Mary, Mary, Why You Buggin'?- Da Vinci Code Discourse

Here is the podcast for the final message in the "Da Vinci Code Discourse" series.

To listen now, click on the podcast icon below.

Mary, Mary, Why You Buggin'?



Message
Mary Magdalene is one of the main players in the Da Vinci Code though she never makes an appearence. The claims associated with Mary Magdalene: that she was married to Jesus and had his child, that her bloodline continues, that she is the true holy grail are so absurd that this message focuses on a more important topic. Namely, what we can learn from the fully devoted follower Mary Magdalene that can help us grow and be more commited followers of Jesus.

Series
This message is from the series "The Da Vinci Code Discourse". While the Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction, author Dan Brown blurs lines between fiction and truth and makes broad claims that strike at the heart of Christianity. We will look at some of the issues the book raises in an effort to discover what people who follow Christ beleive and why we believe it. We hold that Christianity is not a call to bury our heads in the sand or check our brains in at the door but to engage and redeem such cultural phenomenas as the Da Vinci Code.

Subscribe to this podcast via Apple iTunes by following this link.

Get Apple iTunes for PC or Mac here.

The Truth about the Bible Part 2

Here is the podcast for the fourth message in the "Da Vinci Code Discourse" series.

To listen now, click on the podcast icon below.
The Truth about the Bible Part 2

Message
This message continues to explore the trustowrthiness of the Bible. We can trust the Bible because of its claims to have been written by either eyewitnesses or near eyewitnesses, because the sheer number of ancient manuscripts out there and the small amount of time lapse between when the Bible was written and when we have the first ancient manuscipt. Add to this the sheer number of prophecies that are fulfilled in the Bible and it becomes clear that the Bible is trustworthy.

Series
This message is from the series "The Da Vinci Code Discourse". While the Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction, author Dan Brown blurs lines between fiction and truth and makes broad claims that strike at the heart of Christianity. We will look at some of the issues the book raises in an effort to discover what people who follow Christ beleive and why we believe it. We hold that Christianity is not a call to bury our heads in the sand or check our brains in at the door but to engage and redeem such cultural phenomenas as the Da Vinci Code.

Subscribe to this podcast via Apple iTunes by following this link.

Get Apple iTunes for PC or Mac here.

KJV Crater Found According to News Reports

A satire from Christianlogic.com. Long live the true and only word of God!

SALISBURY, UK--British police announced yesterday the location of the KJV crater. The location, explained police captain William Lindt, is where the King James translation of the Bible fell from heaven. "There's this forest, see? Then there's this clearing, and then this bloody hole in the ground," said Lindt. "I saw it and said to myself that it looks like the spot the Authorized Version hit, if it looks like anything at all."

The crater was discovered by a Scottish couple on holiday to England, police said. Lyle and Katie McCrone were strolling through the woods when they noticed a depression in the ground. Upon closer examination, the couple discovered that the depression was actually a hole shaped exactly like the King James Bible. "It was perfectly rectangular," said Lyle McCrone. "And the date 1611 was stamped at the bottom."

KJV-only scholars have been thrilled by the discovery. "We've known for some time that the King James translation is the only legitimate English Bible version. This only confirms it," said Dr. Hank Conrad of the Center for Authorized Version Research. "It's very encouraging," agreed Rev. Jason Delancy. "No modern translation can boast this kind of origin."

Annual Conference Day 1

Professions of Faith

Much happened yesterday at the Conference in the way of worship, celebration of different ministries around Virginia and more. But I wanted to highlight a couple of things.

There were two major issues. One had to do with churches who received no professions of faith this past year. The Conference statistician reported that there were more than 500, yes more than 500 churches, that had not received a member by profession of faith. A motion was made for a program to be put in place where help would be given to these churches and also provide accoutnability as to why these churches had not recevied one person by profession of faith last year (profession of faith means that they were not a believer before they came to the church/ had never beloned to another church- not a transfer).

While it seems many of the people at the Conference agree with the intent of the resolution there seems to be legitimate questions around how it will be carried out. Currently the motion calls for the a District Superintnendent from another District and two people from what is called the Common Table (a governing body on the Conference level) to provide consultation and accountability to such churches.

I agree there may be some problems with that set up but I believe we need to do something now and can tweak later. Ths situation is just not acceptable and shame on all of us. The District Superintendents have rightly claimed that they already have too much on their plate. If this is the case, which it appears to be, then they need to clear their plate and get rid of some of the stuff they are doing because this is far more important.

In a related motion, the conference agreed to a goal of planting 250 new churches in the next 20 years. It is about time. While the whole start new churches revitalize existing churches debate is not an either/ or debate (we can do both) I still firmly believe that the most effective way to make disciples of Jesus Christ is to start new faith communities.

Both of these motions were made by Keith Boyette from Wilderness Chruch. Wayto go Keith.

We also received a report from Task Force looking into a new assembly center who suggested another task force look into coming up with a plan for a new assembly center as Blackstone will just not suffice any longer. You would of thought we were attacking the divinity of Christ!! It made me reminiscent of being in a church meeting filled with building worshippers. Many of those who wanted to protect the hallowed grounds of Blackstone spoke of what a spiritual place it was. Jesus had something to say about places like that to the Samaritan woman- "There will come a time when you will not worship on this mountain or in Jerusalem." Buildings are not spiritual!!! I should tell them that New Season Church might be worshipping in the warehouse of an old Southern States store!! More later I hope.

Annual Conference

Once a year Methodist people in Virginia come together for what is called the Annual Conference. Annual Conference is a meeting of clergy and laity from churches across Virginia that is filled with worship, business meetings, and great opportunities to catch up with old friends you sometimes do not see but once a year. John Wesley said that Christian conferencing was a means of grace like prayer, fasting, scripture reading and communion.

The Conference actually started last night. Steve Kropp and I made our way to Hampton. Soon as we got here we already ran into the trouble. Our hotel reservations were not reserved as the good people at the Ramada said when they went to charge my card that it had been rejected!! So, they cancelled our reservations. No call or nothing- they just decided I guess to leave us in a lurch.

No matter, because we got a much better hotel with the same rate a little bit futher away and this place actually has an exercise room. So there.

Last night was the memorial service. It is always inspiring to celerbate the lives of those who have touched so many lives themselves. The Rev. Young Jin Cho gave the message and talked about servant hood and moving from maintenance to mission. And, he had some good jokes too.

Pray for Steve and I. We need it.

Shame on WaWA

Shame on WaWa.

Let me break it down. We decided to do a servant evangelism ministry (handing out free coffee and papers at our local WaWa) so our ministry assistant Dorothy called WaWa headquarters and got the details about what we would need to do to get permission. They faxed out a form and their policies and it did not seem like it was going to be a problem after reading their policies.

I got the form filled out and took it over to the manager- or who I thought was the manager- they seemed kind of in disarray at their store and largely treated me as a disturbance. When I gave them the form they had no idea what I was talking about and looked at me like I had three heads. Apparently no one has ever done this or even solicted outside the store (we were giving away free stuff we were even going to buy from them!).

They said they would have to check on it. That was fair enough. I didn't hear anything for a few days and called over there. "We will pass on your message to the manager" they said.

Then late Friday I get a call from the manager:

Manager: You cannot do what you want to do here. I brought your request to our district meeting and my district manager denied it.

Me: Uh, O.K. How come it was denied?

Manager: It was denied. (Apparently at a lost really and just repeating).

Me: Do you know why it was denied?

Manager: Um, my District Manager said she had to get better control of what is going on outside her stores.

Me: Alrighty then.

Now, if that was not the lamest load of fecal matter I had heard in a long time I do not know what is. You know I completely understand a business determining who can do things outside the store. But don't put out policies that appear to make it permissible and then deny requests for some enigmatic reason. I know someone handing out coffee and newspapers to share God's love in a practical way would have been such a nuisance and necessitated getting better control of what is going on outside your stores!

I decided I did not want the headache of fighting against these people and the rest of their bureaucracy. I'll just go to Food Lion or Wal-Mart.

In the end, what did WaWa gain?- a post in the blogosphere decrying their poor choices and the fact that they basically blew off a good customer who will tell others of the incident. How is that for customer evangelism.! I guess we won't partner with them to do our gas giveaway event. When is Sheetz coming to town- not soon enough!!

Shame on WaWa!

The Truth About the Bible Part 1- DaVinci Code Discourse

Here is the podcast for the third message in the "Da Vinci Code Discourse" series.

To listen now, click on the podcast icon below.

The Truth about the Bible Part 1

Message
Is the Bible just a bunch of fables? Did the church repress "other" gospels? How did we get our New Testament in the form we have it. These are some of the questions we examine in this message. If the Bible conatins all things necessary for salvation and is the guide for what we believe and how we live our life then we should know how we got it. Come explore!

Series
This message is from the series "The Da Vinci Code Discourse". While the Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction, author Dan Brown blurs lines between fiction and truth and makes broad claims that strike at the heart of Christianity. We will look at some of the issues the book raises in an effort to discover what people who follow Christ beleive and why we believe it. We hold that Christianity is not a call to bury our heads in the sand or check our brains in at the door but to engage and redeem such cultural phenomenas as the Da Vinci Code.

Subscribe to this podcast via Apple iTunes by following this link.

Get Apple iTunes for PC or Mac here.

Poison Ivy

For the past couple of weeks I have been battling poison ivy. I never had poison ivy until I moved to my new house which has trees with poison ivy vines that are bigger than my leg. I got it last summer pretty mildly, and then some this winter but a couple of weeks ago I got it pretty bad so that it spread all over my body. For those who have had it you know how it goes- the more you itch the worse it gets. Calamine lotion and Benadryl help for a time but they do not treat.

This past Monday I went to the doctor and got a shot and a steriod (not the Barry Bonds kind) and my symptoms have thankfully abated.

All this reminds me of how sin is like posion ivy. It is vicious. It is virulent. The more you scratch it (give in to it) the worse it gets. When it comes to sin though we have to go to the Great Physician who heals our sin and restores our soul. I may get posion ivy again and I know I will sin again but thankfully there is a cure for each!

Breakout Churches

I have finsihed Breakout Churches by Thom Rainer and would recommend it. Rainer and his team did their homeowrk in this book. The book does not look at the successful mega churches but churches that have been successful, declined, and successful again. Part of the criteria for the churches selected was that the same pastor had to be there for both the decline and the breakthrough. Here are some particularly interesting tidbits from the book.

It is a sin to be good if God calls us to be great.
We always must seek a reasonable human excellence when doing ministry.

Positive outside influences- breakout leaders had an insatiable appetite to learn and a persistent drive to improve- outside counsel, conferences, books, consultations etc.
There is no excuse in these information days to not have these positive outside influences. This speaks well for the need for a coach as well especially when planting a church.

In the chapter "The Who What Simal-track" Rainer writes about the importance of getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats, and then figuring out where to drive the bus.
This is easier said than done but so necessary. This job is so much harder in an established church. You know, where the treasurer has been the treasurer for eighty years and still types out her reports.

Mission is a general statement of any church’s purpose.
Vision refers to God’s specific plan for a specific church at a specific time in its history.
Jim Griffith says mission and vision are overrated. I am beginning to agree. We all have the same mission. All mission statements say something about making disciples of Chrsit, fully devoted followers etc. I am starting to be believe that vision finds us more than we find it.

In the majority of comparison churches in the study, merchants within a half mile radius of the church couldn’t tell us where the church was located.
The church was irrelevant to the community.
This would be interesting to try. Go and ask the merchants near your church if they can tell you where your church is and what they know about it.

Everything we did revolved around those who were not there yet.
This is the lens through which we must view all decisions so that those far from God might become close to God and glory be brought to God.

Builders of great churches made as much use of stop doing lists than to do lists.
The "Stop Doing" list- great idea. Mine is getting long.

Da Vinci Code Discourse- The Real Jesus

Here is the podcast for the second message in the "Da Vinci Code Discourse" series.To listen now, click on the podcast icon below.

The Real Jesus

Message
Was Jesus more than just a good man or a mighty prophet or some political activist who had children with one of his followers? This message shines the light of truth on who Jesus was and is- fully God and fully man.

Series
This message is from the series "The Da Vinci Code Discourse". While the Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction, author Dan Brown blurs lines between fiction and truth and makes broad claims that strike at the heart of Christianity. We will look at some of the issues the book raises in an effort to discover what people who follow Christ beleive and why we believe it. We hold that Christianity is not a call to bury our heads in the sand or check our brains in at the door but to engage and redeem such cultural phenomenas as the Da Vinci Code.

Get Apple iTunes for PC or Mac here.Subscribe to this podcast via Apple iTunes by following this link.

Get Apple iTunes for PC or Mac here.