The Land of The Ultra Rev

Church Build Park

2012-01-27T16:52:00.000-05:00

This story is several months old now, but I loved it. A Church that raised $1.5m but couldn't get a loan for the building they hoped. So they built a park. That's incarnational.

Cambridge Church turns its property into a community park - Kansas City Star

Cardboard Testimonies

2012-01-27T16:43:00.000-05:00

I love cardboard testimonies. In the midst of a tech-laden world, where seemingly everything is digital, there's something powerful in the simplistic cardboard and marker that tells of God's greatness. I cry every time I see or watch them. For me, there is such joy in seeing someone's -- literally anyone's -- life changed by the power of God.

I love to hear of God's mighty power in restoring marriages, setting people free from the bondage of addiction, healing their life's deepest hurts, reviving the faith of stagnant or wayward believers and bringing people to new life in Him. It just never gets old.

Here's a recent cardboard testimony by New Life Church up in Watertown.
Cardboard Testimonies 2012-01-22 from New Life Christian Church on Vimeo.

And then on their Facebook wall there was an amazing story today of a woman who became a Christian this week.

- Almost three years ago a Client gives me a beautiful handmade card when I set up practice in my new office. It has a quote from Jer29:11. Makes me cry like a baby.
- Heard a song on the radio I couldn’t get out of my head. Found the cd and bought it. Oh…a Christian group…who knew.
- Curious what other Christian music sounds like. Found “the message” on satellite radio in my car. Weird...not all that different than pop music but more positive lyrics.
- A couple friends on facebook who openly thank god for their blessings. Their comments always strike me. I love them…something positive.
- A billboard goes up just before the exit I get off for work; “new life Christian church”. Hmm the same church A.S. talks about. Wait…I think that’s where A.D. and her family go too.
- Needed a new book to read. Went to Walmart to wander the book section and passed the bibles. Saw a bible for busy moms and was stopped dead in my tracks. Bought it and took it home convinced to read the whole thing for the first time ever.
- My daughter has an opportunity to Christmas shop for me. I unwrap a beautiful silver necklace that is a cross with matching earrings. Love it but surprised that out of everything in target that’s what she picked out.
- Home alone, kids in bed, movie I really wanted to see. “Soul Surfer”-an inspirational story of a young girl with unwavering faith. In part of that movie Jer.29:11 is quoted. That’s odd…same as my card at work.
- Alright GOD...I’m getting it! Decide to check out this” New Life” place. After all it is the new year (Jan 2012). The whole family agrees to go...woohooo!
- Moved by worship and that night check out their facebook and website like some crazy stalker who can’t get enough.
- Some rough events coming up…maybe I should finally open that bible I got and check it out. The first suggestion for prayer and reflection if you have just 5min, references me to… wait, that’s what I heard in church last week!
- Can’t get the music from church out of my head and can’t wait to go back.
- Another service and cried my way through the third: cardboard testimonies
- ALRIGHT GOD I GET IT!
- WEDNESDAY JANUARY 25Th , 2012; SAT IN PASTOR TOMS OFFICE AND ACCEPTED THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AS MY SAVIOR AND WAS BORN AGAIN! Sobbed through the entire prayer. Walked out into a new life with GOD, a god I don’t really know yet but can’t wait to. Not exactly sure what my journey holds but I intend to find out. Be patient with me...help me…I’m new!

Here's a random but incredibly powerful cardboard testimony found on YouTube:

Let your life be filled with hope today. God is able. Jesus has said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Elsewhere the Bible says,

The AM Church Planting Video

2012-01-24T13:04:00.000-05:00

The Anglican Mission has produced an interesting church planting video promo piece with my friend R-J from NYC. I love church planters ... from the ECC, the AM, Vineyard, home churches, elsewhere ... go get 'em boys and girls!

Anglican Mission Winter Conference 2012 - YouTube

2012-01-16T23:45:00.000-05:00

This video is part of the processional of the opening worship service at the Anglican Mission Winter Conference in Houston that I attended. I enjoyed it and learned a lot while I was there.

I took a class on Anglican history prior to the conference. If I learned anything it's that Anglicans have liked to argue with each other for centuries ad nauseum and continue to do so. There's just always some theological/geo-political maneuvering going on.

Note the three short guys at the end of the processional ... the three retired archbishops ... they are actually giants who will go down in church history textbooks as godly heroes of the Christian faith.

Anglican Fever. Catch it.

2011-12-20T15:05:00.000-05:00

Anglican Fever: Youth Flock to New Denomination - US - CBN News - Christian News 24-7 - CBN.com

My friend Lon Allison is in this video as well as the story of Church of the Good Shepherd in Binghamton, NY, whose property was confiscated by the Diocese of Central New York and sold to a mosque.

John Wesleyn's Influence and Views on Money

2011-12-19T20:38:00.000-05:00

VirtueOnline - News - Reformation, Renewal and Revival - John Wesley's Church Planting Movement

How might these values be helpful for the church today?

"Coming to Christ under the influence of the Wesleyan Methodists changed people by making Jesus the Lord of their lives. "Methodists" were given that name because they methodically sought to obey the Lord in all areas of their lives by obeying three main rules:

one, do no harm;

two, do as much good as you can; and

three, use all the means of grace that God has provided.

The resulting spiritual change affected their daily lives in four main ways, each of which improved the social and economic status of the new believers:

First, they abandoned sinful habits which had previously ruined their lives.

Second, they began a new life of holiness which led to health and wealth.

Third, by going to the Methodist meetings they learned to read, which gave them upward mobility.

And fourth, they developed a new view on money, which enabled them to profit from the technological innovations of their age."

I'm particularly intrigued by Wesley's view on money:

"Wesley often preached on this topic; his most famous message on money made three points: Gain all you can; save [economize] all you can; give all you can."

It's taken me a long time but I think I've come around to understand this. Part of it has to do with my transition to being a business owner and some of it has to do with having worked for SWEA and done fund raising with affluent Christians. I'm not on board with the idea that Jesus was impoverished so we should be too, though I'm certainly not in the camp of the health and wealth gospel believing that it's our birthright in Christ to be wealthy.

Let's not be naive about money's influence and how it could be harnessed for good and godly purposes.

Hillsong - Born Is The King (It's Christmas) - YouTube

2011-12-08T10:26:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!

Daily Office at Mission St. Clare Apps

2011-11-28T14:05:00.001-05:00

I was surprised at how much I don't mind reading on digital devices. I thought for sure, that I'm old school, I love books -- real live actual bound pages that I can write on, etc. -- and I would not like reading on my smart phone or other digital devices in the house. Wrong. I really don't mind it at all. In fact, I rather like that I can do Morning and Evening Prayer, wherever I am with my phone.

If you are an Anglican or other Christian who likes to observe the daily office, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the apps from Mission St. Clare, available for both iPhone and Android devices.

Mission St. Clare - Daily Office - Android Market

iTunes App Store - Mission St. Clare Daily Office

St. Andrew's Anglican Church, Syracuse, NY - Home - An Anglican Mission in America Church in Central New York

2011-11-23T18:09:00.000-05:00

St. Andrew's Anglican Church, Syracuse, NY - Home - An Anglican Mission in America Church in Central New York

This is a fantastic church. I can't begin to tell you how many Sundays I walk away -- as their pastor -- and feel strengthened and encouraged by the saints. We are a traditional Anglican church with a prayer book based liturgy with both traditional and contemporary music services. I am very excited about what God is doing in our midst.

StevenEvansOnline.com • Web Design • SEO • Marketing • Free Web Design & Templates • For Liverpool NY and the World

2011-11-23T17:48:00.003-05:00

Please visit my new business site: StevenEvansOnline.com • Web Design • SEO • Marketing • Free Web Design & Templates • For Liverpool NY and the World

I'm now officially an 'pastorpreneur' -- entrepreneurial business owner and pastor.

I would be grateful if you would shop through some of my ads:

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Relate-Ability.org

2011-10-22T20:45:00.000-05:00

Relate-Ability.org

What is all this Missional talk?

2011-05-14T22:27:00.000-05:00

What is “Missional”? :Missional Church Network

A concise terminology clarification for the word 'missional'.

Do You Need a Web Host?

2011-05-10T21:05:00.000-05:00

UPDATE 5/10/11
Turnkey stepped up their game. Beyond apologizing for their performance, the new dude gave me a free hosting account and Voxwire. And they fixed their referral code. I'm willing to give them a second chance.

UPDATE 5/4/11
The new dude at TurnKey has followed through and paid me via PayPal today. Very classy. This may work after all.

UPDATE 5/3/11
The last dude I spoke with at Turnkey apparently has left the company. The new dude apologized professionally and promised to pay my commissions. I'll report when he does.

I'm on my second choice in web hosts now. The first choice promised a referral fee for every one of my web clients signed up. So far, after 3 months they haven't delivered. I'm calling the CEO tomorrow. The BBB after that. Moving on ...

So now I'm an affiliate for iPower. I actually have a little experience with them, having signed up my first client with them awhile ago along with 2 friends. So far so good. Not sure yet how they work with their affiliates but we'll find out this week as I refer a couple clients to sign up with them.

Click on the above graphic and buy web hosting. It will be good for me.

I can't understand why some companies just don't want to make money. In regards to my first choice of web hosts, I strategically picked a NY based company. They're from Albany. It offered packages with reasonable rates and a good amount of hard drive space and bandwidth. And they had a reasonable referral program.

Before signing anyone up, I actually called the company to make sure everything works. It's all good. So I sign up a couple clients but they don't show in my affiliate control panel. Call the company and the guy promises to manually put my referrals into their system. Nada. Then he tells me his referral code doesn't work. Another month, still no sign of my referrals. Now three months later, I got nothing and my emails get bounced back to me.

By year's end, I will generate several thousand dollars in web hosting and domain name purchases. That's gotta be worth something. Apparently not to Turnkey Internet.

Church Planting on the Lunatic Fringe :: The Urban Loft

2011-05-10T11:10:00.000-05:00

Great quote from Church Planting on the Lunatic Fringe :: The Urban Loft:

"If God told Hosea to marry a hooker doesn't He still have the right to call us to do crazy things? If God told Gideon to attack a Midianite army of 100,000 with only 300 soldiers doesn't He have the right to call us out to the margins of the lunatic fringe? If Jesus willingly and sacrificially died on our behalf doesn't He have the right to call us to do the same? To forego upward mobility, financial security, job stability, and the like. Maybe following Jesus doesn't always jive with Dave Ransey? God told Abram to up and leave his city. He told Peter to drop his nets, walk away from his livelihood, and follow Him. Does or could God still do the same?"

An Urgent Call To The Western Church

2011-05-09T21:39:00.000-05:00

Hold Fast

I'm Searching For ....

2011-05-09T21:36:00.000-05:00

I'm searching for Project Management software. Here's a list I found. Perhaps you are too.

Project Auditors Mac Project Management Tool / Tools

Exorcism

2011-05-08T00:24:00.000-05:00

Busted Halo| Features | Interview With the Exorcist: Father Gary Thomas

Interview with a Roman Catholic priest, who is an exorcist.

2 Catholic Headlines in the Recent News

2011-05-03T17:27:00.000-05:00

I recently saw two related headlines in two different media outlets:

Mass exodus confounds diocese - City & Region - The Buffalo News

VirtueOnline - The hidden exodus: Catholics becoming Protestants

So quite possibly, the hemorrhaging of parishioners seen in the western NY Catholic diocese might be transfer / conversion growth into the Protestant church.

Boydston's Business

2011-05-03T17:19:00.000-05:00

Looks like my friend Brad Bodyston has hit the lottery ... not really but he's got a cool site promoting online sweepstakes. Sweeplee.com

Jerry Reed in Heaven

2011-05-03T17:16:00.000-05:00

Two Memorial Services Planned for Jerry Reed | ECC | News

That's the way the headline should read, "Jerry Reed in Heaven".

Dr. Jerry Reed was my evangelism and discipleship professor at North Park Seminary. We also served on the Covenant's Prayer and Evangelism Associate Team. I loved him. It was hard not to. He was probably one of the kindest most decent people I ever met. And he loved Jesus and the church.

I did an independent study with Jerry in the area of teaching evangelism. At the time I was a member of the Association for Case Teaching, so Jerry and I wrote case studies for evangelism training. One of the most profitable experiences I had in seminary.

Thank you Jerry. I'll see you again.

Church steeples, aging out of fashion, meet their maker - USATODAY.com

2011-05-02T12:48:00.000-05:00

Church steeples, aging out of fashion, meet their maker - USATODAY.com

Smuggling Bibles into China? No need.

2011-04-11T11:45:00.000-05:00

The Sinophile: Smuggling Bibles into China

Mike Falkenstine says, "There is a need to smuggle Bibles into China in the same way that we need to smuggle cans of soup into America."

Brilliant Theologian Says We Aren't In a Free Society Anymore

2011-04-09T22:42:00.001-05:00

VirtueOnline: Britain is no longer a free society - Bishop Nazir Ali

Though the Bishop is talking about the UK, his concerns and observations parallel our North American context. The US is so divided right now over these fundamental issues relating to human dignity. Lord have mercy.

Churches and Marital Relations

2011-04-02T00:35:00.017-05:00

Indiana Church Behind Provocative Sex Billboard - FoxNews.com

Church Tries to Ignite Married Couple's Sex Lives - ABC News

As I have blogged about previously: Here are the stories of a couple more churches making news because of their sermon series regarding marital relations. The last ones I posted about were in the UK.

I wonder what effect this will have on the culture long term. Will they change their views about the church's theology and belief about married sex? I'm sure many evangelicals are embarrassed by these churches. Yet, the way that media outlets report on them, they still view the church as having the destructive, dysfunctional puritanical attitudes that were dominant in Christendom from the Middle Ages to as recently as the 20th century. They're still surprised to hear such a positive message from the church, or to hear anything at all.

Christianity has preached a lie about marital relations for years or just been silent, and even to this day the wider culture still thinks we hold to those untruths. The culture still thinks that the church believes that sex is bad, dirty, something to avoid, only for procreation, etc. I wonder if it will help the spread of the Gospel with the church having a different (hopefully more Biblical) message on sex.

Sin and Science

2011-04-01T00:01:00.000-05:00

Why is sloth sin? A fascinating response by a psychology scholar:
Procrastination and The Science of Sin | Psychology Today

"Sloth is a sin in the sense that we feel the weight of the moral blame for not living up to our commitment to ourselves to act as we intend. It falls into the category of sin, as opposed to some less important moral failing, because it contributes to a failure to live life fully."

What interests me is the this article being part of a larger trend, that connects science with the concept of sin. Though less so in this article, many are explaining away sin via behavioral and neuroscience explanations, and thus, removing culpability.

Elsewhere, the explanation is that the Biblical writes simply weren't as enlightened as we are about physiology and psychology. What they called sin, we are supposed to understand as a genetic predisposition or evolutionary design.

Just another little insight to the culture that needs to be addressed from a Biblical worldview from preachers and Biblical scholars and ethicists.

FREE MP3's -- Sermons for My Non-Cessationist Friends

2011-03-31T19:35:00.000-05:00

Jack Deere is part of the leadership of Wellspring DFW. Their sermons are available here:

Sermons by Date 2010- Wellspring Church DFW

Sermons by Date 2011- Wellspring Church DFW

As expected there are a number of sermons on the prophetic, healing and ministry, there are also series on Theology 101 (from a somewhat unique perspective) and the book of Proverbs. Check it.

Why Churches Stay Small

2011-03-30T00:30:00.005-05:00

A two-part article about why churches stay small. I've seen all of these.

Wanting to stay small.
A quick turnover of pastors.
Domination by a few strong members.
Not trusting the leaders.
Inferiority complex.
No plan.
Bad health.
Lousy fellowship.
A State of neglect that permeates the church.
No prayer.

10 Reasons Why Small Churches Stay Small by Joe McKeever - ChurchLeaders.com - Christian Leadership Blogs, Articles, Videos, How To's, and Free Resources

10 Reasons Why Small Churches Stay Small: Part 2 by Joe McKeever - ChurchLeaders.com - Christian Leadership Blogs, Articles, Videos, How To's, and Free Resources

Bartering

2011-03-29T12:17:00.000-05:00

Barter, Trade and Swap in New York

I'm all about bartering these days. Let's make a deal. I'll make you a web site. What do you got?

A little humor for your day ...

2011-03-29T11:11:00.000-05:00

‘Pole Fitness’ for Jesus? A Form of Worship? One TX Woman Says ‘Yes’ | The Blaze

This could be a very exciting ministry for any church .... bwaaahhhaaaahhhaaa ... Lord have mercy.

Know Your Bibles

2011-03-26T12:53:00.000-05:00

Common English Bible - Comparison Chart

Brad Boydston posted a link regarding the upcoming Common English Bible. At their site I found a succinct little Bible comparison chart. Handy. Good to show the kids.

Ash Wed - Mortification of Sin

2011-03-09T14:27:00.000-05:00

For this Holy Ash Wednesday, I offer you a link to: Outline of John Owen’s Mortification of Sin | The Resurgence.

Bible for China: How It Works.

2011-03-04T00:22:00.000-05:00

Here's how Bibles for China works: How It Works. In some ways it's counter to so many missions organizations that allow you to do hands on ministry these days. This is one where you just simply make a donation and BFC gets Bibles into the hands of rural Chinese Christians.

It's done legally with the approval of the Chinese government. This is not done covertly or through the underground church. There is no Bible smuggling here. The Bibles are printed in China on a government approved printing press.

At the end, there is real joy when Chinese Christians receive their first Bible ever. Visit their site and consider making a donation. $5 will get a Bible to a Christian who desperately wants one.

www.biblesforchina.org

Polyamory Is Good for Families?

2011-02-28T23:10:00.008-05:00

Sometimes I feel like Nouriel Roubini with my ability to predict the future, but as I said in August 2009, and also in 2005, 2006, and 2007, polygamy and polyamory are well on their way to becoming mainstream.

The Upside of Polyamory | Psychology Today

No major uproar heard from important institutions of health or the church. It's being treated as if it were fringe and minor, yet the normalization of it continues to march forward.

People, polygamy and polyamory are not normal and healthy for families. They are destructive.

Another Site Up: Grimaldi's

2011-02-27T01:05:00.000-05:00

Finishing up another site: Grimaldi's Ristorante in East Syracuse. The design isn't fully mine (one of my BOCES classmates came up with it), though I tweaked it quite a bit. It'll be complete this coming week -- only two links left to make live. I learned so much working on this site.

The food photos were taken by me and I'm pretty pleased with how they came out. I especially like the wine shots. Photographing food is way harder than I thought.

I strongly encourage people to head over to Grimaldi's for some great Italian food. The owner and staff are super people with a long restaurant history.

GOD is Good For You

2011-02-27T00:52:00.000-05:00

The tantalising proof that belief in God makes you happier and healthier | Mail Online

Fascinating research that speaks of the benefits of believing in God, though keep in mind it is talking about a general deity, not Jesus Christ in specific.

Preaching on Giving

2011-02-27T00:36:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I'm wrapping up a sermon series on stewardship and I'm going to talk about tithing and giving. For a little inspiration I listened to Driscoll. Though I'm not a TULIP guy, I love his humor, style and direct application. He's a wordsmith.

Check out his sermon on giving.

The Ultra Rev on TV

2011-02-27T00:30:00.005-05:00

I recently got to be on television ... watch here.

New Site Created: P.I.P.S.I. Security

2011-02-08T17:02:00.001-05:00

I have several clients now in my web design business. One of them just went live yesterday and I set them up at TurnKey Internet. The site is P.I.P.S.I. Security aka Professional Investigations and Process Services in Rome, NY.

I used a simple black template for expediency but it came out pretty good. I also used some stock photos from Dreamstime and Stock.XCHNG.

The set up process at TurnKey Internet went extremely well. It ended up costing a little more than I initially thought but it was still a good deal. Their cPanel is easy to use for controlling the back end of the site. I set-up Dreamweaver to work with the hosting account there and uploaded files, and then created email addresses, all with no problem. After signing up and registering my domain name, it was all up and running perfectly within minutes.

TurnKey Internet also included a ridiculous amount of Photoshop, graphic, Flash and HTML files as part of the package. I haven't looked at them all yet. What I've seen so far isn't exactly eye-candy but they could be very useful for someone who wants to get up and running quickly.

Check out P.I.P.S.I. Security and Turnkey.

Ministry Pursuits, Web Design and hosting with TurnKey

2011-02-08T16:38:00.001-05:00

I'm starting a web design business that will design and maintain web sites, assist with search engine optimization (SEO), internet marketing and hosting. The nature of being in ministry has changed so much recently, making it more and more difficult for church planters and pastors of small churches to support themselves whilst in ministry.

So I decided to go to school for web design so I could have something to supplement my ministry endeavors. Web design can be done in off-hours, pays well, has opportunity for residual income that does not require trading hours for dollars and can be a good fit for ministry. And I like it. Playing with Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Flash is down right fun. So I'll be working for me — AND FOR YOU if you need a web site.

I decided to host my upcoming web sites with TurnKey Internet. Maybe I'm gambling on a lesser known company. But I asked one of my friends who is a pro web designer about who is really the best, and he says it's a crapshoot. They all over promise with lies like unlimited bandwith and unlimited hosting space and they all have problems and fail occasionally.

All of my pro friends all use different hosting solutions like iPower, JustHost, FatCow, HostGator, HostMonster and GoDaddy to name a few. There are over 600,000 web host providers

I looked into becoming a web hosting reseller and decided that wasn't something I was going to do today. Probably next year. So the next best way to make a little money is through affiliate marketing. I can design sites for people and help them get hosted at TurnKey Internet.

I researched this thing to death last week reading through web hosting forums and other review sites. I decided on TurnKey Internet because they were based in upstate NY, Albany area, claim to have their own servers and whoever their person is in the forums seemed like a decent individual. I'm all about keeping my business in upstate NY.

Oh btw, did I tell you that my genealogical research has shown that my people helped found New York State (New Amersterdam) and used to run Ft. Orange at Albany? That's right. and ... We used own a tobacco farm on part of what is now Central Park in NYC too. None of this has been passed down unfortunately.

So if you need a web host or know someone who does, click on this link below or use one of the links that I'll put in the side bar (coming soon) and I'll make a profit and be extremely grateful to you.

TurnKey Internet Bulletproof Web Hosting Services
Bulletproof web hosting starting at $2.99/month

Bibles For China

2011-01-22T00:19:00.000-05:00

Had a great meeting this week with some of the leadership from Bibles for China. Believe it or not, this ministry is distributing Bibles, that were legally printed in China, with the blessing of the Chinese government. There is a huge demand for Bibles amongst the rural poor in China. $5 donation and the Bibles get there to the people who want them. I am told that much of the Chinese revival is happening amongst the rural poor.

Life Saving Station

2011-01-22T00:14:00.000-05:00

I always found this old story entertaining. I remember using it in a sermon years ago and stumbled across it in my archives today.

The Life Saving Station
On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was once a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little life-saving station grew.

Some of the members of the life-saving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now, the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely, because they used it as a sort of club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired life-boat crews to do this work. The life-saving motif still prevailed in this club's decoration, and there was a symbolic life-boat in the room where the club initiations were held. About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boat loads of cold, wet and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick and some of them had black skin and some had yellow skin. The beautiful new club was in chaos. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside.

At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's life-saving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon life-saving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a life-saving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own life-saving station down the coast. They did.

As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another life-saving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that sea coast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.

More Reasons Why We Don't Experience The Miraculous

2011-01-17T21:08:00.000-05:00

We Charismatics and Pentecostals are Weird.

Now hold on, before you start throwing things, I am one and certainly am referring to myself as much as anyone. But just culturally speaking, the accepted norms, behaviors and beliefs of many Charismatic and Pentecostal persons and churches are alien, if not very weird to many — uncomfortably weird.

Even when you are praying with them, and they start binding and loosing, speaking words over someone, tearing down strongholds, speaking in tongues, prophesying where you are not sure if they are talking to God, the devil, you or whoever etc. -- the average non-Pentecostal, let alone non-Christian gets really freaked out. And then when you arrive in a worship setting and they sing 1 song for 20-40 minutes with people waving banners, dancing awkwardly in the Spirit, with super emotional shouting preaching, people running around the building supposedly motivated by the Spirit, or people are laid out on the floor slain in the Spirit, uh .... it's weird. They see Todd Bentley, Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship and Benny Hinn and those movements seem almost cartoonish.

Hear me now: I'm not saying it's not all Spirit led. TACF, Hinn and Bentley have seen thousands through their influence legitimately come to know Jesus and be healed. But I am saying that for the average non-Pentecostal it is so far outside the norm of experience that it is surreal and seemingly spooky. And when the people who are major proponents of God's miraculous powers are spooky and bizarre, it causes non-pentecostals to question the authenticity of the miracles. The baby gets thrown out with the bath water -- the baby being signs and wonders, the bathwater being the spooky culture of pentecostals.

I know of good Bible believing, born-again Christian people who didn't want any of the renewal movement in their church. It was NOT because they didn't want the Spirit but because they didn't want all the weirdness that came with the movement.

One reason we don't experience more of the miraculous is that the primary proponents within Chistendom have a huge marketing problem. Miracles are shunned because the miracle workers and their contexts are just too far outside of normal.

Cessationism

This is the doctrine that says that after the completion of the canon of Scripture, after we had the complete Old and New Testament, there would no longer be any need for the miraculous and divine revelation outside of what we have in the Bible.

Though I believe this doctrine is waning and soon to become extinct (see my post here), there are still a good many Christians who either believe it or are functional cessationists -- i.e. they live as if they believe it.

This relates back to my previous post about Mark 6 faith and miracles.

Jesus Could Not ... For The Bible Tells Me So

2011-01-17T14:00:00.000-05:00

A beloved friend posted this on his status on Facebook recently:

"In 7 days I will preach a message on Acts 3, which leads to discussion of signs and wonders. I have three questions and would value any input:
1. Why do we not see more evidence of healing/miracles in the West?
2. Do you have a "verifiable story of healing and or miracles that you have witnessed.
3. If not a verifiable story you have witnessed how about from a trusted source?"

I wonder if the lack of healings and miracles seen in the West relates to the following passage in the Gospel of John. I have had plenty of conversations with believers who say that the lack of miracles in the US relates to our lack of faith and that we have put our trust in science instead of God.

We all then point to the plethora of miracles that happen in overseas communities that supposedly have more of a belief in the spiritual, supernatural realm. Since we don't have that widespread belief in the US, we don't have widespread miracles.

Mark 6:3-6 NIV
3 "Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith."

Stunning. The text says, "He could not ...". It doesn't say he "would" not. It says he "could" not. Is that not shocking to say that the Son of God, Jesus, "could not"? It does not appear to be a translation issue here. All other translations and a normal rendering of the Greek all appear in harmony of the translation of saying "He [Jesus] could not do any miracles there, except ..." He's the Son of God, why couldn't he? That's outrageous!

The text really is not crystal clear. One common understanding is that verse 6, "He was amazed at their lack of faith." explains why he could not. They lacked faith. They didn't believe so they didn't receive.

We know that faith is important in receiving from God. Jesus says the women who touched him in Mark 5.34, was made well because of her faith. Later in the NT, James says, "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; ..." Faith is certainly an important component of receiving from God.

Others might argue this was a pre-resurrection text and should not apply to a post-resurrection context. In John 14:12ƒ Jesus future told of a reality where his disciples would do "greater things than these" referring to the "evidence of miracles" in v.11, and that this would take place post-resurrection. I suppose that just throws gas on the fire of wondering why we don't see more miracles.

As I've reflected on this passage recently, I've wondered if Jesus' limitations in doing miracles was not entirely related to his hometown's lack of faith but related to the lack of honor. Shockingly, instead of being impressed and giving glory to God for the signs and wonders done in their midst, they mocked him and "took offense" at him. In my mind, that is much more heinous than a lack of faith. It's one thing to have doubts, but altogether different to heap lack of respect on top of that.

Perhaps we don't see more miracles in the US both because of our lack of faith but also because of our lack of honor.

Gift of Miracles

2011-01-17T12:52:00.000-05:00

Where is the Gift of Miracles

I have been on an active search for several years now for someone with the spiritual gift of miracles and cannot find one anywhere. I think I last posted about this over 2 years ago (The Spiritual Gift of Miracles) There are some who say they know somebody who knows somebody in an overseas nation some place but I can't seem to get closer than 3 degrees of separation from someone who reportedly has the gift of miracles and no one in the US.

When I refer to the spiritual gift of miracles I am referencing I Cor 12:10. In verses 1-11 St. Paul gives a discourse on spiritual gifts, listing nine manifestations (i.e. spiritual gifts): wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues. We also see lists of gifts in Romans 12 and Ephesians 4.

Of particular interest to me is the catalog of gifts in 1 Cor that lists "miraculous powers" separately from other gifts that we would consider miraculous. Performing a healing is obviously a spectacular miracle. The ability to communicate divine revelation through words of wisdom, knowledge, prophecy or tongues are also pretty impressive miracles. Yet "miraculous powers" is listed separately as if it refers to something different or more than healing or revelatory related gifts.

Maybe the gift of miracles refers to someone who has both healing and multiple revelatory gifts. But maybe it refers to miracles that are similar to the kind that Jesus performed that were not healings or revelation: turning water into wine, walking on water, casting out demons (though I suppose that could be considered a healing), weather control (calming of the storm), feeding thousands with extremely limited resources, putting money in a fish's mouth, withering of a fig tree or miraculously providing large catches of fish. I suppose it could also be considered miraculous when he slipped out unharmed from an angry mob that wanted to seize him (John 10:39).

The Bible is replete with numerous other kinds of God's miracles: like parting the Red Sea or Jordan River, Elijah doing similar feeding and weather related miracles to Jesus, Jonah's deliverance from the fish, Daniel & friends surviving incineration, Moses' curses against Pharoah, the sun standing still and many others. Perhaps the spiritual gift of miracles refers to those kinds of non-healing, non-revelatory miracles.

Yet the question remains: why is the gift of miracles absent from the church, particularly in the US? Even if it was overseas in Thailand, India, Africa or some other exotic location wouldn't Nightline's Martin Brashirs or some US media person found him/her by now and outed them? I haven't seen it.

I'm trying to think of some non-healing, non-revelatory miracles I could use right now: a miraculous repair of my van, a miraculous provision of money or resources (though that one actually happens to me), a miraculous fix of some parts of my home that are in disrepair that I can't fix or afford to fix, or a miraculous wave of salvations of my friends and family.

Maybe I want miraculous powers like the "The Force" that Yoda and other Jedi's have, or stealth Ninja-like translocation powers, or magical Harry Potter like skills -- all used for kingdom purposes of preaching the gospel, protecting the weak and fatherless, or feeding the poor and hungry.

I wonder if I could be trusted with such things. I'm sure I would do some good but I'd likely be playing practical jokes on people and using the force for my own gain and protection. Having those kinds of powers would truly require having a godly heart and character.

Do you know someone with the gift of miracles? I would be so grateful if you would post a comment and give some details about their miracles, how they exercise that gift and how the church has affirmed that gift in their life. Thank you.

1 Corinthians 12 NIV

1 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Maybe God Was Right Afterall.

2010-12-23T15:21:00.000-05:00

A study done by a BYU researcher says, Couples who delay sex have better marriages - Rediff.com Get Ahead

Funny. The Bible has been saying that for years.

Sin is a Genetic Problem

2010-12-23T00:57:00.003-05:00

I guess some of us get holiness and some do not: Bad behaviour can be linked to DNA: scientist. It's the luck of the gene pool.

Merry Christmas Nina!

2010-12-22T13:36:00.001-05:00

Nina Totenburg recently swore in public when she said, forgive the expression, "Christmas". RealClearPolitics - Video - NPR's Nina Totenberg Apologizes For Saying "Christmas". I hope she loses her job for heaping such vulgarities upon us unsuspecting citizens. And why didn't the network just [beep] that out. At a bare minimum she should be fined for such crudeness or at least for being such a, forgive the expression, moron. /end sarcasm

Free or Nearly Free Web Sites

2010-12-22T09:41:00.000-05:00

If you are planting a evangelical church, particularly an Anglican or Evangelical Covenant Church, in the Mohawk Valley of upstate New York (and maybe elsewhere in upstate NY) you may be eligible for a free web site. You may or may not have to pay for your domain and hosting. Start a conversation here.

Nice Church Web Site -- Lafayette, IN

2010-12-21T17:20:00.000-05:00

My ol' friend the Revinator is still preaching up at storm in Indiana at the Evangelical Covenant Church in Lafeyette. Take a long look at their site. Very nicely done graphically speaking -- excellent use of light, borders and shadows.

Sex in the UK Pulpits

2010-12-21T17:07:00.000-05:00

Dr. Alex Appiah of Living Springs Ministries has taken up the American custom of preaching on sex and has made his way into the media for doing so: Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: Sermon to spice up your sex life.

He isn't the only one. A UK Church of England clergyman, Reverend Robert Hampson, the vicar at Holy Trinity Church in South Woodford, has also addressed sex from the pulpit. His sermon wasn't about "better sex" but addressed to children, namely a group of Brownies, amongst others, to remain chaste until marriage. People have gone off the deep end and diocesan officials have received formal complaints.

And just for good measure, in the former English colony of South Africa, there is also some sex in the pulpit with a clergyman saying that "Jesus was HIV positive": Pastor's 'Jesus had HIV' sermon angers South African Christians | World news | The Guardian. Uh yeah, that was not well received either.

Dishwasher Repaired Today

2010-12-21T16:27:00.001-05:00

Giving a shout out today to my appliance repairman, John Boucher at JB APPLIANCE REPAIR. Non-working dishwasher now repaired. I'm so grateful for somebody honest to call on. And a little shout out to my father-in-law for hooking me up.

I marvel at these guys who bust out the tools, take apart the stuff, know how it all works and fix it. I'm clueless. I suppose it's like reading HTML/CSS code for other people. I get excited about it but it gives them the willies.

Church Life. I Am Blessed.

2010-12-21T14:01:00.000-05:00

So I live in two church worlds at the moment. I am the Interim Pastoral Team Leader for St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Syracuse. My wife is the Children's Ministry Director at Grace Covenant Church in Clay. She's there every week. I'm at St. Andrew's 2-3 a month plus meetings.

I cannot believe how blessed I am. The people at GECC are so good to my wife and our family. We couldn't possibly love them all any more than we do. They have been so supportive during difficult times in recent years. We have so enjoyed our recent Love to Pray small group and our kids love the ministries they are involved in.

At the same time, I am so enjoying the friendships that are growing at STA. These people are so loving to each other and now, me. On top of their graciousness I get the privilege of working with Scotty and receiving Eucharist every Sunday. I am blessed indeed.

On top of all that, I'm the official web master for both churches!

It won't go on like this forever. Eventually St. Andrew's will have a new pastor, which could be me. I'm applying. But for the time being I have two church families that are very good to me.

The Pastoral Arts

2010-12-13T20:29:00.000-05:00

The Pastoral Arts

My beloved friend Rick has begun a new ministry venture in the area of the arts and ministry. A perfect fit in many ways as he is a gifted pastor and artist.

Warning!

2010-12-13T20:26:00.000-05:00

German man castrates teenage daughter's 57-year-old boyfriend - Telegraph

More power to him.

Conflict Over Bible Translations

2010-12-11T08:39:00.000-05:00

A Movement of Evangelical Christians Takes Issue with 'The C. S. Lewis Bible' - Christian Newswire

Apparently there is conflict over the recently published "CS Lewis Bible". Some evangelicals think that the NRSV is too liberal a translation to be associated with Lewis' works.

Coffee Today

2010-12-11T08:24:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Eve Galleria - A Central New York Art Gallery and Coffeeshop in East Syracuse

I am off to have coffee today at Eve Galleria. Their web site has been our class project, which I have had the lead on and features a lot of my photography. The owner is Eve Troncone and the coffeeshop is also an art gallery with Eve's paintings and other hand designed items. Should be a good place to enjoy coffee.

Public Assistance

2010-12-10T09:01:00.000-05:00

Receiving unemployment benefits and food stamps when unemployed is somewhat like chemotherapy to the cancer patient. When you need it, you need it. It might save you. But too much of it for too long and it'll begin to kill you.

Churches Outing Grinches

2010-12-08T17:20:00.001-05:00

Christmas attitudes land businesses on naughty-or-nice lists at First Baptist Dallas' 'Grinch Alert' website | News for Dallas, Texas

So a church has put up a website, Grinch Alert, to out businesses that do not promote or allow the promotion of Christmas. The site puts them on the Naughty List.

I'm wondering what Biblical support they could think of to justify that behavior. (Of course that might possibly not even be on their radar.) Immediately I think of Jesus teaching about loving your enemies, and this doesn't seem too loving but maybe I'm not seeing their perspective.

I mean, what would be the point of such a site? To make certain businesses feel bad? Or even more provocatively, to punish them financially by listing them and encouraging people to take their business elsewhere?

I can't imagine Jesus doing this. It's ironic but it seems this church needs to be put on the naughty list.

9 Sr. Pastor Position Available in ECC

2010-12-07T00:18:00.000-05:00

Churches Seeking Staff - Evangelical Covenant Church

Wow. There are a total of 9 Senior Pastor positions listed at the ECC web site. That is the lowest I have ever seen. Connecticut. Pennsylvania. Virginia. Massachusetts. Kansas. Minnesota. California. That's it. Several hundred churches in the ECC and only 9 positions open. These are interesting times.

With all the clergy stability, I wonder how this will affect the health of churches?

Making Web Pages

2010-12-05T23:42:00.000-05:00

Since I have been underemployed and not finding much suitable work, I decided to take a web design course in hopes that it would fund my future ministry endeavors. Here is a link to a site I created — Steven M. Evans — ironically enough it's an iWeb template and not written from scratch like all of the pages that are linked on it.

So I'm hoping to be in business for myself in the near future making web sites. If you need a site or know someone who does, let me know.

Promoted: Web Master to Interim Pastor

2010-12-05T23:32:00.000-05:00

Leadership of St. Andrew's Anglican Church, Syracuse, NY - An Anglican Mission in America Church in Central New York

It's been a long while since I've posted anything and want to get back at it. Between time constraints and other issues I just haven't been able to get any blogging done.

I'm connected to the link above as I am currently the Interim Pastoral Team Leader for St. Andrew's. It's a very part-time gig but with some great people. I'll post more about that in the later.

I serve St. Andrew's a couple of Sundays a month and go to Grace Covenant with my family the other Sundays. My wife is on staff at Grace as the Children's Director. So I get to be a vital part of two fantastic congregations. I'm liking that.

I started out serving St. Andrew's as their web master. Their current site was my first class project. It's functional but not beautiful and I already want to rewrite the code. I've got fall leaves on the front door of the page and after today, it's time to change to snow.

How Did We Get This Credit Crisis?

2010-08-31T22:11:00.000-05:00

The Crisis of Credit Visualized on Vimeo

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

NEW Book on Intimate Relations: LEADing to the Bedroom: Using the Bible to spice up your sex life - Atlanta conservative | Examiner.com

2010-08-29T16:51:00.000-05:00

LEADing to the Bedroom: Using the Bible to spice up your sex life - Atlanta conservative | Examiner.com

Yet another book by an evangelical Christian leader dealing with intimate relations for husbands and wives. The books, sermons, web sites, etc. all keep coming. I suppose that just as Kevin Leman, Linda Dillow and others have improved upon Ed Wheat and Josh McDowell, there will be someone improving upon all of them. This trend within evangelicalism remains strong.

While it grows tiresome, it is still needed. I continue to be amazed at how many Christian guys are involved in pornography and how many Christian wives just don't have relations with their husbands. It's painful.

Lutheran Demise and Renewal

2010-08-25T00:29:00.000-05:00

It was 2002 when I left OH and moved back to my beloved home in upstate NY. It really wasn't the best of circumstances but it was gracious in so many ways. After several months of no work, I came into the employ of Trinity Episcopal in Watertown — truly a group of people with a lot of unconditional love. Even people who didn't like me were nice to me.

While I was there I began this blog in 2004 and some of the early posts here were related to The Episcopal Church's (TEC) crazy theological hermeneutics, their plans to ordain an unusual bishop and mine and others predictions about the demise of the TEC. There were some derisive and skeptical comments send my way about how schism would never happen.

Fast forward to today and sure enough, what was once thought to be rubbish and nonsense has now come true. TEC has experienced great schism with a whole new Anglican body being born out of it. And in reality we are now seeing the schism of the entire worldwide Anglican Communion, though it is not officially on paper yet. (Just read today's report from Uganda by David Virtue)

You would think that watching what TEC has been through with expensive lawsuits and factions that other churches would want to avoid this stuff. We're about to watch the whole ugly scenario play out all over again in the Evangelical (HA! HA! oh, you guys kill me .... who writes your stuff ... that always makes me laugh) Lutheran Church in America.

VirtueOnline: COLUMBUS, Ohio: New Church Body to be Formed for Lutherans in North America

Not only that: I thought it was just the TEC that had the wacky stories of crazy pagan liturgies and stuff. Nope. TEC no longer owns the market on whacked. David Virtue also reports:

"The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recently added seven pastors who are gay, bisexual or transgender, to its clergy roster. This occurred at a Rite of Reception service.

Here are a few things you may not have heard concerning this.

During the "festival Eucharist celebrating the reception and reinstatement of pastors," the congregation recited the "Our Mother who is within us" prayer taken from the Goddess Rosary. The prayer goes like this -

"Our Mother who is within us we celebrate your many names. Your wisdom come, your will be done, unfolding from the depths within us. Each day you give us all that we need. You remind us of our limits and we let go. You support us in our power and we act in courage. For you are the dwelling place within us, the empowerment around us, and the celebration among us, now and forever. Amen"

And you thought only The Episcopal Church could be that stupid. Please readjust your spectacles."

Seriously?

Genealogy, Family & Beer

2010-08-24T22:06:00.004-05:00

Have done a lot of genealogy work over the past couple years. A couple of important discoveries:

My great2 grandfather John A Schreck was one of the first beer truck drivers for West End Brewing, which is now Saranac-Matt Brewing in Utica. The picture above is from this past summer when I was down in West Utica doing some surveillance work.

And secondly, I might have a little Viking in me, possibly being related to Thorfinn the Skull Splitter, who has his own Wikipedia entry and a beer named after him. According to another person's tree, here is how I am possibly related to Thorfinn from Henry Lewis Hawley. HLH was my great3 grandfather

Home | The Orkney Brewery

Strippers and Churches in Contrast

2010-08-24T21:31:00.001-05:00

Here are two churches that stand in contrast:

Christian Standard: Church Ladies Spotted at Strip Clubs

Church protests strip club, and vice versa - Boing Boing

Southland Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky sends ladies to strip clubs to serve a warm, homemade dinner to the dancers and staff, pray with them and try to meet other needs as they are able. They have over 200 people serving five clubs once a week. New Beginnings Church in Warsaw, OH protests strip clubs and harasses the women, though it says if the girls leave they will pay their bills and feed their families. Seriously, after you have been harassed and degraded by someone do you really want to join them?

Which church would you want to be involved with?

Isaiah 60

2010-08-19T22:32:00.000-05:00

I was at Teen Challenge the other day down in the city. Miguel recited Isaiah 60 and a couple of Psalms from memory. The Isaiah passage touched ... as well as Miguel's passionate recitation. It's about God's restoration and blessing of his people. This is what God is doing with me: restoring me. I'm coming back with a vengeance.

Isaiah 60
[60:1] Arise, shine, for your light has come,
        and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
     [2] For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
        and thick darkness the peoples;
    but the LORD will arise upon you,
        and his glory will be seen upon you.
     [3] And nations shall come to your light,
        and kings to the brightness of your rising.

    [4] Lift up your eyes all around, and see;
        they all gather together, they come to you;
    your sons shall come from afar,
        and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.
     [5] Then you shall see and be radiant;
        your heart shall thrill and exult,
    because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,
        the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
     [6] A multitude of camels shall cover you,
        the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
        all those from Sheba shall come.
    They shall bring gold and frankincense,
        and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.
     [7] All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you;
        the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;
    they shall come up with acceptance on my altar,
        and I will beautify my beautiful house.

    [8] Who are these that fly like a cloud,
        and like doves to their windows?
     [9] For the coastlands shall hope for me,
        the ships of Tarshish first,
    to bring your children from afar,
        their silver and gold with them,
    for the name of the LORD your God,
        and for the Holy One of Israel,
        because he has made you beautiful.

    [10] Foreigners shall build up your walls,
        and their kings shall minister to you;
    for in my wrath I struck you,
        but in my favor I have had mercy on you.
     [11] Your gates shall be open continually;
        day and night they shall not be shut,
    that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations,
        with their kings led in procession.
     [12] For the nation and kingdom
        that will not serve you shall perish;
        those nations shall be utterly laid waste.
     [13] The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,
        the cypress, the plane, and the pine,
    to beautify the place of my sanctuary,
        and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
     [14] The sons of those who afflicted you
        shall come bending low to you,
    and all who despised you
        shall bow down at your feet;
    they shall call you the City of the LORD,
        the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

    [15] Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,
        with no one passing through,
    I will make you majestic forever,
        a joy from age to age.
     [16] You shall suck the milk of nations;
        you shall nurse at the breast of kings;
    and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior
        and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

    [17] Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
        and instead of iron I will bring silver;
    instead of wood, bronze,
        instead of stones, iron.
    I will make your overseers peace
        and your taskmasters righteousness.
     [18] Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
        devastation or destruction within your borders;
    you shall call your walls Salvation,
        and your gates Praise.

    [19] The sun shall be no more
        your light by day,
    nor for brightness shall the moon
        give you light;
    but the LORD will be your everlasting light,
        and your God will be your glory.
     [20] Your sun shall no more go down,
        nor your moon withdraw itself;
    for the LORD will be your everlasting light,
        and your days of mourning shall be ended.
     [21] Your people shall all be righteous;
        they shall possess the land forever,
    the branch of my planting, the work of my hands,
        that I might be glorified.
     [22] The least one shall become a clan,
        and the smallest one a mighty nation;
    I am the LORD;
        in its time I will hasten it.

Furious Love

2010-08-19T22:04:00.000-05:00

Furious Love Official Website

I recently posted about treasure hunts and the Finger of God video by Darren Wilson. Darren has a new video: Furious Love. This documentary goes to some dark places on the continent and chronicles God's overcoming power expressed through love and prayer. This movie ~~is available free as a torrent~~ is only available on DVD for purchase and isn't freely available on the internet like the last one.

Furious Love Official Trailer from Wanderlust Productions on Vimeo.

Expect Some Changes Around Here ...

2010-08-19T11:29:00.000-05:00

I start a web design class on Monday. 22 Weeks. Excited.

150 Years of Free Methodism

2010-08-19T06:32:00.000-05:00

The Free Methodist Church is celebrating 150 years as a movement. Their promotional video is all about the word "free" and what that has and currently means for them. The video is well done. It's almost like an explanatory video as to why they are the Free Methodist. Oddly, there isn't any explanation as to what it means for them to be Methodist. What a great movement of people and great thing God has done through this church.

10 Ways the Internet Is Changing Evangelism and Missions

2010-08-10T20:44:00.000-05:00

The following article is re-posted here without permission and in hopes of grace. Please click the following link see it's origin and other interesting articles and resources at Lausanne World Pulse.

Lausanne World Pulse - Ten Ways the Internet Is Changing Evangelism and Missions

Ten Ways the Internet Is Changing Evangelism and Missions

By John Edmiston
August 2010

There are currently 1.7 billion active Internet users; another three billion are expected to be added in the next five years. The developing world will soon go online as cell phones become smartphones and as cheap digital devices such as netbooks and e-readers proliferate. The rollout of fiber-optic cable in Africa and massive satellite communication projects will also mean that bandwidth availability and reach will increase.

Within five years, at least half the globe should be online; within fifteen years, Internet reach should be almost universal. Global proclamation will soon be within the reach of any Christian with a computer.

The changes are not only quantitative, they are also qualitative. The very nature and dynamic of Christian ministry are being fundamentally altered due to the new possibilities for relationship, connectivity, and information delivery that the Internet has brought about. The very heart of how we minister is being changed forever in at least ten significant areas.

Information. The Internet is bringing an enormous amount of timely strategic information into the hands of even the smallest church or mission agency. These include religious and cultural statistics, demographics, compilations such as Operation World, and research websites such as Joshua Project, Caleb Project, and StrategicNetwork. This is allowing us to see the big picture better than ever and to drill down to the small details that affect how we implement our evangelism strategies.
Ratiocination. People “think aloud” in cyberspace. The theology and practice (including ecclesiology and missiology) of most Christians is now primarily formed as a peer-to-peer online process with occasional expert input. There is less and less reference to decisions promulgated by the central governing ecclesiastical bodies of the major world religions. People do their own thinking, and they do so increasingly online through sources such as Wikipedia; out-of-copyright commentaries; and through browsing various websites, e-groups, and postings on social networks. Those ministries who wish to influence opinion need to start doing so in cyberspace, because that is where Christian opinion is now largely being formed.
Exploration. People do their private, personal, and controversial thinking online. If a person wants to find out about a suspected medical matter or investigate a forbidden political opinion, they first check it out online. A Muslim wishing to find out about Christianity is not likely to ask his or her family or imam; rather, he or she will look at Christian websites. About one-quarter of all Internet users make regular queries about religious matters. They are exploring their own and other faiths. The Church needs to have an evangelistic, apologetic, and missionary presence in this new global marketplace of ideas.
Collaboration. The Internet is facilitating collaboration across denominational boundaries and across national borders. Experts are now able to link up with other experts in fields such as church planting and theological education. This collaboration is making the denomination almost obsolete. Most Christian workers now operate in networks rather than in denominational silos. People are partnering with like-minded specialists in their area of interest rather than with people who totally agree with their formal belief system.
Validation. People use the Internet to check things out. This applies to everything from a “too-good-to-be-true” investment scam to the local church they plan to attend when they move to a new city. One oft-quoted statistic is that eighty-five percent of young people check out a church's website before deciding whether or not to even visit that church in the first place. Churches and organizations that are easy to validate online have a huge competitive advantage. This includes having a clear statement of faith and making your ethos, programs, meeting times, address, contact information, operating principles, and finances clear and above board to the honest online enquirer.
Allocation of Resources. The Internet is allowing donors, foundations, and churches to efficiently assess projects and receive applications for funding across national boundaries. Groups such as JIMI (the Joint Information Management Initiative of the WEA-MC) and the Global Missions Fund are trying to refine this process of allocation so that the ministries who are most worthy are most funded. A big part of this is having trusted mission information facilitators who regularly supply quality information in a secure format so that it can be used for resource allocation purposes.
Proclamation. The gospel is being proclaimed on websites, in chat rooms, on YouTube, on cell phones, and on numerous Internet-connected devices. Evangelistic crusades are using the Internet both as a decision mechanism and as a follow-up mechanism. Organizations such as Global Media Outreach, Jesus Central, TopChretien, and GodRev specialize in purely online outreach, while many churches and organizations use the Internet as an augmentation of existing outreach strategies. The Internet is an economical means of proclamation and Internet missionaries do not need visas!
Education. Online education has been a huge success and has revitalized Theological Education by Extension (TEE) and distance education. Groups such as MAF Learning technologies are working at developing highly effective Internet-based pedagogy. Many Masters and PhD programs are now partly or wholly via Internet-based distance education.
Mobilization. The Internet facilitates making connections and imparting information and motivation necessary for effective mobilization of pastors, evangelists, and missionaries into the global harvest. ChristianVolunteering.org matches tens of thousands of volunteers with Christian agencies. A ministry without an online presence will soon find it very challenging to gain new recruits, since for many people, the ministry simply will “not exist.”
Multiplication. The Internet brings leverage to networks and enables contacts to be made for the multiplication of house and cell churches, church-planting movements, and small TEE-based Bible colleges resourced via an Internet-based curriculum.

Many people start searching for a new church by going online, start their search for information about God online, and start forming their theology online. Missionaries deciding which organization they will serve with, or students deciding on which Bible college to attend, will use online information to narrow down their choices. The Internet is not the be-all and end-all of ministry; however, it is quickly becoming the starting point for most ministry. I used to think of the Internet as a tool for outreach, much like having your own radio program. Now I see it as an ocean in which we must sink or swim.

Pages: ALL 1 2

John Edmiston is chairman and CEO of the Asian Internet Bible Institute and www.Cybermissions.org.

Unhealthy Pastors and Seismic Shifts

2010-08-07T17:25:00.002-05:00

Pastors are Fatter, Sicker, & more Depressed | Out of Ur | Conversations for Ministry Leaders

I'm telling ya people ... we're living on the cusp of seismic change happening in the church and this kind of unhealthiness amongst the clergy is a sign of it. Seismic shifts are coming. Ones like Phyllis Tickle mentions that happen only every 500 years.

Maybe I'm reading a lot of the wrong things but I see a growing disillusionment with evangelicalism, a young adult exodus from church, unhealthy clergy and a lack of spiritual growth and depth. We can't keep doing what we're doing.

On the one hand I love church planting. On the other I think new models of doing church are needed — ones that don't exist yet. And sometimes I'm afraid of planting new churches that are perpetuating something that isn't going to last. Yet we need more churches more than ever. We can't keep doing what we're doing. Lord have mercy.

Just saw this after I posted: A forum of articles about the future of Evangelicalism with a post from Ed Stetzer.

Dr. Roger Olson is Blogging!

2010-08-07T17:12:00.000-05:00

Dr. Roger Olson is blogging: Roger E Olson | My evangelical Arminian theological musings Dr. Olson, Professor of Theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University, is a noted scholar, who writes and speaks extensively on classical Arminianism. Here is his bio.

I enjoy reading Dr. Olson's posts and listening to him speak. He is noted for being gracious and humble in his defense and presentations about Armininism. He has really helped me in my theological thinking in recent years. You can listen to an mp3 of him in my Public Folder. Look for the file "RogerOlson-Arminianism.mp3".

The classical Arminian position that Dr. Olson argues for is probably different than the Arminianism many are familiar with. He argues for the Biblical understanding espoused by James Arminius and John Wesley which is very different than the Arminianism that is argued against by popular teachers like Driscoll, Piper and others. It's also different than some Wesleyan, pentecostal and other modern Arminianists.

Wrestling with the issues in the Calvinism and Arminian debate has been enjoyable for me, and coming out of the closet as an Arminian has really brought me a sense of peace and confidence in my faith. I have blogged on this previously:

Most think the central dividing issue is free will vs. predestination. That is wrong also. Roger Olson rightly points out that the difference is a fundamental shift in how the two understand who God is and His character. Dr. Olson says, "Arminianism is the belief in the universal love of God and God’s will that all be saved. That God is not willing for any to perish and that He does much to bring people to repentance and does not select some to whom He does not offer the same chance." That's why I am Arminian. It's how I understand the character of God as revealed in the Scriptures.

Also of interest:
Society of Evangelical Arminians
Classical Arminianism
Wesleyan Arminianism

Survey: Are You an Arminian and Don't Even Know It? | Society of Evangelical Arminians

Sleep, Shabbat, Spirituality

2010-08-07T16:49:00.000-05:00

God rested on the seventh day. Not entirely sure what that looked like for God to rest but it does appear that it involved a cessation from the creating, naming and guidance work of the previous six days. I wonder, was God rejuvenated on the Sabbath. Rest normally constitutes relaxation or leisure. What did that look like for God?

Eventually God gave Moses the 10 Commandments, that have been passed down to us. Of the 10, one of them says, "Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy." He wanted his people to rest Again, a cursory glance leaves us with questions like "How are we to observe the Sabbath?" and "What does it mean to keep it holy?" but it is pretty well understood that the Sabbath is a day of rest modeled on God's seventh day of rest.

Jesus observed the Sabbath albeit not within the generally accepted religious norms of the day, as he and his disciples brought consternation on themselves from time to time for their unorthodox observances. But he did observe it. He didn't do away with it.

Several years ago I thought I began to see signs in the Christian culture that the Sabbath was going to make a revival — not anymore. Shabbat seems to be shot. Everyone is busy — every day and in some cases, at night. People are tired and in desperate need of rest. Perhaps God was onto something with the Sabbath idea.

Through some personal experiences and observances of others, I'm becoming increasingly convinced that our spiritual life and ability to connect with God and His people is greatly hindered with inadequate rest. Our ability to pray, worship, read the Scriptures and relate with those around us is deeply affected by our "restedness quotient". A vibrant healthy spirituality involves some version of Sabbath in our lives.

I'm not entirely sure how it is to be lived. I don't have the answers for my questions about the fourth (or third if you're Catholic) commandment yet. But I am convinced that we must begin to seriously wrestle with the truth of God resting and commanding us to rest. I don't think it just means taking time off from our paid job to do the work/chores/stuff around the house that needs our attention. Nor is it to ignore those two things for us to do work in the church.

Sometimes when advising people to begin tithing, they are encouraged to begin to become faithful in something small, like 1% of their take home pay. And then they are encouraged to increase it by a percentage point every year working their way toward 10% or more.

I wonder what it might look like in our lives to begin to devote "10%" of a day toward keeping the Sabbath holy and increasingly working toward a full day of Sabbath. Let's begin by giving reflection to what does it mean to observe and keep the Sabbath holy, and what does it mean to profane the Sabbath?

Related:
Sleepy teens: Technology hurting sleep quality - chicagotribune.com

FREE Music mp3's

2010-07-27T21:08:00.000-05:00

NoiseTrade.com

I'm often a little late to the game. Some of you have been downing music from NoiseTrade.com for awhile now. I'm just getting started but there's a lot of good stuff here.

One of My Respected Readers Says ...

2010-07-27T21:02:00.000-05:00

The Good Christian Girl: A Fable | Christianity Today

One of my very esteemed readers says church leaders and especially those with daughters should read this. Is this really what it's like?

Alyx Evans: New Director of Children's Ministry at Grace Covenant Church, NY

2010-07-25T18:42:00.000-05:00

My wife, Alyx Evans has been hired as the Director of Children's Ministry at Grace Covenant Church in Clay, NY. Very excited about the ministry prospects for our family.

Pet Communion

2010-07-23T10:13:00.000-05:00

VirtueOnline: TORONTO: Can a dog receive communion?

An Anglican priest in Toronto gave communion to a visitor in church ... and his dog. It was a spontaneous act that was meant to communicate welcome. At least one parishioner was offended and left the church after filing complaints with the parish and diocese. The Bishop said, "I think the reverend was overcome by what I consider a misguided gesture of welcoming."

As a serious question, I wonder what God thinks?

Certainly the gesture was kind and loving. Though it also showed a poor grasp of theology as communion is meant for believers. There doesn't seem to be any biblical indication that communion is meant to be outreach.

For consubstantiationists, those who believe the bread and wine are turned into the body and blood of Jesus, this could have been particularly offensive. I remember as a kid in the Roman Catholic Church that the priest would place the wafer on my tongue while the altar server held a plate underneath my chin so the host would not touch the floor if it was accidentally dropped. Feeding it to a dog might seem particularly disrespectful them.

But what does God think? Any comment?

Stunning. Even the NYPost.com Can See It's Not Good

2010-07-13T23:35:00.001-05:00

How porn is warping a generation of men - NYPOST.com

Aaron Taylor ... a good post

2010-07-13T23:35:00.000-05:00

The myth of the self- made man

Aaron nails it. The self made man is a myth. Truly, no one is a island and makes their life on their own. All of us are networked. We're designed by our Creator to live interdependently.

ChurchRater. What A Great Idea?

2010-07-06T10:29:00.002-05:00

This is a site where you can rate a church you attend or visit. In some ways it's a great idea. It allows people to post honest feedback and people who are searching for a church to get more insight into a place they are thinking about visiting. Yet it also feeds into that consumer mentality that is deadly in the wider church culture. It also allows those who leave the church to punish the church with slander.

Certainly, if I was pastor and my church was on there I would pay all my friends to post good reviews. I need all the help I can get.

Quote from the Pope

2010-07-03T09:41:00.000-05:00

VirtueOnline - News - Viewpoints - Williams Under Pressure* Schori Mocks Covenant in NZ*Victory in Ft. Worth*More:

"During his address for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Peter's Basilica, the Pope asserted that the 'greatest danger' to the Church is not external persecution, but the 'negative attitudes' of the world that can pollute and 'infect the Christian community' from within."

Spiritual Lessons From Unemployment - Part 9: Hearing God

2010-07-03T04:48:00.000-05:00

During this time of unemployment, I have heard God clearer than I have ever in my life. So much so I'm worried about getting a job and being "rich" again and losing my new ability to hear. This experience really has me wondering how often I have missed God's voice or tuned him out through the years because I have been distracted by the demands of work, ministry, life, etc.

I have always had a love hate relationship with preaching. I remember Dr. Livermore saying, "I hate to write. I love to have written." That is kind of how I feel about preaching. Except over this past year.

Several times when I have had to preach or teach for church, seminar or retreat related things I heard so very clearly what I was to speak on -- crystal clear. In nearly every instance the response to my messages was overwhelmingly positive.

I'm not a manuscript preacher, meaning I don't write out exactly everything I'm going to say. I generally have an outline where I have thought through the details of what I'll preach about and then there is a minor amount ad-libbing. So I'm never 100% confident of how it will all turn out. Except in recent times. I knew so confidently what I was to talk about I was nearly giddy as I went to the pulpit.

Maybe it's coincidental that I'm hearing God better since I'm unemployed. But maybe not. It's got me thinking.

George Washington's Belief's

2010-07-02T09:13:00.000-05:00

VirtueOnline: George Washington's Anglicanism

Fascinating article about George Washington's belief system and the religious milieu of his time. With many Americans very concerned about the US's perceived moves toward socialism and the current and last administration's attack on the Constitution, there is a backlash toward patriotism and renewed emphasis on the country's founders. Along with that there is a desire to paint the founders as orthodox evangelicals or at least solid Christians. I just don't think it's true. Neither does this articles author. He writes:

The growing vogue notion that Washington and other Patriot leaders were somehow "born again" Christians seeking to establish a solidly "Christian" nation is not supported by the historical record, despite infrequent quotes mined from diaries, letters, and speeches and often taken out of context. Jack Feerick, writing in the October 22, 2009 Saturday Evening Post, states that, "The traditional idea of the Founding Fathers as conventionally pious Christian gentlemen is a myth..." Journalist Russell Shorto, in an extensive piece detailing proposed changes to Texas high school social studies standards, wrote in the New York Times that, "Washington, in his writings, makes scores of different references to God but not one is biblical."

He also notes that Washington was a Mason and more likely, just a deist rather than an orthodox Christian.

Anglican Growth and Playing Nice With Lutherans

2010-07-02T08:56:00.000-05:00

VirtueOnline: Anglican Church in North America Divides up Continent for Evangelism and Growth

David Virtue reports on the strategy of the new Anglican Church in North America to divide up the continent for mission and evangelism.

I found two small lines in the article very interesting:

"The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod has lined up four meetings with ACNA representatives at seminaries later this year as the two denominations explore potential for Eucharistic sharing.

Sutton said as many as 150 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregations are considering a move to the ACNA. This will only increase prospects for further growth of the ACNA"

The LCMS is widely known for not ~~playing nice~~ having ecumenical relations with other believers, yet also being very solidly orthodox in their theology. This looks like a promising potential relationship.

Also, .... how ironic that ACNA, who are refugees from the Episcopal Church, are now potentially taking refugees from the the ELCA.

The growth of ACNA certainly is exciting. It really has not impacted New York State hard yet but I'm praying it does. Note these stats and a quote by Archbishop Robert Duncan:

"The Anglican Church in North America now has 614 congregations in 20 dioceses. More than 200 other congregations are ministry partners with the Anglican Church, including the congregations of The Anglican Mission in the Americas. The ACNA represents more than 100,000 Christians in North America.

Said Duncan, 'We have learned to describe our method for achieving this transformation in Christ Jesus as "converted individuals, in multiplying congregations, fueled by the Holy Spirit.'"

Missional in Suburbia

2010-07-01T22:59:00.000-05:00

Do you live in the suburbs and are wondering how to live more missionally? Could you help out an acquaintance of mine with some research? Check out this site and take the survey: Survey | Missional in Suburbia

What are the greatest challenges (for you and your family) when it comes to following Christ in suburbia?

Our lives are complicated, busy and insular. It's difficult to make time for unchurched people. I'm often overwhelmed by my own family needs and stress.

What are the greatest challenges for the church in suburbia?

Their continual failure to recognize the urgency of mission -- the need to plant new churches, create new ministry paradigms and be involved in personal evangelism. Barna's illustration from the late 80's of the frog in the kettle has absolutely come true.

Their failure to recognize the current ministry paradigms and efforts are not and have not worked. They have not produced disciples who reproduce themselves. Effective new ministry paradigms have not yet arisen to supplant these failing efforts.

Churches are burdened by the dueling demands of consumers (their members) and the needs the community.

Too many churches are mired in conflict and their reputations are either poor or nonexistent in their communities.

As predicted 20 years ago, we are approaching the point where churches under 100 cannot afford a full-time clergy and/or their building but so believe they must have these things. Thus they are stuck in a false survival mode.

What are the greatest opportunities for the church in suburbia?

The economic downturn has created real physical poverty and previously proud suburban folk are now having to go to food pantries, utilize Food Stamps and other government programs, and shop at the Salvation Army or Rescue Mission stores. Their needs are greater and are more open for help from churches. And they willingness to volunteer is greater.

Suburban people in general feel stressed and isolated. They crave community.

What do you like about suburbia?

In contrast to urban areas locally, it is safer and less stressful, the schools and stores are better, and it's prettier, cleaner and more comfortable.

What do you not like about suburbia?

It's mostly monoethnic Caucasian and I like living amongst Latino's, Asians and other people of color.

Any other thoughts?

My growing up in suburbia ...

J-Stinz is Blogging

2010-07-01T22:50:00.000-05:00

The Rant...

This Is Very Exciting ...

2010-06-30T21:40:00.000-05:00

Jason Condon: New Gig! Associate Superintendent for East Coast Conference of ECC

I'm just saying ....

2010-06-25T22:20:00.002-05:00

"Everyone is worth finding." ~ Kevin Dedmon ... That includes YOU

Married Priests in the Roman Catholic Church

2010-06-18T00:07:00.000-05:00

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, NY is getting a new priest — a married one: Scott Caton. That's pretty unusual. If this becomes a major trend in the Church, it could lead to significant shift in the health of the organization. The Catholic Church in CNY is seen as a dying organization because of it's recent need to close and restructure parishes and it's lack of priests. Here in CNY where the average age of a priest is 70+ and the need for new priests is at a crisis level, if there were an influx of priests who were married and of the caliber of Scott Caton there would be genuine excitement — dare I say revival.

Dr. Scott Caton Caton is Professor of History at Roberts Wesleyan College, as well as Professor of History and Culture at Northeastern Seminary. And, from the times I have interacted with him, he is a delightful soul.

Diocese of Rochester.org: Scott Caton

Self Help, Sleep & the Church

2010-06-16T00:45:00.003-05:00

Don't sleep longer – sleep smarter - Features, Health and Families - The Independent

More and more I am convinced that people need to be seen and ministered to holistically by the church, meaning we ought not just be concerned with the salvation of souls and getting people to pray and read the Bible more. Their ability to be a disciple, i.e. pray, read and understand Scripture, minister to others, serve, etc., is inherently tied up with their physiology.

For example, lack of sleep or lack of good sleep creates a multitude of problems for the disciple: compromised immune system, paranoia, depression, decreased ability to concentrate and communicate, and an increased risk of having a host of serious illnesses including heart disease and diabetes. All of those effect or hinder a person's ability to follow Christ. What about the person who comes with a sense of frustration and guilt over their inability to pray? Maybe it's not just a spiritual issue but is also affected by their inability to concentrate because of sleeplessness.

Most churches can't afford to become medical experts. But they can support good sleep, nutrition, mental health, etc. I continue to read self-help sites (see the left column on this blog) to address my own issues more holistically. Some of the sites come with their own philosophical/religious agenda, which creates the need to filter some of the information but I find them very useful.

(This just has me wondering ... In light of the current flux in the health care industry, I wonder if there will come a day when churches band together to hire their own parish doctors / medical staff.)

See also:
Trouble sleeping? Maybe it's your iPad - CNN.com

Self Help & Interesting Relgious Culture in the News

2010-06-15T00:26:00.000-05:00

See how U.S. religious landscape has changed in nearly 2 decades - USATODAY.com — The velocity of the seismic shifts we are seeing away from church attendance and adherence are increasing. Just more data.

VirtueOnline - Cohabitation: A Sensible Step Or a Destructive One? — The evidence continues to mount that cohabitation is destructive.

Parchment and Pen - “Christianity is Dependant on Your Character Witness” . . . And Other Stupid Statements — Interesting discussion about the character of a Christian and it's validation or non-validation of the Christian faith.

Steve Jobs Explains His World at All Things D - Tech Talk - CBS News — Who knew? Jobs says he started work on the iPad first.

Theater Review - 'Get Mad at Sin!' - Andrew Dinwiddie as Jimmy Swaggart at the Chocolate Factory - NYTimes.com — I dunno, but it just seems weird that a theatrical play would be done of Jimmy Swaggart, especially with attempts to be authentic and not buffoon him.

Teacher fired for premarital sex - TODAY People — A widowed Christian teacher is fired for conceiving a child six weeks before her wedding. I too think it's important to have standards for our teachers to live up to. But what about grace? Certainly they have now created a culture where it's important to not be honest about your sins because you'll be punished and fired.

Another CNY Church Plant

2010-06-14T13:25:00.000-05:00

While having coffee today with Scott, one of the other regulars mentioned a church that was going into Three Rivers Plaza in Phoenix, NY — the very place that Scott and I were there to talk about planting a church. Apparently a new church called The Bridge, that is also part of a larger church movement and swims in the prophetic stream, will be coming to Phoenix.

The Bridge Syracuse NY - Liverpool, NY

The Continued Erosion of Cessationism & Treasure Hunts

2010-06-14T09:24:00.001-05:00

A friend pointed me to an online video, "The Finger of God" by Darren Wilson. It's done in a documentary style to examine outlandish claims around the globe about signs and wonders — people receiving gold teeth, healings, treasure hunts, etc.

I think we are beginning to see the end of the doctrine of cessationism, which is the belief that miracles, signs and wonders, and God speaking ended at the close of the canon of Scripture. In other words, God stopped speaking after we had the complete Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

However, I continue to see people who were former cessationists, either in formal belief or practice, that are discovering the Holy Spirit is still communicating. It appears as a growing trend. Not only is the old divide between charismatics and non-charismatics gone, there appears to be a growing trend toward people receiving revelation from God.

One term I keep hearing about is "treasure hunts". It's the practice of believers praying together for revelation from the Holy Spirit as to who to talk to and what to talk to them about. Imagine your youth group gathering at church, praying for revelation and someone has a revelation of a person dressed in pink at the mall with a sore back. The group goes to the mall, finds the person God spoke to them about, and prays for that person's healing. The person is healed and then they share the Gospel with them and they become Christians too. That's the idea behind a treasure hunt.

Here are the Finger of God videos:

Still ...

2010-06-13T09:26:00.002-05:00

I have climbed highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you
I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I have kissed honey lips
Felt the healing in her fingertips
It burned like a fire
This burning desire

I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I believe in the Kingdom Come
Then all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
But yes I'm still running

You broke the bonds
And you loosed the chains
Carried the cross
Of my shame
Oh my shame
You know I believe it

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

Preaching at St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Syracuse .... again!

2010-06-05T14:57:00.000-05:00

Fr. Bob Hackendorf just called and will be out of town on a family emergency, so I will again be preaching at St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Syracuse this week. I thoroughly enjoy the people there and am grateful for the opportunity to serve them.

So it's only 4 pm. Do I pull one out of the file or start from scratch with the lectionary?

Diet Coke & Evangelicalism

2010-06-05T08:41:00.001-05:00

Reclaiming the Mission — The Caffeine Free Diet Coke: A Metaphor for Evangelicalism in our Day?

Fascinating post by David Fitch which includes some history about the drink we know as Diet Coke from another source. He tells of it's original intent as a tonic and how it developed into a popular drink devoid of anything resembling it's origins. Then he compares it to evangelicalism.

Fitch appears to want to reform evangelicalism. I'm thinking about it yet wondering if there are better options.

Exciting New Church near Fort Drum

2010-06-03T14:07:00.000-05:00

Newzjunky - New Church Proposed for Pamelia

A great Newzjunky article about Life Church of the Nazarene in Watertown and their plans to expand their ministry on Rt. 342 out near Ft. Drum. The article leaves out one important point (understandably so) that the original vision for a campus out there lies with their former pastor Greg Gates, who was a much better leader than he was given credit for. Great to see Life Church building on the foundation Greg left them and exciting to see their Kingdom influence expanding.

Why Church Planting? Answer: Least Evangelical U.S. Metro Areas

2010-06-02T15:36:00.000-05:00

Least Evangelical U.S. Metro Areas

By now many of you have heard about or seen JD Payne's compilation of 2000 data regarding evangelicals. I recognize the data is 10 years old but it's still stunning. In his post he mentions that new data is being researched this year.

He lists the top 30 metro areas with least percentage of evangelicals. Of particular interest to me is to see so many Empire State cities: #6 New York (and surrrounding area), #11 Albany and the tri-city area, #15 Glens Falls (a very small city, definitely not urban), #17 Utica-Rome, #19 Syracuse, #24 Rochester and #25 Binghamton.

Many here still think of the area as heavily churched, or in decline but no worse than anyone else. I hear all the time, "There's a church on every corner. Why do we need new churches?" What they need to realize is that the canary in the mine died years ago when our "vibrant" churches were busy having worship wars, bickering about charismatic issues and swapping church members.

This data is from 2000. It didn't happen in 2000. It began decades earlier. So if you were a church leader in the 1980's-90's (probably earlier), the fruit of your labor, or inattentiveness, resulted in 3.7% evangelical population, which is about 5300 people out of a population of 142,000.

Upstate New York is so desperate for new healthy churches right now. Thank God for courageous leaders like J-Stinz, Mazz and others who are attempting to stem the tide. What we don't need is missionaries from the south who don't connect with the culture. What we do need is for the Christians and church leaders of upstate NY to recognize the urgency of the situation. On second thought, maybe we do need leaders from the south — the global south.

We need the churches of our communities to critically and extensively examine their effectiveness for ministry and retool themselves. We don't need to ask whether what we are doing is working or not. Apparently, it's not. That is self evident from the data.

We need many of the churches and denominations in our area to plant new churches — NOW. If not you, then who and if not now, then when?

Here is the list, taken without permission from JD Payne's blog. (Thank you Dr. Payne for making this information available.) Go visit his site for more information to download.

U. S. Metro Area	Total Evangelical Percentage	Evangelical Church to Population Ratio
Provo-Orem, Utah	0.6%	1:18,427
Pittsfield, Massachusetts	1.5%	1:9640
Barnstable-Yarmouth, Massachusetts	1.5%	1:8889
Providence-Warwick-Pawtucket, Rhode Island	1.7%	1:8230
Springfield, Massachusetts	1.9%	1:9814
New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA	2.3%	1:8517
Salt Lake City-Ogden, Utah	2.3%	1:9808
Boston-Worcester-Lawrence-Lowell-Brockton, Massachusetts	2.5%	1:7786
New London-Norwich, Connecticut	2.5%	1:6477
Hartford, Connecticut	2.7%	1:7557
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, New York	2.7%	1:5837
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pennsylvania	2.8%	1:6577
Burlington, Vermont	2.9%	1:6630
Dubuque, Iowa	3.1%	1:6857
Glens Falls, New York	3.1%	1:4288
Scranton-Wilkes-Barre-Hazelton, Pennsylvania	3.1%	1:4733
Utica-Rome, New York	3.4%	1:4837
Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-DE	3.6%	1:5704
Syracuse, New York	3.7%	1:5049
Bangor, Maine	3.8%	1:3535
Portland, Maine	3.8%	1:4580
Laredo, Texas	3.9%	1:4598
Reading, Pennsylvania	4%	1:4018
Rochester, New York	4.1%	1:5084
Binghamton, New York	4.4%	1:3504
Reno, Nevada	4.6%	1:4715
Salinas, California	4.7%	1:3686
Lewiston-Auburn, Maine	5%	1:4152
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	5%	1:3978

Preaching Today

2010-05-30T05:37:00.000-05:00

Preaching at St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Syracuse today.