Family Day!

I took Saturday off from everything to spend a day with all my girls. We went on about a 200 mile odyssey around central New York. Here's some of the sights we saw along the way.

From Fall Falls Tour

Mesmerized.

From Fall Falls Tour

From the bottom.

From Fall Falls Tour

Old meets new in the wind farm.

From Fall Falls Tour

Cascades.

From Fall Falls Tour

What a view!

From Fall Falls Tour

Dunes in CNY?!?!

From Fall Falls Tour

Golden Harvest.

From Fall Falls Tour

I don't see any salmon!?!

From Fall Falls Tour

Daddy and his girl.

From Fall Falls Tour

A beautiful end to a beautiful day.

From Fall Falls Tour

Sunset. Time to go home.

Diversity and Community

I attended the world premiere of Tales from the Salt City. Thanks to Syracuse.com for the picture Here's what Syracuse Stage had to say about the production:

Tales From the Salt City
Conceived and directed by Ping Chong October 14 – November 2
World Premiere
A powerful exploration of the changing face of Syracuse
through an interview-based theatre work, Don't Look Back
presents the first hand narratives of citizens of Syracuse—both
recent arrivals and long-standing residents—who are in some
way living outside the dominant culture. Created by theatrical
innovator Ping Chong and constructed as a chamber piece of
storytelling, the performance features real people telling their
personal experiences of creating cultural identity out of rich
and complex histories. Ping Chong continues the compelling
work he has done throughout the United States exploring the
divergent lives that make up our communities. These stories
will carry us around the globe and bring us home with a
more complete understanding of how the world out there
is the world right here.

It was really very good. It's about how each of us bring our past and culture to where we are now and it forms us and gives us a framework for social interaction. From a missions perspective, we are missing the boat. We have not done a good job understanding the mix of culture and "old world community" that these people have. Here's a short list of who's who in the play. Some of these people have been here for a long time and some haven't. But if we are to be the hands and feet of Jesus, we forgot some people groups: Hispanics, Latinos, Blacks, Cambodians, Eastern Europeans, and First Nation People. in all of their cultures there is an element that leads into the goodness of the gospel. In these seven individuals, there is an event that Jesus can heal their wounds and calm their life storms. The other underlying theme is the lack of good community in Syracuse. In some way they each expressed a loss for the community they had before and didn't find in Syracuse. It's a report card on Syracuse, we failed.
I'm no Ping Chong, but I'd like to rewrite the play to have seven martyrs/prisoners (Jesus freaks) and then take it to churches for missions education and motivation.

October is Persecuted Church Month

I came across a number of items of importance that you should know about:

October if Clergy Appreciation month. Hit the jump to find out more.

October is also Persecuted Church month. It is a time to remember our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. We need to pray for them. Find out more at Voice of the Martyrs. Teens need to know that Christians around the world face death and imprisonment for their faith. Check out the Underground Reality inside Vietnam. DC talk is still going strong at JesusFreaks.net. They've got a great interactive map right on the home page to see what's going on around the world.

Anti-blasphemy resolution impact brought to forefront

(Photos by Reuters/Eric Thayer)

International (MNN) ― The United Nations Anti-Blasphemy resolution is drawing the ire of mission groups.

Carl Moeller with Open Doors explains that in application, "This anti-blasphemy resolution is mostly seen to be putting a 'chilling effect' on Christian work and outreach around the world, and that is a very troubling development for us."

Free speech advocates say the non-binding resolution is being used to intimidate believers and spread Sharia law. Adopted in 2007, Resolution 62/145 reads in part: It "notes with deep concern the intensification of the campaign of defamation of religions and the ethnic and religious profiling of Muslim minorities in the aftermath of 11 September 2001."

Despite the good intentions, Moeller says, "The reality is that wherever Christianity and Islam come into relationship with each other in the culture, the net effect has been for Christian evangelism to be silenced or to be intimidated through this act."

Though it has little teeth in law, the act has been reviewed and passed more than once. That gives it some kind of authority and often emboldens militant Islamists to use it as a club against Christians.

In effect, it is a shield for the fundamentalists who retaliate against perceived offenses. Moeller says the resolution passes under the guise of protecting religion, but it actually endangers religious minorities in Islamic countries.

That's why he's urging prayer. "The slope is so slippery because everything that purports to criticize Islam is considered 'blasphemy.' Anything that promotes another religious viewpoint, like Christianity, is considered 'blasphemy.' It really becomes the ultimate weapon against free religious speech around the world."

Open Doors is raising awareness, Moeller adds, because "people need to get involved with organizations that are standing up to draw attention to the anti-blasphemy laws...to make true religious freedom a hallmark of international religious liberty and not a sham of anti-blasphemy laws that the UN is passing."

If you're in New York or Pennsylvania this is for you (My apologies, if you're else where, it may be to far.):
Pastors' Conference with James MacDonald On October 28th.

Family Life invites you to attend a one-day Pastor’s conference with Dr. James MacDonald (Lunch will be served). The event is free and will be held at The Family Life Center in Bath, NY. Check-in begins at 8:30 am and the conference starts at 9:00 am. Registration is necessary. Please call 607-776-4151 or 800-927-9083 during regular business hours to pre-register for the event.

This years conference we are excited that the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove in Asheville, NC has offered a give away package for a Pastor and spouse to either the 2009 Pastor's Institute or Leadership Institute (dates TBD). The package would include one night's lodging as well as meals and materials.

The moment it converges!

Coincidence, no. Divine convergence, yes. Several things have converged in my life, I attended a seminar "Breaking the 500 Barrier", I really got know and understand the words of "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath and I read "Who Stole My Church?" by Gordon MacDonald.
First of all, if that title, "Who Stole My Church?" is something you're asking yourself, then you need to read the book. If it intrigues you, then you need to read the book and if you're a leader, then you need to read the book.
What are we doing to re-focus the church to go beyond the four walls? The church is not for those inside it's fold, but the lost still outside. How do we get them inside? We need to have Jesus' eyes and Jesus' arms and Jesus hands to see them, love them and serve them. We knock down the barriers by making our church a place of relevance to the lost. The message doesn't change, but the way we reach out, changes.
Ours is a post-modern world, a scary place where people don't have a basic understanding of Judeo-Christian thought patterns. They are wandering in the dark, and their are many lights that beckon them. The question is what is our local light doing to attract them?

"Let's go for a ride!"

I saw a motorcycle going down the road one day and on the back was a girl, maybe 10 holding on to her dad, her head was turned and she was clinging to the one thing she could. She couldn't see where they were going, she could only see what was going past and hear the motor rev, and feel the bike race along. Sometimes when life doesn't make sense, God's just revving the motorcycle and telling us to hang on to Him. It has been an amazing, scary, faith building last four months. It feels like our family exploded in size. It did almost double with Gwen and Shaniah coming. I changed jobs, and started two small businesses. God has provided at just the right time all the way through, we were getting low on diapers for two and a friend has helped us out 4 times! To our friend: Thanks, we really appreciate it. Our one small business is picking up and generating the income that we need from that. We pray that it continues to grow. As for our other business, it's a crowded market, it's going to take awhile, but we're looking at some creative marketing ideas and doing some pro-bono work to hopefully generate some interest.
As we head into winter, we are excited to see where this wild ride is going.

Distribution of Grace

The Distribution of Grace, a series on how God has shown His redemptive plan through the Bible and into our modern times. My goal with this series is not to incite a theological debate, but to bring out the truths of the Word about how God dealt with man, so that our students will have a greater understanding.The purpose of giving you a place to interact is just that, a place to post your thoughts and insights. I will moderate only the very decisive comments that do not fit our post.
The goal here is what should our response to God's grace be?

An Evangelical Indictment

Pretty harsh words to swallow, but I think we deserve them. Here's the findings of a recent Pew Foundation Survey of beliefs in America.
We've really messed up. A generation has lost sight of the harbor because we didn't keep the light on in the lighthouse.
A lighthouse has to have absolutely clean glass, the lenses were cleaned everyday, and they weren't just ordinary pieces of glass. At the time of manned lighthouses, the light used a Fresnel lens. They focused the light and intensified the beam to cut through the night and storms to show the way to the safe harbor.

I think some hard questions need to be answered:
Am I willing to take responsibility for my failure to keep the light on?
Am I going to re-trim the light, and clean the glass?
We have a generation that has already begun to sink and we need to get in the water to get them out, are we prepared?
Who will take over the light house when we are gone? The church is never more than one generation from extinction, and now more so than ever.
Do I know the truth of the Bible? Have I compromised it in my teaching or beliefs?

The clarion call of alarm has sounded, how do we respond?
(this is the reader participation part: comments.)

Special thanks to my friend at the court house who smuggled me and the camera into the empty court room for photos.