Well my mother-in-law becomes second in the list outstanding Christians who exchange some of their monetary treasure to store up heavenly treasure in my brain.
I’ve only had the book for one day and already it’s compelling me to be a better follower of Jesus… consider this quote from chapter 4…
The greatest proof for Christianity is not how far a man can logically analyze his reason for believing, but how far in practice he will stake his life on his belief. - T.S. Eliot
I cut my father-in-law out of the picture because I didn’t see his name on the invoice…
From the mind of our ultra creative worship leader, Amanda Long, comes our another venture into the unknown. This year Pillar will be holding a Christmas bonfire at a local Ranch. The event is complete with farm animals, coffee and hot chocolate, live music and of course… a big fire. The night will give me a platform to tell those who attend about the incarnation of Jesus.
I don’t believe Christ is honored when we use attraction as bait for the Gospel. Let me give you an example… I know of a church who’s name happens to be the same name as a popular automobile. Lets call this church, Accord Community Church. Each year in order to attract thousands to their services they advertise that they will give away a Honda Accord. There church swarms with the needy and the greedy hoping that the God of this church will have favor on them and deliver a shiny new ride. Each year thousands leave convinced that the God of Accord Community Church has once again forgotten them. While one person leaves thoroughly convinced that God has shown special favor on them.
I believe the Gospel is the power of God for salvation and must be the only product we peddle. I do however believe that being a gospel witness in our community is vital therefore I want our church to involve itself in the community that surrounds us. We have decided to offer free events to our community and to use those gatherings to proclaim the Gospel to those who attend. I want to use the opportunities that exist to tell people who listen that Jesus awesome and that God is trustworthy.
I encourage you to share your thoughts about attractional ministry and take a stab at rather you believe the church has any business holding community events.
Here are a few standards we use that help us to stay balanced.
We don’t charge for the events.
We verbally preach the Gospel to everyone in attendance.
We give Bibles to every family that attends.
We collect contact information and respond to those who indicate spiritual needs.
So my brother-in-law, Jonathan, is stationed with the US Army in Hawaii. He is on the Island where Lost is filmed. There is a particular Starbucks near by that John Locke frequents. As if that’s not enough - the other day he’s taking a stroll down the beach and sees the the campsite of the survivors of Oceanic flight 815! He snapped some pics on his iphone and sent them to us. I just pray that Alvar Hanso doesn’t find out he was there!
Jason and Tracee Pelt have once again proven their outstanding commitment to the total gospilization of the United States of America by providing one of the books off of my amazon wish list.
I arrived home today after meeting with a church member to find this an amazon box of blessings. Thank you Pelts for your contributuin to my ongoing education. I pray that many more follow your outstanding example of generousity!
I am starting a new series this Sunday called, “All Authority” Jesus claimed to have all authority in heaven and earth, Paul tells us to submit to our authorities. When we work and speak for Christ we do so in His authority. It seems we spend our entire lives under the authority of others and much of our lives as authorities over others.
God gives us authority not to suppress us but to protect us. Like someone escaping a storm under the shelter of their home (hence the roof in the above image), the authority we are placed under serve as a protection from the Satan. We are going to talk about layers of authority starting with parental authority and working our way up to the Authority of God over all he has made. It’s gunna be fun!
Here are a few pics from Image Church to go wtih my last post. One of the guys in the church is a photographer and he took some shots of the service. HERE is the link to the rest of the gallery.
I rarely take the opportunity to preach outside of our group of churches but this weekend I preached at Image Church. Image is lead by Chris Rhodenhizer, a Northern Virginia native and a second generation clergyman. A few months ago Image Church made a 20 mile migration south to occupy a warehouse about a mile from where Pillar meets. Image is a pretty unique congregation with just above 200 in attendance. The Christians at Image were impressive, genuinely friendly and very dedicated to pleasing Christ. They asked me to share with them about church planting because they are in the midst of a series called, “It’s Not An Option” (the great commission.) I shared some of the things that compel me to lead our church to be so aggressive about starting new churches. The day was great and I am elated to have another church preaching Jesus in our community!
You may notice in the sidebar I added a presumptous little link to my amazon wishlist. It is a modest list of books I am itching to have but that budget won’t allow. Here are a few of the reasons why you might want to buy me a book or two.
You love me.
You go to my church and wish I preached better than I do.
You are just excited to hear that I can read.
You accidentally missed my birthday last year and want to make it up to me.
You have been hoping I would stop talking about, “Your Best Life Now” and get a new book to read.
As I mentioned in a previous post I am in Memphis stratagizing with some missionaries from the Pacific Rim about our upcoming work in Bali. Today a missionary to Myanmar (aka Burma) told me the following story. The story reminded me the reality of Satan’s activity against God’s elect.
I was working in a remote village that had hundreds of families. In this paticular village there were three Christian families. Each family owned one cow that they would allow to graze during the day and bring in during the night to protect them from tigers and other preditors. One evening the three families were together worshiping after sundown. The family who was hosting that night forgot to bring in the cow. They heard a loud comotion outside and the three men grabbed their flintlock guns and flashlights before heading out to see what was going on. They followed the noise through narrow paths in the jungle to find a tiger was feasting on the carcus of the family cow. The three men fired at the tiger peircing the beast with three bullets just before he escaped into the brush. The men follwed the blood trail through the woods and eventually back into the village. The blood trail weaved in and out of the village eventually stopping at the door of the local witch doctor. The men returned home and told the story to the missionary (the one I met today). The next morning they awoke to learn that the entire village was in an up roar over the murder of the villages spiritual leader found dead in his home of three bullet wounds.
My Bible tells me that Satan and demons are real and active but my culture and observations tell me that they are not. Who should I believe?
I was named after dirty Harry, yet I am nothing like the famed tough man. I am dirty in a depraved, spiritual sort of way and hairy in the more obvious since of the word but I am not the gun slinging hero that my mother thought of when she named me. I am a follower of Jesus a husband and a dad. I have talented passionate wife who I have known for approximately the same amount of time that I have been able to tie my shoes. I also have three kids; Noah who is loyal, Ruthe who is joyful and Isaiah who is hilarious. I am the pastor Pillar Church in the suburbs of Washington DC.
Well my mother-in-law becomes second in the list outstanding Christians who exchange some of their monetary treasure to store up heavenly treasure in my brain.
Jason and Tracee Pelt have once again proven their outstanding commitment to the total gospilization of the United States of America by providing one of the books off of my amazon wish list.
You may notice in the sidebar I added a presumptous little link to my amazon wishlist. It is a modest list of books I am itching to have but that budget won’t allow. Here are a few of the reasons why you might want to buy me a book or two.
