URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!
AUGUST 27, 2008
Dear beloved sponsors and friends of Good News India,

We have never seen anything like this.

We knew that Orissa was the most resistant and hostile State in India as far as the Gospel is concerned. And we brushed off the continuous threats and harassment we faced as we went about His work.

But none of our staff imagined that they would see this kind of carnage….

And it seems to be totally under the radar of the Western Media…. Let me explain….

A militant Hindu priest and 4 of his attendants, who were zealously going around the villages of Orissa and “reconverting” people back to Hinduism, were gunned down by unknown assailants in Central Orissa last weekend.

Immediately the Christians were blamed. The cry rose up…”Kill the Christians!”

And the horror began….

In the past 4 days, we have first hand witness to hundreds of churches being blown up or burned and many, many dozens of Christian tribals have been slaughtered. For no other reason than they bear the name of Christ.

Night and day I have been in touch with our Good News India Directors spread across 14 Dream Centers in Orissa… they are right in the middle of all this chaos.

In Tihidi, just after the police came to offer protection, a group of 70 blood-thirsty militants came to kill our staff and destroy the home. They were not allowed to get in, but they did a lot of damage to our Dream Center by throwing rocks and bricks and smashing our gate, etc. They have promised to come back and “finish the job.” Our kids and staff are locked inside and have stayed that way with doors and windows shut for the past 3 days. It has been a time of desperately calling on the Lord in prayer. More police have come to offer protection.

In Kalahandi, the police and some local sympathizers got to our dream center and gave our staff and kids about 3 minutes notice to vacate. No one had time to even grab a change of clothes or any personal belonging. As they fled, the blood thirsty mob came to kill everyone in the building. We would have had a mass funeral there, but for His grace.

In Phulbani, the mob came looking for Christian homes and missions. The local Hindu people, our neighbors turned them away by saying that there were no Christians in this area. So they left. We had favor. The same thing happened in Balasore.

All our dream centers are under lock down with the kids and staff huddled inside and police outside. The fanatics are circling outside waiting for a chance to kill.

Others were not so fortunate. In a nearby Catholic orphanage, the mob allowed the kids to leave and locked up a Priest and a computer teacher in a house and burned them to death. Many believers have been killed and hacked into pieces and left on the road…. even women and children.

At another orphanage run by another organization, when this began, the Director and his wife jumped on their motorbike and simply fled, leaving all the children and staff behind. Every one of our GNI directors that I have spoken to said: “We stay with our kids…. we live together or die together, but we will never abandon what God has called us to do.”

More than 5000 Christian families have had their homes burned or destroyed. They have fled into the jungles and are living in great fear waiting for the authorities to bring about peace. But so far, no peace is foreseen. This will continue for another 10 days…. supposedly the 14 day mourning period for the slain Hindu priest. Many more Christians will die and their houses destroyed. Many more churches will be smashed down.

The Federal government is trying to restore order and perhaps things will calm down. We ask for your prayers. Only the Hand of God can calm this storm. None of us know the meaning of persecution. But now our kids and staff know what that means. So many of our kids coming from Hindu backgrounds are confused and totally bewildered at what is happening around them. So many of their guardians have fled into the jungles and are unable to come and get them during these trying times.

Through all this, I am more determined than ever to continue with our goal: the transformation of a community by transforming its children. Orissa will be saved… that is our heart’s cry. If we can take these thousands of throw away children and help them to become disciples of Jesus, they will be transform an entire region. It is a long term goal, but it is strategic thinking in terms of the Great Commission.

What can you do? First, please uphold all this in fervent prayer. Second, pass this e-mail on to as many friends as you can. We must get the word out and increase our prayer base for this is spiritual warfare at its most basic meaning. We are literally fighting the devil in order to live for His Kingdom.

The next 10 days are crucial. We pray for peace and calm to pervade across Orissa.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please pass it on and help us to get as many people to partner with us on this cutting edge effort to fulfill His mandate: Go and make disciples of all nations….

Blessings!
Dr. Faiz Rahman
Chairman/Founder
Good News India

India: Christians face ‘reign of terror’ in Orissa, says church official
India tells Vatican it is capable of handling Orissa situation

The Perfect Storm… Within.

by Lane Douglas

When it comes to a love/hate relationship with the cinema, no other movie comes nearer and further from my heart than M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village. Being left speechless at unforeseen endings in The Sixth Sense and Signs, I approached Village with high expectations. Instead, I left with high aggravations. The movie was predictable, and I had the plot guessed within 20 minutes. I hated it. (Which is why I will wait for The Happening until DVD.)

Yet, I loved it. Simply because no movie in a long time has done such a great job showing that what plagues us as a human race is due to an internal, and not an external problem. It is because of our spiritual ailment that we hurt ourselves, and others and not because of things surrounding us. So while I do not recommend the movie to friends seeking a thrill, I do sometimes recommend it to new Christians trying to comprehend the “sin” issue.

This same concept was played out this past year in Gloucester, MA. In a recent TIME article headlined on CNN.com today, it seems that a group of high school girls, none older than 16, made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. They succeeded.

What seemed alarming to the school principal, clinic director and townspeople who heard the news was how some of them went about it. Some of the girls actually used a resident homeless guy to impregnate them. Apparently, this was not about girls wanting to “grow up” or about reckless teen love. This was simply young kids wanting to have young kids of their own.

As the town searched for answers, the usual “external factors” were identified. Many felt that Hollywood had glamorized teen pregnancy and thus the West Coast was to blame. Others attributed it to the town’s harsh, blue-collar environment. As a coastal town built on the fishing industry, it has seen its share of divorce and widowed mothers. This is the same town highlighted in the movie, The Perfect Storm, about the true account of the fishing boat, The Andrea Gail, being lost in the 1991 Halloween storm. Surely one of these issues is to blame.

What surprised me, though, was the fact that the TIME article actually had the answer to the problem right within the content of its paragraphs. The journalist interviewed Amanda Ireland, an 18 year old mother who had gotten pregnant her freshman year, to get a perspective on why these girls were doing this. Ireland’s answer was that the girls, unable to find it anywhere else, are now “so excited to have someone love them unconditionally.” In other words, these girls got pregnant because of a deep-seated desire to have someone love them. If they could not find that person, they would create them.

But despite the answer staring them in the face, the town seems blind to it. Their solution is to go back and begin, again, handing out contraceptives. While these girls are looking for love and acceptance, the town’s answer is to give them a condom. As if somehow, having a condom would have stopped them from fulfilling their pact.

This is what I mean by pointing to Shyamalan’s Village as the model. The town’s answer is to attempt the solution of a barrier device to something that has already gotten in. The only real answer for this town’s dilemma is the answer that the local church holds. Only Jesus is going to answer the cry of loneliness disguised as a pregnancy pact. And, having lived in that area for almost 5 years, I know the town well. It is not without its missionaries as both Gordon College and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (my hailing grounds) sit not 15 miles from there. What’s more, the town has a plethora of churches to include an AG one. So perhaps, as a short end to this post, you might consider a prayer for Gloucester. For unless these mothers find Christ, this vicious cycle will be repeated in 15 years when these newborns go looking for love themselves.

Article copied from AGThinktank

Such a true observation. The church wants to put a band-aid on the issue, or worse, run away from it and protect ourselves from it. But what about these girls? Their lives are forever changed because of the choice they made. Does God still love them unconditionally? Of course! But they don’t know that. Because we shun them, wanting to protect our own. God forgive us for not showing the love that you freely gave us!

*Note: I preached this to several older church members. So I was careful.

I ran across this quote today, and it really nailed me. For the last few weeks, I have really starting noticing that my students aren’t really feeling connected with each other as well as with me. How can I teach principles of God’s Word if i don’t even know them? I sat here writing sermons and teaching materials and really didn’t even know what my students needed. God is really helping me to unlearn some things and relearn others in this ministry.

I have been in discussions with a friend about church and the mission that Christ left us with. It all boils down to relationships. Being Jesus in the place that we are in. Big outreaches, high-tech services, amazing musicians, and great preaching are no longer going to cut it anymore. In fact, I don’t think they have been cutting it at all.

Over the years, I have been involved in two larger youth ministries (larger numerically). Each of them were very structured and had everything in it’s place. There was obvious growth. But I look back, and there was addition, but not multiplication. People were added regularly, but ministry wasn’t multiplied. We inevitably ended up causing other people to become just like us. We did outreach after outreach, “winning” people to Christ. Or was that adding them to our attendance? Sometimes we get the two confused (ok, not sometimes. All the time). I am starting to see that events that draw crowds and even programs intended on keeping them are effective, but I wonder if they are efficient.

The emerging generation has heard and seen it all. They are aware at some level of many systems of belief. They know there are varying views of faith. They will carefully weigh what they perceive as the core of that faith. They will listen to what they see and hear on TV and other media about that faith group. They are very open to Jesus and Who He is. But they are not open to us. they are fascinated with Jesus and His message. They are not interested in His bride. Part of the reason is that we are quick to tell them our “only way to heaven” message without even entering their world. We treat them like some kind of trophy or award to be achieved rather than a person with feelings and thoughts.

Much of what I have been reading has a common theme. Community. What the Body of Christ is lacking is a sense of community. Not a Christian sub-community or a “bubble of Christian sub-culture” as Dan Kimball calls it. But a real community letting in real people. An environment where people’s lives are engaged and thoughts are laid out.

I noticed in Acts 2, after the first baptism of the Holy Spirit on Day of Pentecost, a picture of what the early church looked like.

42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. 43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

This passage describes community more than it describes a building, an outreach, an event, a service, and a message. And it closes with, “each day the Lord added to their fellowship.” They weren’t added to the program. They weren’t issued membership applications. They didn’t get an impersonal letter thanking them for their attendance. But they joined the fellowship. I wonder if many came to the various gatherings because of relationships long before they believed.

“They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” I don’t even know where I first heard that or who said it first. But it’s so true. This last week for our youth service, I completely dropped the entire agenda and took all of our students to Starbucks just to hang out. I am realizing more and more that ministry is about relationships. People need to feel like they belong before they will believe our message. So why then do we structure ministry around what we know rather than structuring ministry around how much we care?

P.S. This is part 2 of They Like Jesus But Not The Church.

We live in a place where the church is no longer the central hub of society. If anything, the church is an archaic reminder of what used to be. People aren’t flocking to the church anymore. Yet, Jesus is still very much in our culture. The other day, I was at the grocery store in my college town community and saw a college age guy with one of those “Jesus is my homeboy” t-shirts. At Urban Outfitters, you can buy Jesus t-shirts and other merchandise like a Jesus bobblehead, a Jesus action figure, a Grow-Your-Own-Jesus to name a few.

If you ask people what they think of Jesus, the answer is usually pretty positive. Unsaved people generally like Him. They generally think of Jesus with great respect and admiration. You might hear things like he was a great prophet. He helped the poor and widows. He was a great philosopher. He genuinely cared for people.

But ask them about the church, and you get a very different response. Meanwhile, church people are oblivious to this because they are generally satisfied living in a Christian subculture bubble. The mindset of most church people (at least from what I see) is that they just want the world to conform to the ways of the church. We expect the world to just “get a clue” and come back to God and the church. This attitude comes across in how we treat unsaved people when we meet them. We don’t tip well those who serve us, we grumble and complain at Starbucks when our coffee isn’t made right, we sit and bash the service that we just attended while eating at a public restaurant. Then we want people to come to church and become just like us!

I love the idea of a “missional church” as I read about in They Like Jesus But Not The Church by Dan Kimball. I’m sure I can find a more in depth description of a missional church elsewhere, but the gist of it is the leadership and people of the church function as local missionaries in their community. Instead of separating our church life and “other” life, they become one and the same. The reality of the matter is that we are no longer living in a Christian culture. But people of the church somehow have missed this fact, and are waiting for the the “lost” to figure life out and come to God. Being a missional church and even a missional Christian is much like the way a missionary enters a different culture to learn the culture first. They spend time learning the values system, the spiritual views, customs and traditions, etc. Then they take that information and weave the message of the gospel into it AFTER they have spent considerable time building solid relationships with the people of the culture. In this way, they gain the trust of the people, and feel as though they are genuinely cared for by the church. The culture HAS to be entered! We must enter their world if we want any chance to win them!

Then when we do outreaches, we often treat people like a proselytizing project rather than a human being. We immediately attack them with our witnessing bullets, having an answer to just about any reply. When was the last time we sat back and just listened to unsaved people? When was the last time we really built a solid relationship with people that are lost? There has to be a dramatic shift in the eyes of the church if we are going to actually fulfill Christ’s commission to us. He didn’t say, “Make the world come to you to make them disciples.” But rather, “Go…”

Jesus never told us to avoid the world. But rather to be lights to the world. John 17:15 quotes a prayer of Jesus to the Father regarding the saints, saying, “I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.” It’s really easy for us to lose sight of our mission and call when we are around “church” people all of the time. God did not call us to live in a Christian “bubble” so that we could be safe from the world.

In a blog about discipleship, another close friend writes,

Jesus knew that to effectively train up people to do God’s work, there needed to be bonding, relationship building and constant investment. Jesus knew that His disciples would respond to his lessons more positively if there had been some “hang out” time the same week.

It’s all about getting into the ditches where people are and building a relationship with them. I remember a leadership quote from long ago, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Do unsaved people that we know (that I know) have a tremendous feeling that we (even I) care about them?

I was discussing this with a very good friend and mentor in ministry, and she had this to say to me:

Last week I was the “pastor on call” (which means any walk in or call ins come to me). A lady from our church called, and long story short, she drove by a young pregnant girl standing on the street about a mile from our church with a sign that she was homeless. So this lady from our church is asking me to go and help her! I was absolutely speechless. This lady drives by, has a heart for a pan handler, and calls the church asking if a pastor will go and help her. Man, I wanted to just REAM her. Instead, I tried to discreetly point out that maybe God had put her on her heart for a reason. She says, “What are trying to say? That I should turn around and help her in the middle of my busy day on my way to an appointment?” Can you believe it Tony? Anyway, she ends up going to talk to the girl herself and then she calls me after. I am thinking, “Well good, at least she went and did it herself.” Oh no, she is calling to tell me that she had to get lunch anyway, so she got some lunch and then stopped to talk to the girl. NOT to buy her lunch, but to tell her that one of the pastors from her church would be coming by shortly to help her. I just about blew a gasket. To me, that was everything wrong with church people today. It is the church’s job to fix the world.

Dear God, help us! We need to have Your heart again for people!

A friend of mine introduced me to this, and I felt it was not only appropriate, but much needed in our modern day consumerism society.

Advent Conspiracy is an international movement restoring the scandal of Christmas by worshipping Jesus through compassion, not consumption.When Christ was born the empire was threatened and as a result Herod, who was one of the more powerful kings of the day, ordered the killing of all the boys two years old and under who were in Bethlehem. The reason for this was that he hoped to take out the child-King that posed a threat to his kingdom.While we are not living under Herod’s reign, there is another empire of consumerism and materialism that threatens our faithfulness to Jesus. Jesus brought with him such an extraordinary Kingdom that is counter-culture to the kingdoms of this world.

Part of saying “yes” to Jesus means that we say “no” to over-spending. We say “no” to overconsumption. We say “no” to these things so we can create space to say “yes” to Jesus and His reign in our lives. The National Retail Federation was forecasting that Americans would spend approximately $457.4 billion at Christmas in 2006. The American Research group estimated an average of $907.00 per family to be spent at Christmas in 2006. After the Holiday we work for months to get out of debt, only to find that the presents we bought in the name of Christ furthered a consumerist mentality in us and our children and took our focus off of the greatness of Jesus. As Christ-followers, the Advent Conspiracy starts with us resisting a culture that tells us what to buy, wear and spend with no regard to bringing glory to Jesus.

Since there is NO youth ministry here at all, I am literally starting from the foundation, and that is just building relationships. There are great things in the works, but right now, I am simply focusing on getting to know the students that I have. Once I get in with them, I can start to build on that foundation.

I appreciate all of your continued prayers. The road ahead is a long one, and I know that I am still in the “honeymoon” phase so to speak. Everything right now is very optimistic and cheery, but I know that there is hard work to be done. So here we go!

Before the last weekend, someone was supposed to finalize their rental agreement and move in to the place. It was the only 2 bed1/bath available in the place, so the pastor and I were praying! Also, one of the board members lives in the complex as well. As of last Saturday (Sept 29), the deal fell through, and the apartment became available! Pastor Scott was quick to call me and let me know!

Monday morning, he went over and looked at the place, had nothing but great things to say about it, and faxed the paperwork over to me. I filled out the paperwork and had it faxed back to him around 3pm. Here is where God is amazing, and I can see how He is orchestrating the next chapter of my life. At 4.30pm that same afternoon, the apartment owner called me to tell me that all of my paperwork was in good order, that I had excellent credit, and that they would be happy to rent to me! I was shocked, needless to say. God is so good.

For a little over a year, I have been looking for a full time pastoring position, with no success. There were opportunities here and there, but nothing definitive. I took call after call, interview after interview, and no real leads. But praise God, during all of this, I continued to trust that He would open the right door at the right time.

And open it He has. Just over a month ago, a pastor from Chico, Ca. called and wanted to setup an interview. I accepted the interview, and the ball started rolling.

The Interview. He wanted me to come up for a whole weekend to meet his family, attend a service and even speak at the evening service. This all came as a shock, as we had only talked on the phone twice before confirming an interview. When I arrived, he told me that he had talked to many of my references, and they all had great things to say about me (I paid them well). We talked about his vision for the church and youth ministry, my call to ministry and experience, giftings and ministry styles. On every item, we seemed to strike a chord with each other. It was awesome!

He did tell me that most of the church was older people, but since he has been there the church has seen a surge of younger families begin to attend. He went on to tell me that since he has been there, he has been promoting beginning a children’s ministry and youth ministry in order for the future of the church to be secured. This really resonated with me, as I really believe that a healthy church is one that ministers to the entire family.

After our lengthy meeting, we all went to lunch (myself, the pastor and his family). At lunch, I had a great time connecting with his three teenage kids and is wife. We all just really connected. It was great! After lunch, the pastor took me around Chico to give me a general idea of the area. For a city of just over 100,000, it felt very “right” for me.

The First Service. I attended the Sunday morning class and service the following day. The worship was mostly hymns (nothing wrong with those), but I still enjoyed it. Granted, a lot of change will have to happen in that service to attract younger families, but they are on their way to doing so. Praise God. To be perfectly honest, I was a little scared, as there really were a lot of older people in attendance. But I was encouraged as many of them came up to me after the service and told me that they knew they needed to bring in younger ministers to ensure the future of the church.

The In Between. We all went out to lunch again, and just had a great time. After lunch, the pastor and I returned to the church and I just spent time in prayer about the service that night (I was preaching) and about the overall opportunity. Part of my prayer was that if God really wanted me in Chico, then He was going to have to put Chico in my heart. After a while, the pastor came in and we just hung out in the office, checking out my Macbook (he had never seen a Mac before).

The Night Service. The pastor had pumped to the congregation that I was going to be speaking that night, so there was a pretty decent turnout at the night service. During the time of worship, it was even more “old school” as more hymns were sung, but there was a definite presence of God in that place. It was during this time that I got on my knees and just worshiped God, and He began to put Chico in my heart.

Moments before I got up to speak, God gave me a prophetic word for the church, which I spoke over them just before I spoke. I then spoke on two types of Christians; those that seek God for His “presence” and those that seek after His “presents.” It was a great word that even melted my own heart. Afterward, the presence of God was all over the people, and many just worshiped Him. It was amazing!

Afterward. After the service, the pastor was very open to the idea of bringing me on, and after much prayer and counsel, I really feel that this is the next step for me in God’s plan. A week later, I accepted the position.

Now, I need to get a few things in order here, and then get ready to move! So that is it! God is definitely a good God!

It’s almost 3 in the morning and I can’t stop thinking about you.
I’m not exactly sure who you are or where you live…
But there are some things you should know…

I love Jesus with all my heart; I know you will too…
When I say I love Him, I mean…
I REALLY LOVE HIM.
And His church.
I plan on loving you like I love His church.
I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I’m not perfect (ha, I guess that’s obvious).
But I will choose to pursue righteousness and holiness in all I do.
I will be man of integrity.
A trustworthy man.
A strong leader.
I promise to be the best husband you could ever ask for in every way.

I look forward to raising little sons and daughters for the kingdom of heaven.
And you can rest assure that I will treat you like a princess.
My name means valiant protector.
I plan on living up to my name and being the valiant protector of your heart and emotions.

I will never cheapen your value by calling other women names reserved for you. Never.
I will not so much think a thought about another woman in a way reserved for you.
I will tell you that you are the most beautiful girl in the world and mean it.
I will tell you that there is no one like you and mean it.
I will never ever cheapen what we have by giving it to others.
I honor you too much for that.
You will know it.

I never plan on making you submit to me.
I only plan to be a good enough leader to earn your honor and respect so that you can trust me even when things are unclear.
I will never abuse you.
I plan on being open and honest about everything in my life.
I know I can trust you.
I know that we will probably have arguments, but no fighting.
I plan on being civil and controlled when speaking, I trust you will do the same.
And if things get a little heated… our love will be too great to let the sun go down on it.
Making up will be wonderful.

I will wait as long as required to find you.
I really mean, until the Lord brings you to me.
I am asking for a whole lot.
I’m not even going try to lie to you.
I’ve known for a long time that my life would never be “normal.”
I know that will excite you.
I feel that we are going to travel together. A lot.
In fact, you are key and essential to what will be our ministry.

I will sing to you. If you want.
I will open your door for you.
I will pray with you.
I will worship God with you.
I will read to our kids and pray with them.
I will do what I say I’m going to do.
I will admit when I’m wrong.
I will do everything I can to help your dreams come true.
I will study the word and share my revelation with you often.
I will be patient with you.
I will ask for directions.

I’ve had these dreams, I’ll tell you about them later, but they make me smile.
Songs, poems… I just want to explode.
There is so much going through my mind… I can’t type it all.
It would take me all night.
Hopefully we’ll talk soon, then it will be easier.

I may not be the best looking guy.
I may not be the richest man.
I may not be the perfect guy.
But no one, I promise, no one will ever love you like I can.
Not on earth anyway.

Well… I suppose I’ll stop here for tonight.
I have church tomorrow morning and I want to be alert for Jesus.
I wish you could be there with me.
Maybe you will be… maybe not.

Maybe you don’t even speak English. Ha. Who knows.
Oh yeah, God knows…
We’ll just wait on Him, ok?
Again, I don’t know who you are or where you live, but I want you to know…

I’m praying for you.
You are beautiful.
Let’s change the world together.

Forever Yours

Tony Mazon

I FINALLY finished the GBM website. Although as time goes by, little tweaks here and there find their way to my desk. This site has kind of a web 2.0 feel with the solid colors, transparent windows, and striped bottom. I’m still using flash, as I am continuing to learn CSS, HTML, Java, and other such things. Eventually, I would love to move away from a flash site altogether. But right now, that is what I know.

Check out the GBM Website

I got an invitation to join “pownce,” the new social networking community of Kevin Rose (founder of Digg.com) and friends. So far, it’s kind of like Twitter and social “sharing” of things lke URLs, files, and common events. I think it has great potential as a collaborative tool, and I definitely see it as being in it’s “infant” stages of learning to walk. I think the minds behind it have great ideas, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store.

Join Pownce

It all boiled down to the fact that with my job and ministry load (the latter of which hasn’t been much, but still), that I need to focus more time and energy on these things. Outside web work and design will continue under the tmazon.com name for now. It has been a fun and educational ride. I shall definitely miss it.

Part 1 - The House. Earlier this month, my parents sold their house. Almost a year a go, they bought a new house in Missouri. They got a sweet deal on it. But now the old house is gone. This is the house that I grew up in. To me, this is the ONLY house they ever had (even though it was their second house after I was born). The deal was supposed to be finished at the end of the month, and then my parents would move out of it then.

Well, the deal with the new owners went much quicker than anticipated, and my parents had to be out by Tuesday, July 3 (only two weeks after the buyers started the process). My dad hadn’t anticipated it to move so quickly, so he hadn’t placed his two week notice at his job yet. That changes a few things, since they can’t just leave town the day they move out. So they ended up making arrangements to stay with my sister until July 16. They frantically began packing what little they still had at the house (most of it had already been moved to their new house in Missouri) to be out on July 3rd. A few things took place, and they ended up not having to be out until July 5th (Thursday)

Part 2 - The Unexpected. On the day that my parents were originally supposed to be out, my dad was getting ready to go to work, when he became very sick very suddenly. My mom found him passed out in the bathroom, and immediately called 911. He was rushed to the emergency room, and they ran some tests to discover that he had a bleeding ulcer. He has been under a lot of stress at his job, and the anxiousness of selling their old house only adds to it. He finally went home yesterday (July 6th), with instructions to rest for about a week.

Part 3 - Conclusion. So with them having to be out of the house this week, and then my dad being in the hospital, it was a pretty crazy week, especially for them. On top of that, the 4th of July holiday fell right smack in the middle of all of this. Of all the times that this could have happened, it was the week they had to move out. Once again, I thank god that my parents are godly, for only He could give them strength to go through all of this.

My dad spent his first of the last two weeks at work in the hospital, then his last week at my sister’s. So his final two weeks he won’t even be there. They fly out on July 16, to arrive at their new home.

To put it simply…I have become busy yet again. April saw a lot of time working on a new site for Pastor Connie, and beginning development on Pastor Berteau’s new website. Both of those have become major projects in themselves.

Gladly, I have finished Knowing the Word’s website AND store. I am very happy with the way they turned out. I admit, I didn’t design them from the ground up. Instead I used Wordpress for the main site, since the focus is a radio program with regular updates and with added plugins, I also gave it audio playback and podcasting support. The store was created using the open source shopping cart, oscommerce because of it’s ease of setup and use.

I have been helping Matt get ready for the missions trip to Nicaragua, which they are currently on as I write this. That was definitely a blast, even though I didn’t go this year on the trip. This is the first time I haven’t gone on a missions trip when I was around at the inception of it’s planning. I wish I could have gone, but alas I could not.

The reason is that for almost a year now, I have been looking for a full time youth pastoring job. I had a few openings that I interviewed with. Some in person, some over the phone. But so far, nothing has come about, other than waiting. It’s one of the hardest things having to wait for someone else to get the ball rolling once you go through an interview. But God knows what He is doing and will put me in the right place at the right time. Of that I have no doubts.

In a nutshell, there is the last 3 months. At least the important stuff.

After writing the discussion on repentance, a lot of things got turning in my mind. We look at repentance as this great condemning thing. We think of judgment, death, guilt, shame, etc. But that is quite the opposite of what it really is. Repentance is the door to freedom in Christ. Only the power of Christ can set us free and make us holy and wholly like Him. But we can only gain access to that power through repentance.

Now, repentance is not that time you came to an altar and asked for forgiveness only to go back to those things that you supposedly repented of the very next day. On the contrary, true repentance causes a revolution to take place in your life. If we continue to live as before, then we must question our salvation and question our repentance. True repentance will cause deep change to take place in our lives.

As I got to the end of writing, this part of it really nailed me.

We aren’t ruthless with sin! Many “Christians” spend half of their time sinning, and the other half of their time repenting of that sin! This should not be so. Sin defiles and destroys, it pollutes and poisons, curses and corrupts. Yet we think it’s sweet! We tolerate it because of the temporary benefits it gives us.

The problem is superficial repentance. We repent with our lips, but our heart still longs for the things that sin gives us. We really aren’t free because we really don’t want to be. We still maintain the possibility of committing that same sin. But God will never remove the guilt as long as we continue to entertain the sin. It is deep folly to desire that God forgive us of something that we intend to commit. The Lord is looking at the heart and is more concerned with how we respond to temptation today than with what we promise to do with the temptation tomorrow.

Ouch. God, may I always be a person of deep repentance like David, that repented not because he was wrong, but because it hurt you and put a wedge in the relationship.

Heard about this on a podcast…It basically let’s the world know what I am doing. Do I care? Do I want the world to know what I am doing 24/7? Well, not necessarily…but I can see how something like this can be attractive to teens.

Teenagers are always looking for attention, for their voice to be heard, to be noticed. While I myself may not be into Twitter much, I can only imagine the countless number of teens that would take advantage of such a thing. Plus, it’s kind of a great way to get deeper into the minds of teenagers.

I’m gonna give it a spin for a bit, see how I like it.

Manifestations of the Holy Spirit
Spiritual Giftings List

A very dear friend of mine got me thinking about coffee from a new perspective: Christianity. We as Christians are not unlike coffee. Some people like it, some don’t. Some people like us, some don’t. Coffee has a very distinct flavor. It’s usually noticed right away. So is Christianity. There is an aroma to coffee. There is an aroma to Christians.

But what separates good coffee from bad? The same things that separate good Christians from bad. Or should I say true Christians from those that aren’t? How about the saints from the ain’ts? There are several things that make good coffee, each one discussed in recurring devotionals.

1. It must be fresh daily.

Coffee is the best when it’s fresh! People enjoy fresh coffee! Coffee is so gross when it is old. Day old coffee is…disgusting. Now, I’m a little crazy, and will drink cold coffee. When I get Starbucks, it will take me all morning just about to finish it. And I tell you from experience that while I still drink it, the fresh stuff is way better. Also, the beans that you use are best made right after they have been ground for maximum freshness. It doesn’t get any fresher than that right there.

16 These are the Lord’s instructions: “Each household should gather as much as it needs. Pick up two quarts for each person in your tent.” 17 So the people of Israel did as they were told. Some gathered a lot, some only a little. 18 But when they measured it out, everyone had just enough. Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough. Each family had just what it needed. 19 Then Moses told them, “Do not keep any of it until morning.” 20 But some of them didn’t listen and kept some of it until morning. But by then it was full of maggots and had a terrible smell.
Exodus 16.16-20

This is a great story about keeping it fresh. God hooked up daily. Some people didn’t listen and tried to have some for the next day. They tried to use yesterday’s food for today. And God clearly did not have that in mind. When they tried to eat yesterday’s food, it was rotten! God never intended for them to save it! He had fresh stuff for them the next day!

Our relationship with God must also be fresh daily. We can’t live on yesterday’s word. It has to be fresh, or it gets bitter, like old coffee. We have to keep ourselves in God’s Word on a regular basis if we want to stay healthy as a Christian. God is always ready to teach us, to cause us to grow, but we must be in His Word and in prayer on a regular basis, or we start to lose our flavor. Just as making coffee becomes part of the daily things of life, make time with God and His word part of your daily activities. Keep yourself in His word regularly.

Grow daily or die gradually.

The family is much more personal with me than they are with even some of their friends. I see all sides of the family: the good, the bad, and everything in between. I know who these people are because I live with them. I have access to things in the home that not everyone does. I can get into the fridge without asking. I can even store my own personal items in the fridge and pantry. I became the family roommate.

I heard Pastor Matt say in a recent altar call, “If you want to go to heaven, you have to ask Jesus to come and live in your heart.” This is very true, and that phrase got me thinking about roommates. When people ask Jesus to come into their lives, they are in essence asking Him to move in with them, not unlike a roommate.

God is always at work in us. We must allow Him to “move in” to our lives. We must give him access to even the very private things in our lives. The deepest, darkest areas that visitors don’t have access to, must be accessible by Him. We have to open ourselves to Him and let Him work His will in us. He must literally “live” with us.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Revelation 3.20

How sad would it be if the day I moved into the family’s home, they said to me, “Oh, we were just kidding. You can’t live here?” and they kicked me out? How would that make me feel? Probably betrayed and abandoned. The sad part is, many people do this to Jesus. They ask Him to move in, and then kick Him out the very next day. They do this by the way that they live. They respond to a moving altar call and ask Jesus to come in and forgive them and live inside of them, but the very next day they go back to the way they used to live. When a roommate moves in, things change. But if we ask Jesus to come in and we aren’t changed…then we have only asked him to spend the night. The last time I checked, lives were changed when Jesus moved in.

“Revival is an encounter with God the Holy One, disclosed and made known. Revival removes the veil and makes things clear. Revival is stark and absolute, uncovering the nature of man and revealing the glory of God. In the end, it boils down to this: Do we really want God to live in our midst?” – Dr. Michael L Brown

We must be prepared for God to move in. I encourage you today, don’t ask Jesus to move in, and make Him live somewhere else.