I have listened to this sermon and I actually got chills down my spine when Rob talked about the failures in Rwanda in the late 80's. I had always assumed and blamed the people and the government.

I am amazed and somewhat frightened by his contention that the problem was that the entire Gospel was not taught to the 80 % Christian population.

When you hear Rob talk about it you definitely see his point. We took the easy way out. We told people that they could just be Christians by believing in Jesus and they would go to Heaven. We forgot to do the hard work by showing them what it meant to be Christian. To Love one another and the sanctity of human life.

We need to remember this Case Study, and press to teach the whole Gospel not just the Evacuation theology that all will go to Heaven, and that is what you should work towards.

The Power of Parishioners

A great example of how the Church reaches out to help those in need. Rick Warren's final thoughts can be summed up as lets just get it done!!!

The Power of Parishioners

Virginia Tech Comments

I thought these were very good discussion about the tragedy.

Sorrow that makes us better not bitter
Virginia Tech-What can we do?
When Violence Kills itself
The Silence of a murderers motherr

My prayers go out to the families of the victims and the family of the perpetrator.

Rob Bell Again

I found this tidbit in an article on Rob Bell Titled : Congregations tap power of their people


In January, Bell closed his conference with a dramatic display of a crowd's power to make a difference. He revealed that he had designed the no-frills conference to spend very little of the nearly $200,000 raised in registration fees.

After paying expenses for the meeting, Bell said, Mars Hill was donating the remaining $155,000 to programs to help poor people in Grand Rapids, bring clean water to schools in Rwanda and to expand a project providing small loans so poor people can start businesses in Burundi.

Bell told the conference: "Because you came here and paid a fee that you didn't think twice about paying, thousands of families will move out of poverty in Burundi next year."

The potential for this kind of religious reorganization is vast, he said.

"Let's aim this movement of people somewhere," he urged. "Let's focus the power of this thing like a laser beam and make a real difference in the world."

On Easter Sunday Mars Hill raised $250,000 for those same causes.

This is the type of Christianity I can feel proud of!!

Matthew 28-Rob Bell Style

I can't wait for each Monday to come ,so I can download the sermons from Mars Hill. What awaited me this week was more than I could have imagined.

Everything I had been thinking for the past 15 years came across through the speakers. Being a Christian isn't about following the rules. You make disciples by being Christlike not by making a sound argument.

My Favorite was Rob's point about we are already telling people about God, we just don't know it.

His great question was, What are you telling people about Jesus in your everyday life?

Great Book- The Only Road North

For anyone who has ever wonder what a calling from God is, and what to do when he changes the "Plan" this book is amazing.

A hard story about the loss of a brother and the mos unexpected time. A courageous young man who asks the tough questions, and comes out the other side as a modern day Job.

Does anybody hear/see the lost

Check out this video. It's worth it!

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Easter Message

Rob Bell's Easter Message is wonderful. He concentrates on the power of the resurrection. And for his critics, Yes he does believe, maybe more than anyone.

The "Influencers"

Who do you think are the two most influential Christian spiritual leaders today (in North America)?

1. Rick Warren xx
2. Joel Osteen x
3. T.D. Jakes
4. Joyce Meyers x
5. Jim Wallis xx

6. Bill Hybels x

7. Rob Bell x

Who do you think are the two most influential emerging Christian spiritual leaders today (in North America)?

1. Brian McLaren xxx
2. Rob Bell xxxx
3. Todd Hunter
4. Tony Jones x

Which two Christian spiritual leaders (in North America) do you think are most worthy of being influential?

1. Eugene Peterson xx
2. Ched Myers
3. Rich Nathan
4. Diana Butler Bass
5. Jim Wallis xx
6. Brian McLaren xx
7. Rob Bell xx
8. Richard Foster x

9. Obery Hendricks x

Which two churchy or theological blogs do you think are the most influential?

1. The Jesus Creed xxxx
2. Real Live Preacher x
3. Tall Skinny Kiwi xx
4. Jollyblogger
5. God’s Politics x
6. Beliefnet.com x

Which two churchy or theological blogs have influenced you the most?

1. Reclaiming the Mission
2. Leaving Munster x
3. Internet Monk x
4. The Kinglings Muse
5. Jesus Creed xxx
6. Dylan’s Lectionary Blog x
7. Conversation at the Edge
8. The God Hungry x
9. The Radical Pastor xx

Which two North American church communities do you believe are the most influential?

1. Willow Creek xxxx
2. Saddleback xxxx
3. Lifechurch.tv
4. Vineyard Columbus, Ohio x

5. Mars Hill-Grand Rapids x

Which two self-described emerging/missional (North American) communities do you believe are the most influential?

1. Solomon’s Porch xxxx
2. Mars Hill (take your pick) xxxx
3. Imago Dei, Portland
4. Vintage (Santa Cruz) x

5. Cedar Ridge Community Church x

Which two North American church communities do you think are most worthy of being influential?

1. Church of the Savior (Washington, D.C.) x
2. A Catholic Worker house…take your pick
3. Oscar Romero Catholic Worker, Oklahoma City
4. Koinonia, Georgia
5. Apostles Church, Seattle WA
6. Vintage Faith
7. St. Sabina (Chicago, IL) x
8. Mars Hill, MI xxx
9. the simple way, Philadelphia PA
10. Irving Bible Church x

11. Cedar Ridge Community Church

Mutombo uses NBA stardom to build off-court legacy

A great article on a true humanitarian

Dikembe Mutombo will in July open his Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and Research Center, named after his late mother, in Kinshasha, the capital of his African homeland. The facility is the culmination of a monumental, decade-long investment of Mutombo's time, energy and $15 million of his own money.

Theologian urges a new way of looking at Jesus

Interesting Article on "Emerging" thoughts before there was emerging conversation

His story begins:

Borg sees Jesus differently.

As a historian and biblical scholar, Borg was a member of the Jesus Seminar, a scholarly group that spent years evaluating historical evidence of Jesus' life and sayings. Borg emerged from the process with deeper faith in Jesus and a different understanding of Scripture.

You can find out more here.

Two interesting quotes from Professor Borg

Faith, Borg says, is a matter of living in relationship with Jesus and working politically, first for justice and then for peace.

Jesus "is for us the decisive revelation of God — of what can be seen of God's character and passion in human life," Borg says. "But for followers of Jesus, the unending conversation about Jesus is the conversation that matters most."

What about people who do not know Jesus?

A wonderfully thoughtful example of answering the question regarding those who do not know Jesus.

I remember my wife saying that she asked her father this similar question along time ago. His response was similar. It is not ours to judge who is and isn't in. Ours is to pray for those who do not know Jesus that they will either know him or know his ways, and thus they will learn the truth, the way and the light!!!

Obama 08 Education Message

I found the following speech while poking around Obama's website. It was given in March 2005!!!

It was truly amazing to me his grasp of the need to fix the education system. Not just by throwing money at it, or privatizing it, but by making real change and funding No Child Left Behind.

Some highlights:

The ideal of public education has always been at the heart of this bargain. From the moment the earliest Americans stepped out from the shadows of tyranny and built the first free schools in the towns of New England and across the Southern plains, it was the driving force behind Thomas Jefferson's declaration that "...talent and virtue, needed in a free society, should be educated regardless of wealth, birth or other accidental condition."I

In this country, it is education that allows our children to hope for something else.

But we don't make much progress for our kids when we constrain ourselves like this. It appeared for a brief moment that the President, working with leaders like Senator Kennedy understood this, and many of us were initially encouraged by the passage of No Child Left Behind. It may not be popular to say in Democratic circles, but there were good elements to this bill - its emphasis on the achievement gap, raising standards, and accountability. Unfortunately, because of failures in implementation, particularly its failure to provide adequate funding and a failure to design better assessment tests that provide a clearer path for schools to raise achievement, the bill's promise is not yet fulfilled.

The shortcomings of NCLB shouldn't end the conversation, however. They should be the start of a conversation about how we can do better. Yes, it's a moral outrage that this Administration hasn't come through with the funding for what it claims has been its number one domestic priority. But to wage war against the entire law for that reason is not an education policy, and Democrats need to realize that.

If we truly believe in our public schools, then we have a moral responsibility to do better - to break the either-or mentality around school reform, and embrace a both-and mentality. Good schools will require both the structural reform and the resources necessary to prepare our kids for the future.

Now, the American people understand that government alone can't meet this challenge. They understand that we need to transform our educational culture, from one of complacency to one that constantly strives for excellence. And they understand that government cannot replace parents as the primary motivator for the hard work and commitment that excellence requires.

From the moment our children step into a classroom, new evidence shows that the single most important factor in determining their achievement today is not the color of their skin or where they come from; it's not who their parents are or how much money they have.

It's who their teacher is. It's the person who will brave some of the most difficult schools, the most challenging children, and accept the most meager compensation simply to give someone else the chance to succeed.

Of course, teachers don't just need more pay, they need more support. One thing I kept hearing when I visited Dodge Elementary School in Chicago is how much an encouraging principal or the advice of an experienced teacher can make a difference. That's why teachers would be paired with mentor teachers who've been there before. After a few years of experience, they'd then have the chance to become mentor teachers themselves.

And to help them deal with those few disruptive students who tend to slow down the rest of the class - a problem I hear about from teachers all the time - we'd expand innovative programs being used in states like Illinois that teach students about positive behavior.

Finally, we would also require Innovation Districts to work with their unions to uncover bureaucratic obstacles that leave poor kids without good teachers, including hiring, funding and transfer policies. Districts would work with unions to tackle these problems so that we can provide every child with an effective teacher.

During my visit to Dodge Elementary, I was able to speak with a few of the teachers about some of the challenges they're facing in educating their students. And one teacher mentioned to me that in one of the biggest obstacles in her view is what she referred to as the "These Kids" syndrome.

She said that when it comes to educating students today, people always seem to find a million excuses for why "these kids" can't learn. That you'll hear how "these kids are nothing but trouble," or "these kids come from tough backgrounds," or "these kids don't want to learn." And the more people talk about them as "these kids," the easier it is for "these kids" to become somebody else's problem.

But of course, the children in this country - the children in Dodge Elementary, and South Central L.A., and rural Arkansas, and suburban Maryland - they are not "these kids." They are our kids. They want a chance to achieve - and each of us has a responsibility to give them that chance.

In the end, children succeed because somewhere along the way, a parent or teacher instills in them the belief that they can. That they're able to. That they're worth it.

Bill Clinton's Sermon

I found this speech or sermon while reading a blog. I thought it fits today just as well as it did when it was first given.

Some highlights

• Now, I disagree with them. I disagree first of all because I remember how I felt [when I heard] the promise of the scriptures in Isaiah, where God says to Isaiah "Fear not for I will redeem thee. Call me by thy name. Thou art mine." I didn't read that I had to join one party or another to get that promise.

• I'll never forget the conversation in 1993 with the then president of the Southern Baptist Convention, a man I like very much and whose sermons I still watch on TV when I get a chance. He's a great pastor but he belongs to the `values voter' crowd. He looked at me and said, "I just want an answer, not a political answer. A straight yes and no answer. Do you believe the Bible is literally true or not." I said, "Pastor, I think it is completely true. But I don't think you or I or anyone else on earth is smart enough to understand it."

• I supported the president and Senator Kennedy in the Leave No Child Behind Act because I believe that poor children in inner city schools should have to meet certain standards. And I think it is a form of racism and arrogance and elitism to say that kids can't learn because they came here from another country or because the color skin is black or brown or yellow. I think that's ridiculous. But we were promised that if they held them to higher standards that their school would get their money. We left over 2 million of those kids behind - but I got my tax cut. That bothers me.

• Nobody's got all the answers to all these challenges facing America today. All we can do is take our values into the public arena and remember the basic things that our religious heritage teaches us. It is wrong to exalt the rich over the poor. Why are we all running to the head table? It is wrong to exploit the environment when you can save it and actually improve the economy. It is wrong to continue to let people continue to aggregate enormous sums of money by raising health care premiums and leave one in six Americans without health insurance. And it's wrong to believe that we can solve all the problems with the world with a security military-only when we plainly can't whup everyone who might ever disagree with us so we've got to make some friends along the way, too.

A dialogue on the church and homosexuality.

I had never read this post from 1999, but I am glad I came across it today.

How beautiful the sentiments of Peggy Campol0. If only enough people would read and understand, "Only after I met Jesus did I find the courage to speak out for my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters."

Rick Reilly Makes Me Think

The following post makes me sad as well as proud of the five people Rick Reilly briefly profiles

I wonder how many more Americans are being lost in Iraq that we will never know their stories.

I would read this for yourself and see what you think. No easy answers was my reaction.

Ohio State center could lift the Sixers

Check out this article on Greg Oden.

Examples:

Once, after the Lawrence North team finished a pregame recital of the Lord's Prayer, J.R. Shelt, a former assistant coach, noticed tears in Oden's eyes. Asked if everything was OK, Oden explained that he was thinking about having watched the movie The Passion of the Christ.

As players, coaches, cheerleaders and fans jumped with excitement, Oden walked over to a woman near the court.

"How's Esther?" he asked her.

Two years earlier, Esther had been born prematurely, weighing 1 pound, 4 ounces, to the relative of Lawrence North assistant coach Jim Etherington.

"He had met Rachel, my sister-in-law, once or twice," Etherington said. "He knew she was family. He remembered her name at a time when a lot of people wanted a piece of him. He has a personal touch. He has a sweet, genuine attentiveness to him."

When Oden made his recruiting visit to OSU, he kept holding the doors open to let coaches and others pass through first.

Friends chuckle about how often he thanks them for mundane matters, and he says "Yes, sir," and "No, sir," as if he's in the military. Oden began a recent news conference by apologizing for being late, which nearly caused reporters accustomed to waiting to drop their pens.

He sounds like a role model we can be proud of. Team him with Andre Iguodala, we may have talent and a role models for the kids of Philadelphia

Obama Takes First Step Toward Presidential Run

Please check out the video of Barack Obama's announcement that he is forming committee to run for president. This will be a watershed moment in the United States.

I remember feeling a similar way when I watched an obscure governor from Arkansas give his speech saying he was running for president.

Hopefully Barack will follow the same path.

The Love of Jesus

Even though I continue to hear sermons that insist that we must have mission to bring new followers to Christ, I think the sentiments found in this Purpose Driven Life devotional more than explain and justify my approach.

"In the process of loving our neighbors, we will inevitably introduce them to Jesus. (There’s no way you can love someone and not tell them about the most important thing in your life.) What happens then is God’s business, but we will be a witness to what we know of God to those who are compelled to ask. In the meantime, our mission is to keep on loving our neighbors, regardless."

"Love is truly our highest calling. It relates to all people saved or unsaved, regardless of religion, race, or gender. Love as God loves and you will not go wrong. When love is the goal, everything else gets done in the process."

The mistake that a lot of people make is describe as, "When it becomes our mission to save people, people can easily become targets, projects, assignments, or serve a host of other utilitarian purposes. The problem with this is that people become a means to an end. The end is to save everyone, to preach to everyone, to warn everyone, or in some way fulfill an obligation."

Christmas Shame

A wonderful post by the author of the Message Bible. Perhaps the Prophet Jeremiah had a point.

Thus says the Lord:

"Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens

because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are false.

A tree from the forest is cut down, and worked with an axe by the hands

of a craftsman. Men deck it with silver and gold;

they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move" (Jer. 10:2- 4)