I WANTED TO BE LOVED I WANTED TO JOIN IN YOUR CLUB YOU TOLD ME, "COME BACK WHEN YOU ARE NO LONGER GAY!" I WANTED TO TAKE PART TO BE A MEMBER OF THE FAMILY YOU STATED, "WHEN YOU'VE STOPPED LIVING TOGETHER, WE'LL LET YOU PRAY!" I HEARD OF THIS MAN CALLED JESUS AND HOW YOU SAY HE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SAVE BUT IT SEEMED THAT TO BELONG, YOU WANTED [...]
Excerpt from Erwin McManus ‘an unstoppable force’ (available from Loot - http://www.loot.co.za/refer.html?referrer=85894849355 – for R170) Wow this last chapter of the EM book i’ve been reading resonated so hugely with my spirit i had to share (go and buy the book!): A RADICAL MINIMUM STANDARD On August 20, 1978, I walked to the altar at the first Baptist Church in Orlando, Florida and gave my life to Jesus Christ as my Lord. I remember standing [...]
when looking for a local church to become part of... don't look for a church where you can grow. find a church where you can serve. then you'll grow.
‘...and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.’ [Acts 2.47b] what comes just before the ‘and’ of that passage that caused such huge growth in the early church? was it their amazing evangelism plans or ABC steps of getting people to follow Jesus? none of the above! it was meeting together, eating together, loving God and loving people together – basically just being church – listening to preaching, seeing miracles [...]
'The entire nation of Israel operated on a Sunday to Friday calendar. Saturday was the Sabbath - no work, no play, and no good works. Saturday was the holy day, and all who would give homage and honour to God would keep the Sabbath holy. Right out of the gate, the church moved the holy day to Sunday. On the Sabbath, Jesus was still dead. On Sunday, He rose from the dead. I have to [...]
so this morning we had an Oikos gathering at Seattle coffee shop in Century City where all good Oikos gatherings happen - basically the idea is for an informal setting for people passionate about Jesus (yet maybe not so passionate about church or struggling with church in its current form and style) to have a space to talk openly about loving God and loving people and struggles with church and new exciting books or ideas [...]
so last year sometime the beautiful Valerie and myself decided to take a day out of the week and make it meat-free - and so we chose a Thursday for reasons i can't remember [no that doesn't mean on Thursdays we run down the streets giving away packs of bacon to people altho i can't see how they wouldn't appreciate it - the people i mean, not the bacons] and we encouraged people in our [...]
another excerpt from Erwin McManus 'an unSTOPPABLE force' - just buy it already! 'And though i'm advocating our need to become a movement, I would like to encourage you to give up on keeping up.' then a little later: 'The first-century church didn't keep up with its time, didn't spend its energy keeping up with its time. The first-century church changed time. It rewrote history. It radically impacted culture. The church was the forerunner, not [...]
"When those who hold positions of leadership in the church of Jesus Christ stand opposed to the very heart of God and refuse to submit their lives to His Word, it is the death of life in that church." [Erwin McManus, an unSTOPPABLE force] that is just so true. i have seen it and i have been on the receiving end of it. and it always comes down to "me me me me ME me" [...]
so i guess in some small part it was thankx to a stalkery type australian girl that me and tbV started thinking about what we eat and then started No-Meat-Thursdays which has actually been quite a rad extension of our lives and only occasionally interfered with 'normal' life - so every Thursday we don't eat meat just as a small small step in terms of meaning one-day-a-week's less meat needing to be there i guess [...]