So glad she's back

Cindie got back from Mexico last night. Ten days without her was rough. But she has a burning heart for missions, and I am glad that she can find an outlet. She is so beautiful.

It's February, but Easter's Comin'...

I'm really excited already at the thought of Easter. I'll probably use this video:

Amaechi Is Gay. Do You Care?

All the talking heads in the world of sports are talking about ex-NBA player, John Amaechi, coming out of the proverbial closet. Talk show hosts want to hear from from you, America, "Would you care if one of your favorite players admitted to being gay? Would you still root for him?"

Many who use their Christianity to mask their homophobia respond to these calls. "My faith cannot allow me to cheer for someone who would involve themselves in something which is an abomination to God," they might say.

Well. let's think this through. As a sports fan, you will more than likely cheer for some immoral people. The NBA players, for example, are known for sleeping around and doing drugs. There are probably people like that on every team.

Why would I would I single out homosexuality as the sin bad enough for me to turn on a person? Why not breaking marital vows, or having a lot of "casual sex"? Is homosexuality really worse than those things, or does homosexuality just make us more uncomfortable?

I'm not a fan of 'tolerance' since sins hurts the sinner and those around him. Tolerance is not always loving. But it seems to me that a lot more Christians are willing to tolerant of heterosexual sins than homosexual sins. Why is that?

So, are we promoting the sin, if we cheer a basketball player who happens to commit that sin? And, who does leave us to cheer for? Christians only? Sinless people only?

So, if a player says that he is gay, does that mean that you stop rooting for him to do well on the court? I don't think so. What do you think?

How a vow of poverty produced a $3.6 million mansion

Channel 7 news in Detroit did a story about a church that purchased a parsonage worth $3,600,000.00.

A few thoughts:

1. I'm pretty sure Ray Sayah (the reproter of this story) has a bit of a vendetta against preachers, or maybe just against the ones who make money. I once saw him interview Rob Bell. The tease for the story led me to beleive the story would be about what Rob teaches. So, I was a little bit disappointed to find that that Ray focused mostly on Rob's passion for skateboarding, and the idea that a preacher would where sneakers (during the sit down interview, the camera kept panning to his shoes). And then at the end of the interview, he pulled this doozy out of the blue, "What kind of car do you drive?" So, when Iheard there was going to be an exposee about a multi-million dollar parsonage, I figured it would be Ray. I pray that God would surround him with Christian leaders who are the real deal, so that his suspicions would melt.

2. A church can give clergy a house or money for a house and not count it as income. The reason for this, histoprically speaking, is that Catholic priests take vows of poverty. If you tried to tax them on the value of the home that the church supplied, he would have nothing to give. Because they did not want to discriminate against Catholic churches, all clergy get that break.

To think that a church took that bit of mercy from the government and turns it into this is disgusting. nobody needs a home this lavish. And the local government (schools, police, fire dept., etc...) lose out on tens of thousands of dollars in property taxes every year on this home. All in the name of protecting people who were giving their lives to poverty to serve the community.

3. I benefit greatly from that provision. But if they wanted to take it away, I wouldn't fight it. It does not seem fair, especially when you have people abusing it like this. I accept it as mercy, but I wouldn't demand it as justice.

4. In Channel 7's online poll, 75% of people siad they thought it was okay for a church to give multi-million dollar homes to their pastors. How many of those supporters, do you suppose, are members of that church?

bramsvan Again

I've posted bramsvan videos before. Here is probably the funniest one that I have seen.



Funny right? Here are some more funny ones that apparently were used in his church.





>



And thank's to Bob for introducing me to these. They really did make me laugh quite a bit.

However, I do have a problem with these. They are pretentious. The original Mac and PC commercials were pretentious too. It is funny stuff. But it creates an atmosphere where people are going to feel included or excluded on how 'cool' they are.

The "Christian" is uncool, and we are invited to laugh at the guy. The "Christ-follower" is hip.

I agree with what I think (hope) is the intended message. We don't have to wear suits, cover our cars with trite bumper stickers, or have service on Sundays only in order to be obedient followers of Christ.

But there is a subtle message that those who do those things are not as smart or as cool. People watching this might feel like you are saying, agree with us or be mocked.

Do you see how someone could be put off by this?

a great piece of writing

bramsvan has produced some great videos on youtube. Apparently he makes them for a Community Christian Church. He made the spoken word piece I posted earlier. I will review another one of his videos soon.

Biggest Liar!

NBC's Biggest Loser has an online club. On the info site they have a place to enter your height and weight, so they can give you a free evaluation. The evaluation said that a healthy weight range for me would be 128.9-173.6. That's ludicrous!

I was this height when I was in a senior in high school. Back then I was a skin-and-bones cross-country runner who would runner several miles daily and was semi-careful about what I ate. My weight then: 175!

There is no way I would even want to weigh less now than I did then. What a scam!

They did say that my current BMI (body mass index, I guess) is within a healthy range, even though my current weight is about 25 lbs. over what they say is a healthy weight. Weird. Maybe their calculator is malfunctioning.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all readers. I chose the above picture, because it does a good job showing the humble circumstance of Jesus' birth while not forgetting the presence of the divine. It's really a picture of our daily lives with Christ, isn't it?

Hero

A video from community Christian Church

An idea

I have some ideas that I think could work, but I don't how to make them work. OR I don't have the drive to make them work. I'm going to share some of them, please feel free to steal them. Just thank me later.

My first idea is Disney Savings account. I got the idea from watching my 4 year old daughter shove pennies into her piggy bank so she could go to "Mickey's house". The account would be for children who wanted to save money for one of the Disney theme parks. It would bare a conditional interest. That is, it would bare an interest that could only be spent in one of the Disney theme parks. You could do this with gift cards or "Disney Bucks" or something like that.

I think parents would like this. It would teach their children the value of saving and investing in interest-baring accounts.

Disney would make a small fortune off of it, for at least these three reasons: 1) With children ear-marking their dollars for Disney, more of them will end up spending it that way, as opposed to the kid with the piggy bank who, on a whim, spends on something else. 2) Some percentage of the children will end up leaving the interest on the table. Meanwhile, Disney has been allowed to reinvest those dollars over so many years and keeps all the interest. 3) All the interest they would pay out in the accounts would be immediately spent in their theme parks.

While I'm thinking of this, why wouldn't other companies who market to children (or even adults for that matter) do the same thing? For instance, would you buy an $100 CD (certificate of deposit) from Home Depot if over 12 months, you could get say 15% conditional interest on it? The interest rate is about ten percent more than you could get on any other CD. You would if you knew you had a home improvement project coming and were going to be spending that money there anyway, right?

It seems they would be happy to do it, since it makes you more likely to shop there than Lowe's or some place like that. Plus giving you a $15 gift card is not close to the same as giving cash. They get it all back. The money they would make on having you in the store spending your gift card would more than make up for the loss in inventory, it seems. Plus, there are always those guys who lose their gift cards.

And while we are at it, why don't we apply this idea to colleges. Say, Great Lakes Christian College (my alma mater) offers a "college savings account". High school students can put their money in this account which bares a conditional interest. That interest can only be used on GLCC tuition. If you could entice them with a high enough interest, you could secure a much higher sense of commitment (where your treasure is and all that). They could use the money now. And, once again, students who do not attend would forfeit their interest.

What do you think?

419 Fraud

I watched a 20/20 special on Nigerians scamming Americans through e-mail. Then today I got this e-mail that fits the formula perfectly. I thought it was interesting the way they attempt to prey on people's greed and dishonesty. An honest person would not fall for this one. Also, they spelled my name wrong.

Attn:CAROLAN,

I am ADEJUWON BABATUNDE (Esq.), a Solicitor. I am the Personal Attorney to Mr. Fredrick CAROLAN, a national of your country, who is an oil merchant in Nigeria. On the 21st of April 2001, my client, his wife and their two children were involved in a car accident along Sagbama Express Road Balyasa State, here in Nigeria. All occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I have made several enquiries to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has pr oven unsuccessful.

After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his relatives over the Internet, but of no avail, hence I mandated my secretary to search for any possible relative of my late clients in the Internet before the bank get the account confiscated or declared unserviceable, the bank where the deceased had an account valued at about USD$12 million (TWELVE MILLION DOLLARS) The bank has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have the account confiscated within the next 14 working days. I then decided to present you as the next of kin of the deceased since you are from the same country and bear the same surname. The said amount will be paid to you if you comply immediately with all the necessary documents of the deceased in my possession. Immediately the money is paid to you, 60% of the total amount will be for me, 30% for you, while the remaining 10% should be for expenses or taxation as your government may required.

I have all the necessary legal documents that can be used to back up our claim. All I required from you is your honest co-operation and assistance to enable us sees this transaction through. I guarantee you that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. In other words, every document to affect this process will emanate from my table and I will perfect every document to be in accordance with the banking law and guidelines. So you have nothing to worry about, because we have all the legal documents to back it up when the fund is finally hits your chosen bank account.

Please be rest assured that this transaction is 100% risk-free. Note that the particular nature of your company's business is irrelevant to this transaction. If this proposal is acceptable by you, to assist me achieve this goal, please endeavour to contact me through my private email address :barradejuwonchambers44@yahoo.co.uk for more clarification and your understanding in regards to this transaction.

Best regards,

BARR.ADEJUWON BABATUNDE (Esq.)

Change of Plan

Instead of dedicating this blog to talking about the pending adoption, Cindie and I will work together on a blog dedicated solely to that. We will both have the ability to contribute, so you will see more posts with more information representing both of our perspectives.

On the right, you'll see a link to that blog, beneath the link to Cindie's "family blog. The web address for the adoption blog is www.ramiahadoption.blogspot.com

I've already reposted the "Ramiah" post on that site.

We are sending out information about how to financially support the adoption in our Christmas letter. If you would like that information, but do not think you would be on our Christmas card list, you can leave a comment letting me know. Or give me a phone call

Ramiah

I wrote this one night after listening to Bob Dylan's "Rolling Stone".

How can I bring you home
When you're all alone?

Out sleeping with no bed,
No place to lay your head.

How can I bring you home
When you're all alone?

Eyes blurred from tears
Fixed on your greatest fears.

How can I bring you home
When you're all alone?

Hurts to imagine how you feel,
Eating just what you steal.

How can I bring you home
When you're all alone?

To make it right
We're gonna need His Light

How can I bring you home
When you're all alone?

Need his arms to hold us tight,
Bring us through the night.

He will bring you home.
We are not alone.

It was kind of free association. I did not know where it was going. I started off thinking of the plight of our nation's homeless. But by the end, it became clear to me that God was speaking to me through my writing about my daughter. It's a poem about adoption.

Before that, Cindie and I, had been talking about adoption. But I was hesitant; paralyzed by selfishness and faithless fear disguised as concern and rationalization. But it was after this experience that I realized this is exactly the sort of thing he would ask me to do. From that moment on, I was sold.

We are now fairly deep into the process. I intend to use this space to talk about it and give updates. I will also give facts about adoption now and again.

Oh, her name will be Ramiah (Yahweh has lifted up...)

UN says there are...

Church Conflict (part 3) Mercy for the "Losers"

Acts 15:7-21
After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
12 The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they finished, James spoke up: "Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
16 "'After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, 17 that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things' 18 that have been known for ages.
19 "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath."

So far, we have learned that some things are worth the conflict. We have learned that we should seek guidance from mature believers outside the situation. And we have learned that we should allow the voices of all our various parts speak.

In these verses we find the apostles and elders discussing all this. It says that there was much discussion. This shows that weighed the opinions expressed. They did not just jump to a conclusion and discuss how to enforce their view.

Interestingly, Peter speaks, but that is not at all the final word. At least three others are mentioned speaking after him. This points us to a collective leadership.

Peter, Paul and Barnabas all spoke from experience. They saw God give his Holy Spirit to Gentiles. They saw God perform miracles among the Gentiles. And then Peter matches their experience with God's word. So the decision is born out of both witnessing the leading of God and hearing the words of God.

They (thankfully) decided that circumcision and Moses were not necessary for Salvation. They decided that they should make it not difficult to turn to God.

However, they also keep in mind those who have already been steeped in Judaism, since they were everywhere (verse 21). They laid out four key abstentions to help foster peace between the newly converted Gentiles and those who were raised in Judaism. 1. Abstain from food polluted by idols, 2. Abstain from sexual immorality, 3. Abstain from the meat of strangled animals and 4. Abstain from blood.

The key lesson here is in how we will treat those who "lose" the conflict. It would have been easy to treat them poorly. They were wrong. They need to adjust their thinking. They had been legalistic Pharisees (quite literally). But it would have been sadly ironic to make a decision in favor of grace and then cram it mercilessly down people's throats. They did just the opposite. After making the decision based on the truth of grace, they set up regulations to help those who "lost" the argument through the transition. Brilliant!

Church in Conflict (part 2) Diversity as both the problem and solution

I realize this is overdue, and I apologize to you who have come and seen the same post for nearly two months. I have some other things to post, but I want to finish this series on conflict first.

Acts 15:3-6
The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the brothers very glad. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses."

6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them:

I’m big on diversity. I consider it one of the marks of church health. But the blessing of diverse perspectives is also a curse from time to time. This is important to understand, because that means that conflict is not necessarily a sign of sickness. It is a sign of diversity.

In these few verses you have the views of the Phoenician and Samarian Christians represented: they were glad. This is to be expected since they were in a very similar situation as the Gentiles. You also have the views of the Pharisee Christians*. They demand circumcision and submission to the Law. This is also expected as they would represent the most Jewish portion of the church. Seemingly everyone who would want input gets it. All sides get their say. The apostles and elders then discuss the arguments.

So, it was diversity that allowed for such conflict. You bring Samaritans and Pharisees and conflict will arise. But these followers learned that this is not something to be feared. After all, he brought together a Zealot and a tax collector to be among his twelve.

Instead of fearing it, they seemed to embrace it. The decision happened among the leadership, but not without hearing the various arguments first. Everyone got a voice.

The humility to listen is necessary for leading diverse people through conflict.

Conflict in the Church (part 1)

Acts 15:1-3:
Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.

The Argument: You cannot accept Messiah without being Jewish. Circumcision has always been a part of proselization. Jesus is a supplement to Moses, and you cannot put the cart before the horse.

The Response: Completely unacceptable. The Law does not save. It did not save us Jews. It will not save the Gentiles.

The Resolution: Find a third party of believers. People who have known the truth of the gospel for a long time, who because of their tenure of faith and closeness with Jesus can speak with some authority here.

This was an important debate. I'm certainly glad that Paul and Barnabas did not simply agree to disagree. The history of Christianity was at stake and they could sense it.

I'm also grateful for the good sense of the people at Antioch to seek assistance from an outside church and from believers who had a more tenured perspective.

I pray that we could have the wisdom to sense which disputes were worth fighting and which were not, and that we could have the backbone to not back down even in the face of intimidating opposition (see Galatians 2:11-16 for more).

And I pray that we would have wisdom to know how to resolve issues. I pray that we would have the unity and humility to lean on others outside our circle. I pray that we would find creative and loving ways to maintain our unity in truth.

Can't win them all

Acts 14 begins with Paul and Barnabbas in Iconium. But the resistance from the non-converts became so strong that PAul and Barnabbas had to flee. They go to Lystra. And Lystra is one of the strangest accounts in Acts to me.

While Paul is speaking, he heals a man. The people who saw this (presumably the same ones who heard Paul's message) conclude that Paul and Barnabbas must be Hermes and Zeus, respectively.

They get the priests and some bulls to start the sacrifice when Paul and Barnabbas tear their clothes. They said, "Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. In the past, he let all nations go their own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy." (Acts 14:15-17)

Here's my question: How did Paul's message get so misunderstood? What did he say that could have been construed such?

But even after, he sets them straight, they still "had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them." Crazy!

Then the Jews who opposed him in Iconium and and Antioch (see chapter 13) came and won the crowd over. They began to stone them.

Paul barely escapes but moves quickly on to Derbe to preach there. He has great succes there. He then went back to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, the three places where he had just faced so much opposition.

I guess you can't win them all. Not even Paul and Barnabbas did. This probably was frustrating for them (though it did not show), but I find it encouraging.

This is embarassing to admit, but when I came to ELCC, I was confident that we would be running huge numbers and having weekly baptisms in no time. Green behind my ears and naive arrogance in my eyes. I could not imagine that I would be so bad at some things. I could not imagine that I would encounter so many failures.

But He who called us is faithful, and everything he does is right. I'm glad Paul and Barnabbas did not give up in Antioch, Iconium or Lystra. And I'm gald that I have not given up either. Now, when a ministry effort turns into a disaster, I'll squint and say, "Hey, isn't that Derbe up ahead?"

Dead Is Dead

Is there anything more final than death?
When you are dead, you are dead.
There is not one word after your final breath.
When you are dead, you are dead.

Death is eternal, an endless sleep.
When you are dead, you are done.
You are embalmed and buried six feet deep.
When you are dead you are done.

The grave’s grip will not grow tired.
When you are dead, you are dead.
There’s no rebirth of a life expired.
When you are dead you are dead.

For ages past this point was true;
‘When you are dead, you are done.’
Then Christ came and did something new.
Oh, He was dead, but he was not done.

Mary went to embalm him, because
When you are dead, you are dead.
But two angels there did give her pause:
‘Why look for the living among the dead?’

Through His death He conquered sin.
But though He was dead, He was not done
He conquered Death, He’s Alive Again!
He was dead, but He is the Living One.

So Death no longer holds the final say.
When you’re dead there is yet another song.
You will live again with Him someday.
Because, now, when you’re dead it’s not for long.

En-Theus-iasm

Paul has just given a sermon, the main points of which were; Jesus is the Promised One, He was raised from the dead, and forgiveness is now available. Here is the reaction to that sermon:

Acts 13:42 As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. 43 When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying.

46 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: "We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. 47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us:

"'I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'"

48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; a all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

49 The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. 51 So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

en·thu·si·asm n.

1. Great excitement for or interest in a subject or cause.
2. A source or cause of great excitement or interest.
3. Archaic.
A. Ecstasy arising from supposed possession by a god.
B. Religious fanaticism.


[Late Latin enthsiasmus, from Greek enthousiasmos, from enthousiazein, to be inspired by a god, from entheos, possessed : en-, in; see en-2 + theos, god; see dhs- in Indo-European Roots.]

Word History: "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm,"” said the very quotable Ralph Waldo Emerson, who also said, "Everywhere the history of religion betrays a tendency to enthusiasm."” These two uses of the word enthusiasm, one positive and one negative both derive from its source in Greek. Enthusiasm first appeared in English in 1603 with the meaning Â"possession by a god." The source of the word is the Greek enthousiasmos, which ultimately comes from the adjective entheos, "“having the god within," formed from en, "“in, within,"” and theos, "god."” (dictionary.com)

The greatness at the beginning of the Acts Church Movement was not just having guys like Peter and Paul leading. I would argue the Holy Spirit played a much larger role than they did. But also we cannot ignore the response of the hearers. They showed an enthusiasm that proved explosive. From their insistence to hear more of what Paul and Barnabbas had to say, to their apparent commitment to continue in the grace of God, to their gladness, their eagerness to invite others (I assume that is how the crowds grew), to their honoring of God's word (let what that means sink in sink in), and their joy even after Paul and Barnabbas got run out of town (walk away from them?) can be attributed to what were told in verse 52. They were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit in them. En Theos. Enthusiasm.

For us to capture the explosive power of the Church in those days, we need to find space for him within us. More than strategies, skills, money, or staffing, we need You, Lord. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!