. You teach me honesty and integrity. You show me delightful love and laughter. You show me tenderness and humility. I love you so very much, Jeff.

To be continued ...

What if?

This video was made by our church during the Kingdom series. Music by the Desperation Band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGBRkx--w7I

Religious Leaders Propose a Way out of Iraq

It could work. It could definitely work. Tony Campolo & other religious leaders have come up with a proposal to get us out of Iraq. Inspiring. Please pray. Tony Campolo is founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education (EAPE) and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Eastern University.

Charles De Gaulle once said that politics
is far too serious to be left in the hands of politicians. I
agree!

The politicians in Washington are painfully
divided over what should be done about the war in Iraq. The Republicans talk
about “staying the course,” which our nation can ill afford. The Democrats, on
the other hand, propose a “cut and run” policy, and everyone knows that this
would leave a vacuum to be filled with the chaos of all-out civil war. But some
of us in the religious community propose a third option, which we believe could
get America out of Iraq without leaving a total mess behind. Our plan has three
parts.

First, we propose that American and British
troops be replaced by an international police force composed of those who better
understand the Iraqi culture. Leaders in Saudi Arabia proposed such a solution
almost three years ago. Americans and Brits are not only devoid of any grasp of
the language and the religion of the Iraqi people, but are defined by many
Muslims as a Christian army that has invaded a sacred Islamic land. Our army’s
presence is perceived by many in the Muslim world as a rebirth of the medieval
crusades.

Second, we propose that the United States
appropriate $50 billion to rebuild the towns and cities that the invasion of
Iraq has left in shambles. This would be a small price to pay, considering the
$2 billion we are presently spending every week in order to keep this war
going.

Third, we propose that our president go
before the United Nations and ask the world to forgive America for what we have
done to Iraq, and how we have set back efforts for world peace. He should point
out that he is asking forgiveness on behalf of almost all Americans – because we
overwhelmingly lent support to the invasion of Iraq some four years ago. He
should further point out that our original intentions were good! We Americans
were told that we were invading in order to remove the threat of what we thought
were Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Repentance of this kind is necessary
because we need to re-establish our moral standing in the world, and confessing
wrongdoing is a start for doing that. It is not weakness to admit that we did
wrong, especially when the whole world knows that we did. Now is the time for us
to live out that verse from 2 Chronicles 7:14, which reads:

If my people, which are called by my
name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their
wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will
heal their land.

If you are willing to support this
proposal, go to www.tikkun.org/iraqpeace. You will
find an expanded version of this proposal there, along with an opportunity to
sign on with us. Do it now, because time is short and the days are filled with
evil (Ephesians 5:16).

http://www.beliefnet.com/blogs/godspolitics/2007/04/tony-campolo-religious-leaders-propose.html

Jesus was Homeless

What goals do you have as a leader?

"Stay faithful every day and make
aggressive mistakes. Goals are too limiting. I have none."

Brian Tome, Pastor, Crossroads Community Church

http://leadershipblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/leadership-blog-interview-brian-tome.html

12 Steps for a Recovering Pharisee (like me)

I have always like John Fischer. He has been a key speaker at Cornerstone Festival many times over the years (the Jesus Rock festival that Jesus People USA, the community I used to live and serve with for in Chicago for several years, puts on) and I've always enjoyed his honesty and ability to share sometimes difficult realities in a lighthearted and gracious manner. This is from a book of his by the same title that he wrote several years back.

The 12 Steps of a Recovering Pharisee (like
me)

by John Fischer

1. We admit that our single most
unmitigated pleasure is to judge other people.

2. Have come to believe that our means of obtaining
greatness is to make everyone lower than ourselves in our own mind.

3. Realize that we detest mercy being given to those who,
unlike us, haven't worked for it and don't deserve it.

4. Have decided that we don't want to get what we deserve
after all, and we don't want anyone else to either.

5. Will cease all attempts to apply teaching and rebuke to
anyone but ourselves.

6. Are ready to have God remove all these defects of
attitude and character.

7. Embrace the belief that we are, and will always be,
experts at sinning.

8. Are looking closely at the lives of famous men and
women of the Bible who turned out to be ordinary sinners like us.

9. Are seeking through prayer and meditation to make a
conscious effort to consider other better than ourselves.

10. Embrace the state of astonishment as a permanent and
glorious reality.

11. Choose to rid ourselves of any attitude that is not
bathed in gratitude.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of
these steps, we will try to carry this message to others who think that Christians are better than everyone else.

The Real Agenda

Wow, CNN is rocking out with the commentaries this week. I just read this commentary by CNN contributer Roland Martin, author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith". I haven't read the book nor am I familiar with Mr. Martin , but he has some bold truths and challenges to share with the Christian community. I don't agree that Rick Warren should have been included in the list of those who Mr. Martin alleged to have a limited agenda however. Rick Warren is one who has greatly influenced me to step out and see the world as Jesus does and act accordingly. I also don't agree that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are part of the solution as I view them as causing more division than reconciliation regarding some of Martin's key points, but that's my personal opinion and observations. Despite these personal reservations, this article is definitely food for thought and well worth the read!

NEW YORK (CNN) -- When did it come to the point that being a Christian meant only caring about two issues,­ abortion and homosexuality?

Ask the nonreligious what being a Christian today means, and based on what we see and read, it's a good bet they will say that followers of Jesus Christ are preoccupied with those two points.

Poverty? Whatever. Homelessness? An afterthought. A widening gap between the have and have-nots? Immaterial. Divorce? The divorce rate of Christians mirrors the national average, so that's no big deal.

The point is that being a Christian should be about more than abortion and homosexuality, and it's high time that those not considered a part of the religious right expose the hypocrisy of our brothers and sisters in Christianity and take back the faith. And those on the left who believe they have a "get out of sin free" card must not be allowed to justify their actions.

Many people believe we are engaged in a holy war. And we are. But it's not with Muslims. The real war -- ­ the silent war ­-- is being engaged among Christians, and that's what we must set our sights on.

As we celebrate Holy Week, our focus is on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But aren't we also to recommit ourselves to live more like Jesus? Did Jesus spend his time focusing on all that he didn't like, or did Jesus raise the consciousness of the people to understand love, compassion and teach them about following the will of God?

As a layman studying to receive a master's in Christian communications, and the husband of an ordained minister, it's troubling to listen to "Christian radio" and hear the kind of hate spewing out of the mouths of my brothers and sisters in the faith.

In fact, I've grown tired of people who pimp God. That's right; we have a litany of individuals today who are holy, holy, holy, sing hallelujah, talk about how they love the Lord, but when it's time to walk the walk, somehow the spirit evaporates.

A couple of years ago I took exception to an e-mail blast from the Concerned Women for America. The group was angry that Democrats were blocking certain judges put up for the federal bench by President Bush. It called on Americans to fight Democrats who wanted to keep Christians off the bench.
So I called and sent an e-mail asking, "So, where were you when President Clinton appointed Christian judges to the bench? Were they truly behind Christian judges, or Republican Christian judges?

Surprise, surprise. There was never a response.

An African-American pastor I know in the Midwest was asked by a group of mostly white clergy to march in an anti-abortion rally. He was fine with that, but then asked the clergy if they would work with him to fight crack houses in predominantly black neighborhoods.

"That's really your problem," he was told.

They saw abortion as a moral imperative, but not a community ravaged by crack.

If abortion and gay marriage are part of the Christian agenda, I have no issue with that. Those are moral issues that should be of importance to people of the faith, but the agenda should be much, much broader.

I'm looking for the day when Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Joyce Meyer, James Dobson, Tony Perkins, James Kennedy, Rod Parsley, " Patriot Pastors" and Rick Warren will sit at the same table as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Cynthia Hale, Eddie L. Long, James Meek, Fred Price, Emmanuel Cleaver and Floyd Flake to establish a call to arms on racism, AIDS, police brutality, a national health care policy, our sorry education system.

If they all say they love and worship one God, one Jesus, let's see them rally their members behind one agenda.

I stand here today not as a Republican or a liberal. And don't bother calling me a Democrat or a conservative. I am a man,­ an African-American man ­who has professed that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that's to whom I bow down.

If you concur, it's time to stop allowing a chosen few to speak for the masses. Quit letting them define the agenda.

So put on the full armor of God because we have work to do.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/04/martin.jesus/index.html

Science as a means of Worship

While I don't necessarily agree with all of Dr. Collins scientific theories, I do agree that God and science are not at odds but in perfect harmony. This is a pretty cool article from CNN.

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., is the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. His most recent book is "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief."

ROCKVILLE, Maryland (CNN) -- I am a scientist and a believer, and I find no conflict between those world views.

As the director of the Human Genome Project, I have led a consortium of scientists to read out the 3.1 billion letters of the human genome, our own DNA instruction book. As a believer, I see DNA, the information molecule of all living things, as God's language, and the elegance and complexity of our own bodies and the rest of nature as a reflection of God's plan.

I did not always embrace these perspectives. As a graduate student in physical chemistry in the 1970s, I was an atheist, finding no reason to postulate the existence of any truths outside of mathematics, physics and chemistry. But then I went to medical school, and encountered life and death issues at the bedsides of my patients. Challenged by one of those patients, who asked "What do you believe, doctor?", I began searching for answers.

I had to admit that the science I loved so much was powerless to answer questions such as "What is the meaning of life?" "Why am I here?" "Why does mathematics work, anyway?" "If the universe had a beginning, who created it?" "Why are the physical constants in the universe so finely tuned to allow the possibility of complex life forms?" "Why do humans have a moral sense?" "What happens after we die?"

I had always assumed that faith was based on purely emotional and irrational arguments, and was astounded to discover, initially in the writings of the Oxford scholar C.S. Lewis and subsequently from many other sources, that one could build a very strong case for the plausibility of the existence of God on purely rational grounds. My earlier atheist's assertion that "I know there is no God" emerged as the least defensible. As the British writer G.K. Chesterton famously remarked, "Atheism is the most daring of all dogmas, for it is the assertion of a universal negative."

But reason alone cannot prove the existence of God. Faith is reason plus revelation, and the revelation part requires one to think with the spirit as well as with the mind. You have to hear the music, not just read the notes on the page. Ultimately, a leap of faith is required.

For me, that leap came in my 27th year, after a search to learn more about God's character led me to the person of Jesus Christ. Here was a person with remarkably strong historical evidence of his life, who made astounding statements about loving your neighbor, and whose claims about being God's son seemed to demand a decision about whether he was deluded or the real thing. After resisting for nearly two years, I found it impossible to go on living in such a state of uncertainty, and I became a follower of Jesus.

So, some have asked, doesn't your brain explode? Can you both pursue an understanding of how life works using the tools of genetics and molecular biology, and worship a creator God? Aren't evolution and faith in God incompatible? Can a scientist believe in miracles like the resurrection?

Actually, I find no conflict here, and neither apparently do the 40 percent of working scientists who claim to be believers. Yes, evolution by descent from a common ancestor is clearly true. If there was any lingering doubt about the evidence from the fossil record, the study of DNA provides the strongest possible proof of our relatedness to all other living things.

But why couldn't this be God's plan for creation? True, this is incompatible with an ultra-literal interpretation of Genesis, but long before Darwin, there were many thoughtful interpreters like St. Augustine, who found it impossible to be exactly sure what the meaning of that amazing creation story was supposed to be. So attaching oneself to such literal interpretations in the face of compelling scientific evidence pointing to the ancient age of Earth and the relatedness of living things by evolution seems neither wise nor necessary for the believer.

I have found there is a wonderful harmony in the complementary truths of science and faith. The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. God can be found in the cathedral or in the laboratory. By investigating God's majestic and awesome creation, science can actually be a means of worship.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/03/collins.commentary/index.html

Amazing Grace

"And Grace calls out: you are not just a disillusioned old man who may die soon, a middle aged woman stuck in a job and desperately wanting to get out, a young person feeling the fire in the belly begin to grow cold. You may be insecure, inadequate, mistaken, or potbellied. Death, panic, depression, and disillusionment may be near you. But you are not just that. You are accepted. Never confuse your perception of yourself with the mystery that you really are accepted ... Whatever our failings may be, we need not lower our eyes in the presence of Jesus. Jesus comes not for the super-spiritual but for the wobbly and the weak-kneed who know they don't have it all together, and who are not too proud to accept the handout of amazin' grace. As we glance up, we are astonished to find the eyes of Jesus open with wonder, deep with understanding, and gentle with compassion."
The Ragamuffin Gospel
Brennan Manning

Thanks, but I happen to LIKE brunch!

And only $19.95! (plus shipping and handling)

Quote of the Day

"I have three things I'd like to say to you tonight. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don't give a shit. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night."

-Tony Campolo

Kingdom Reflections Part 1

For the past six weeks, we've been on a churchwide journey called "Kingdom Experiment". I'm sharing some of my reflections here as I continue to journal them out. Thanks for reading.

During our Kingdom group, we talked about the letter writing exercise (and how most of us didn't do it!), an exercise that several of us had done in the past however. While we were discussing all of this, it came to my memory of the time that I wrote one of those letters myself. I was 19 years old and wrote a (never mailed) letter to the neighborhood boys/young men who had terrorized, humiliated and raped me for 12 years, from the time I was just a baby of 4 until I was 16. At 19, I was battling depression and other destructive patterns of behavior and finally sought help. It wasn't a letter of forgiveness, actually, but a letter of unburdening myself with all of the garbage they had laid on me that I had decided wasn't mine to carry around any longer -- the anger, the self-doubt, the low self-esteem, the fear, the self-loathing, the loneliness, the terrible pain so deep and so wounding and yet so close to the surface I could almost hear it screaming -- and the shame. The terrible, terrible shame that followed me for years afterwards, long into my adulthood. I told them none of that belonged to me any longer, it wasn't mine to begin with, and I was giving it back to them to carry around. I was too tired to
do it any longer. It was more of a letter that said "Take this back, you jerks. FEEL the pain! FEEL IT! LIVE IT! SUFFER the same pain you made ME suffer!"

I guess I thought that was "my way" of forgiving
them.

And I thought it worked. Until the subject came up that
night in group a couple of weeks ago. As I was telling others in my group about this letter I wrote 25 years ago, God spoke to my heart. He told me "No, Joyce. You can't give it back to them. You have to forgive them. In other words, you have to give all of that stuff to ME -- I need you to forgive them. I will take all of that stuff, and then I will give it back to them. Vengenance is Mine; not so they will be harmed or await a certain hell, but I will give this load they put on you back to them. But you have to give it to Me first. Then they will have to give it back to Me and to receive the same freedom and forgiveness as you have. Let me take all of that for you. I'll handle it from there." What a revelation. It seems simple, but it was huge and complex and awesome and convicting all at once. Wow.

Fast forward to the Prayer Experiment. Not really thinking about this, but trying to just have an open mind and heart, I walked into the rock room. I picked up a BIG rock ... I couldn't believe how long I had to hold on to it and how very heavy it became so quickly. I couldn't wait to be able to unload it.

And then it clicked. God was waiting to take that very
load away from me. I gave it to Him in the illustration of dropping it in that pond. The water was so murky (or appeared to be) that I couldn't even see it after I dropped it in there. It was gone!

When I walked into the bowl room, I sat and prayed and listened -- and wept. I sat there for a very long time, just sitting in His presence, waiting until I was ready to take the next step. Now that I had agreed to give that burden to Him, it was time to really let Him keep it. Forgiving those guys seemed the logical thing to write down, and I did. But then I continued to write -- about forgiving myself. I forgive you, Joyce, for being afraid. I forgive you, Joyce, for being jealous. I forgive you, Joyce, for being insecure. I forgive you, Joyce, for not trusting God's promises. I forgive you, Joyce, I forgive you, Joyce. The list went on and on. Finally, I finished writing and dropped my paper into the bowl. As I watched and saw my words begin to fade, the paper began to tear, from top to bottom, slowly but completely. It was to me exactly how I envisioned the veil was torn in the Holy of Holies when Jesus offered His forgiveness on the Cross and it was finished -- exactly. It was as though God was showing me just how my unforgiveness separates me from being in the full glory of His presence and He was reminding me by this beautiful vision right in front of my eyes. Jesus' forgiveness tore that veil that sheilded my eyes from focusing completely and fully on Him. He did that for me! Me!

I was so excited that the next room was a place to just
write down my praise and awe and joy and marvel about Who God is and about how much I love Him -- and how much He loves me! I mean, I know all of this and have known Jesus for decades but this was so fresh and so huge and so new to me -- a new freedom and a new place where I've finally allowed His light to shine, into the deepest, darkest places of my shame. There is light there now! I feel so bouyant, as though I had been walking with shoes made of cement for so many years and now I have on ballet slippers that allow me to dance in a way that I wouldn't have dared to have hoped I could have.

And now my prayer is just to have more opportunities to
reflect His beautiful light to others.

Amazing. God is simply ... amazing.

13 Paradigm Shifts

I love Donald Miller. Here's one (or rather, thirteen) reasons why:

Thirteen Paradigm Shifts we encountered doing Christian ministry in a pagan environment
by Donald Miller

1. Other People Exist:

Simply coming to the understanding that the world does not revolve around “me” but that everybody is having an experience, created by God, loved by God, and that we needed to repent of showing partiality.

2. Nobody will listen to you unless they know you like them:

We began to understand that people, subconsciously, merit a
religious or philosophical idea not on logical conclusions, but on whether or not the idea creates a “good person”…the definition of a good person being whether or not a person is kind to them, tolerant and understanding, able to listen without arguing and so on.

3. Nobody will listen to God unless they know God loves them:

We came to believe there was usually a hidden pain behind
hostility, that many people have been hurt by the church, or people or perspectives they believed to represent God. Many times it's as simple as an interview they saw on CNN, but an apology and kindness went a long way in helping people understand God was loving.

4. Other people have morality and values:

We came to understand that Christians do not own morality, that everybody lives by a moral code, not always informed by an ancient text, and yet it is there. Calling people or even thinking of them as immoral was, then, inappropriate. In fact, we often found that people who did not know Christ lived a morality close to his heart in many areas we had ignored, ie; community, tolerance, social justice, fairness and equality, freedom, beauty and so on.

5. Find common ground:

Often the morality of others overlapped Christian morality, and we came to understand that in these cases, we would focus on the overlapping issues. We came to see this as kindness, just as though we were on a date or making friends, we did not focus on what we didn’t have in common, but rather on mutual feelings about life. We would not say or do anything to combat people unless they knew we loved them, and this takes a great deal of time.

6. Define terms in their language:

We were careful about Christian sayings and phrases that might be offensive: Crusade, sin, immorality….we came to understand that concepts were more sacred than terms.

7. Telling somebody about the gospel is about them, not us:

We were careful not to try to “build our organization” and respected peoples freedom and space. Sharing the gospel became an exercise in friendship, rather than an attempt to grow a machine. Often, people feel used if they feel they are being recruited. The gospel, we learned, is really about them, their feelings about God and truth, about sin, about life.

8. Don’t let spreading the gospel feel any different than telling
somebody about a love in your life, about your children or a great
memory:

We realized that in telling somebody about Jesus, we were telling them about somebody we have come to love and need, and about something that had happened to us, an encounter. This keeps us from sounding preachy, and allows us to share part of ourselves in a friendship.

9. Include lost People in Your Community:

Our organization was not exclusive. We invited non-believers into the community if they wanted to be invited. We were careful not to not be ourselves with them, but they were certainly invited and enjoyed being a part of the group. We explained terms that we used, what we believed, but other than that, continued as normal.

10. Apologize for what you represent:

We discovered that many people have been offended or hurt by what they perceive Christianity to be. We allowed ourselves to stand in the place of “Christianity” and apologize whenever necessary.

11. Be authentic:

We discovered the need to be as honest about our lives as possible. We did not feel the need to sell Jesus, as much as share what He has done in our broken lives. We had no problem sharing our doubts and fears about faith, along with our commitment and appreciation for what God had done.

12. Pray for the Salvation of others:

We discovered the need to pray for others. This would insure God was working in peoples lives, as we asked Him to. We discovered the work of evangelism is something God lets us watch, but very little of it is what we manipulate. We repented of not believing evangelism was a spiritual exchange between a lost person and God, rather than believing it was a series of ideas we were supposed to convince others of.

13. Ask people if they would like to know Christ:

We decided to initiate, whenever the relationship called for it. We were not afraid to ask people if they would like to know God.

Come again?

Bloom Where You're Planted

Ah but the stability that comes from staying in place, being truly
grounded, settled, unwilling to jump when the next parade comes to town beating
whatever "drum of the month" it brings... that only comes from trusting, seeking
and recognizing the presence of God in normal, everyday tasks. The same
neighbors, the same place of work, same basic situation cannot shut God out. We
simply don't have the power to stop the active Spirit when and where He chooses
to work!

Thanks, Glenn.

Quote by my friend Glenn:

http://www.glennkaiser.com/blog.htm

The Jesus Tomb

Here's the best article I've read on this: http://paskewich.typepad.com/paskewichcom/2007/02/yawn_finding_th.html

You can also download it to a trifold handout to share with your friends, family and coworkers by clicking here:

http://paskewich.typepad.com/paskewichcom/files/because_you_asked_the_tomb_of_jesus.pdf

(Oh, by the way. The brilliant author is my big brother, Joe.)

Left Vs. Right

"The Left mocks the Right. The Right knows it's right. Two ugly traits. How far should we go to try to understand each other's point of view? Maybe the distance grace covered on the Cross is a clue." --Bono, lead singer of U2

How Emergent are You?

I like the emerging church. My church is part of the "emerging conversation". Well, I guess we are. I mean, I've never heard anyone actually say it. But you know, "if it looks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck ..."

(Quack)

I love conversation. I love that the Church is having conversation, not just with "church people" but with the world.

I do like the word "emerging". I like it a lot, in fact. I especially like the definition when we do apply it to Church with a big 'C', the Body, those of us who follow Jesus Christ.

Emerging: to come forth into view or
notice, as from concealment or obscurity. To become evident.

Yeah, baby. The Church should be evident in the world. We should constantly be emergent. I can dig this.

Anyhow ... the following blog is not my own. I wish I had written it, but I didn't. It's pretty short and sweet in outlining the conversation. Original citations, credits and links are included.

Enjoy the conversation.

How Emergent Are You? McLaren's Seven Layers of the Emergent Conversation

Islam has its five pillars. Buddhism has its eight-fold path. Evangelicalism has its four spiritual laws. And now the Emerging Church has its seven layers of conversation.

Last month I was part of a small gathering of church leaders that hosted an evening with Brian McLaren. And the conversation turned as hot as the chutney. A number of participants were eager to discuss the criticisms that have been levied against the emerging church in recent months. The hijacking of the emergent movement by those merely interested in new worship trends rather than more substantive issues aggravated others. Everyone was looking to McLaren to chime in.

Always more likely to defuse than to detonate, McLaren entered the spicy conversation casually while slouched into the sofa with beverage in hand. He cautioned us against judging where others were in the “emergent conversation.” Leaning forward, he outlined what he saw as the seven layers of the emergent conversation. "We all enter at a different layer," he said, "but everyone should be welcomed into the conversation no matter where they may be." [italics mine]

Based on McLaren’s description, I’ve outlined the seven layers below.
I’ve added my own titles and used the imaginary “Seeker Community Church” to illustrate each point.

Layer 1: Style

Seeker Community Church realizes they’re ineffective at reaching the coveted 18-32 year old demographic. They send a few staff members to a conference and they come back with goatees and candles.

Layer 2: Evangelism

After trying every facial hair permutation, Seeker Community Church discovers that to actually communicate the gospel to a younger generation they’ve got to learn to speak their language. They hire a former youth pastor to start an evening worship service with an “x” in its name.

Layer 3: Culture

It gradually dawns upon Seeker Community Church that the new challenges they are encountering are not limited to the younger generation. The entire culture is shifting away from the modern presuppositions their church was built upon. Some of the language and practices of the “x” service trickle into the rest of the church.

Layer 4: Mission

The emergence of Postmodernism causes Seeker Community Church to reevaluate the effectiveness of their mission strategy. Altar calls and gospel tracks are left behind in favor of community groups and relationships. Conversion is accepted as a journey and not merely a point of decision.

Layer 5: Church

Seeker Community Church begins to wonder if a multi million-dollar building housing a theatrical production every weekend is the only way to do church. Drawing from new and ancient forms of church, they launch alternative communities—one meets in a bar on Sunday night, and the other is a liturgical gathering. The church also partners with an inner city monastic group to reach street kids.

Layer 6: Gospel

The leadership of Seeker Community Church is stunned when the senior pastor confesses, “I’m not sure I’ve really understood the gospel.” He begins to wonder why Jesus never said God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life? And why Paul never asked anyone to invite Jesus into your heart? He starts to realize that the Good News is much more than he’d ever imagined.

Layer 7: World

Maybe the mission of the church isn’t simply to become a bigger church? Maybe, like Jesus, the church is to engage the larger world to reveal that the kingdom of God has drawn near? To their amazement, Seeker Community Church discovers significant swaths of the Bible (such as the Pentateuch, prophets, gospels, and epistles) talk about justice, poverty, and compassion. The church begins to speak about social issues and participates in efforts to combat poverty, AIDS, and global injustice.

So, how emergent are you?

Posted by Skye Jethani on October 28, 2005

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2005/10/mclarens_seven_layers1.html

Management vs. Leadership

Quote of the Day:

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. -Peter Drucker

Forgive us as we forgive our spouse who sins against us

Lord, You know how often we fail to love one another. Forgive
us as we forgive our spouse who sins against us. Lord, You know how easy it is
bail out of marriage mentally and spiritually, how fickle our hearts are when it
comes to human relationships. Forgive us as we forgive our spouse who sins
against us. Lord, You see how easily offended we are, how tenderly we treat our
own feelings yet how cutting and cruel we can be with our tongues to this other
we say we love. Forgive us as we forgive our spouse who sins against us. Lord,
You know how easily the heart is drawn away from one's spouse toward another
person, another task, another achievement. Forgive such hearts of adultery,
Lord, as we forgive our spouse who sins against us. Lord, You see how our lips
pay service to the idea that we submit one to another, yet our actions betray
us. We say one thing, yet try to control our mate by manipulating, brow-beating,
demeaning, ignoring, denying affection. Forgive us, Lord, as we forgive our
spouse who sins against us. Thank You, Lord, for Your forgiveness. Thank you for
the transforming power of the Gospel that makes all things -- including marriage
itself -- brand new. You are the Lord of love. Thank You, thank You, thank You
for this other you have given us. Fill our hearts with love and with a zeal to
love in action as well as emotion and word. And fill us with Your Holy Spirit so
that we never turn our backs on You, on Your love, or on the love our mate
brings to us. That love, we know, is of You and from You. We receive it with
humility, gratitude, and glad tears. AMEN.

My friends Jon and Carol Trott wrote this prayer a few years back when they were speaking (well, Jon was speaking, Carol was sharing!) at a conference. It's blessed me in so many ways and I wanted to make it easily accessible, so I'm posting it here. You can read their entire seminar here: http://www.highromance.com/articles/jtarticles/cbe2002.htm

Light of the World

Once in a while, I have what I call "God Moments". These seem to happen during particularly reflective times when, for whatever reason, God chooses to speak about something pretty significant to me at the moment. It's probably more accurate to say that it's the times when my heart is in a place where I can actually hear Him, because I truly believes He speaks far more than I listen. They may not appear to be groundshaking revelations and I guess they really aren't. They are usually just simple truths that He reminds me of in the midst of my circumstances, but in such a personal way that I can only shake my head in awe and wonder.

A couple of weeks ago, I was standing out on my porch looking at the sky. It was the middle of the day, but the sky was incredibly dark and it was apparent that a big storm was brewing.

"Wow, it's so dark out here", I thought. "Yeah, it is, isn't it?" said the Lord. I looked at the sky some more. The clouds were moving in more thickly and it looked like it was late evening instead of late morning.

"Yeah, it's pretty dark", He continued. "And stormy. But there's still enough light to see, isn't there?"

I looked around. Sure, even though it was dark, I could still see quite clearly. I could see everything around me in perfect clarity. There were no obstacles to my vision.

"Yeah", I replied. "I can see just fine."

"Joyce", He said, "even though it's so dark, so cloudy, so stormy, there is always enough Light to see. I am always enough Light."

That was pretty much it, but I pondered for hours about that. I was going through my own personal storm at the time, and He knew it. He cared enough about my storms to remind me ...

He is the Light. And He is always enough.

"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12

What's my Motive?

Sometimes I wonder why I do things. Not bad things necessarily. I know why I do the bad things. I'm a jerk sometimes. That one's easy. I'm talking about the good things.

A dear friend of ours is desperately ill. Before he was hospitalized, he had sort of run away, hidden from everyone; left our church, although he didn't leave God. Jeff asked him why he was leaving. He said, "I do all of the right things for all of the wrong reasons".

It makes me wonder ... what is MY motive?

I don't like searching my heart. In fact, I dread it. I always end up finding a bunch of garbage that I thought I had shoved down deep enough so it would never be seen. Jealousy, envy, dissatisfaction, discontentment ... do I do things to feed my own ego, to make me feel better about myself, to make YOU think better of me? Is my motive to make myself feel better or to ease the struggle for someone else? Is my motive to lighten my burden or to help carry someone else's? Is my motive to benefit myself or to benefit others?

Whenever the Lord prompts my heart to take a good look at my motives, I end up in this crazy circle of questions with few good answers. If my motive IS selfish, does that mean I drop the "good" activity and leave others shorthanded to fend for themselves? Well, no, that would be just as selfish as doing the activity for my own satisfaction.

Wouldn't it?

See what I mean? *Sigh*

One of my favorite books is The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. In it, there's a chapter where Screwtape encourages his nephew, an apprentice demon named Wormwood, to make his patient (the Christian) proud of the fact that he has become humble. This chapter always makes me laugh out loud because well ... is it nervous laughter because I fall into this trap time and time again myself?

"I see only one thing to do at the moment. Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable once the man is aware he has them, but this is especially true with humility. Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, "By jove! I'm being humble", and almost immediately pride -- pride at his own humility -- will appear. If he awakens to the danger and tries to smother this new form of pride, make him proud of his attempt -- and so on, through as many stages as you please. But don't try this for too long, for fear you awaken his sense of humour and proportion, in which case he will merely laugh at you and go to bed."

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Psalm 139:23