I Have A Confession

My name is Nate, and I like country music. It feels so much better to get that out in the open. I have been fighting it for quite some time, but I live in a family that likes country music and every time we get in the car the radio is set to a country music station so I have been hearing a lot of it.  Not exactly sure how it started, but I have been relentlessly worn down to the point to where I had to give into the music.

Now please allow me to state this disclaimer: I do NOT like honky-tonk or bluegrass music.  I would rather bang my head against the corner of a brick building than listen to some honky tonk. Country music has come a long way since I was a kid, and I find myself enjoying the newer contemporary stuff.  I still prefer good ‘ole rock ‘n roll, but my musical taste has been broadened.

I actually downloaded some county songs a couple days ago.  The first one I downloaded was “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue” by Toby Keith.  I am a red-blooded American and I love the patriotism that comes through this song.  While I don’t personally agree with his choice of words when he names a part of the body that we are going to put our boot, I agree with the concept 100%.  I get goose bumps every time I listen to it. Here’s the video:

The second one I downloaded was “It’s America” by Rodney Atkins.” Again, a very patriotic song.  Here’s the video for this one:

The third one I downloaded was “Cleaning This Gun” by Rodney Atkins.  It’s about a guy who is cleaning his gun while talking with his daughter’s new boyfriend to “put the fear of God” in him.  Having two teenage daughters myself, I appreciate this and plan on doing the same thing or something very similar. So boys, be warned.

That’s enough of my country music confessions for now. I feel free now that you know. I no longer have to keep the volume turned down while listening to some country or quickly switch the channel when someone comes around.

My name is Nate, and I like country music.

What would you ask God?

I’m working on a future lesson series to do at FreedomRidge, so to help with that I’ve asked several people if they could sit down with God over a can of Mountain Dew and could ask him one question, what would you ask?  Before you read any further, don’t try to make any wise cracks about Mountain Dew, because anyone who halfway knows anything about God knows that he would be drinking Mountain Dew and NOT coffee, diet coke, pepsi, etc.   So do you have a question that is not on this list??

Did I make you proud?
How do I know what you want me to do?
How can I put you first in my life?
Is credit card debt wrong?
Will I see and know my family in Heaven?
How can I rekindle love in my marriage?
Why are women not allowed to be leaders in a church?
How much should a church get involved in political issues?
Can America return to her spiritual roots?
Are our lives predetermined, or free choice?
Why did my loved one have to die?
Why do GOOD things happen to BAD people?
Why did you create it all?
How can you allow people to go to Hell?
Where are you from; who created you?
How big is the universe, and are we the only humans?
Why do we only live for a certain period of time?
Did Adam and Eve have a belly button?
How many times have you intervened in my life without me knowing?
How did you keep the animals on the ark from eating each other?
Why are Christians fighting each other instead of working together?
How can you love me as much as you did Paul, Peter, and those other people?

Sunday Rundown

Well, today was our first Sunday and I have to tell you I was totally stoked.  I woke up at 4 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I laid there in bed thinking and praying about the upcoming day and the events that would be taking place.  Finally I got out of bed to get ready and look over my lesson one more time.

We had a couple technical glitches that were easily overcome, which when you’re a mobile church you get used to that kind of stuff.  We even had our coffee maker do some really weird things, and is now in the big coffee shop in the sky.  My buddy Nate (not me, another Nate) made a quick run to Wal-Mart to get us a new coffee maker.

A small group of people from Rising Sun Church in Des Moines came up to help us staff the kids area.  Get this … the preacher at Rising Sun (a several hundred member congregation) had the day off and came up to work in our Kids Church.  Talk about a servant’s heart.  Very cool, Doug!

Long story short, even though we set everything up differently today than we did at last week’s practice service, the setup went on without a hitch.  We got it set up and ready with plenty of time to spare.  I’m really proud of our people.

I was starting to freak out a little bit with 5 minutes to go before the service wishing more people were there, but with about 2 minutes to go there was a mad rush at the front door.  Several people even came in late, and we ended the day with an official count of 110!  I was very pleased with the turnout and got to meet some very cool people.  I wish I could have sat down with each and every one of them to hear their story, but obviously wasn’t able to do it.  God is gonna be doing some great things through us and I’m really looking forward to meeting many more people.

Next Sunday be at the Ames Middle School at 10 a.m. for some more great music and a lesson on beating addictions.  Setup starts at 8 a.m.

Anyway, I’m beat so I’m going to bed.  I’ll sleep good tonight!

Breaking Free …

Our first Sunday is January 18, and we are jumping right in to tackle some tough issues that people face.  We’ll be starting a new series called “Breaking Free” and we’ll learn some principles from the Bible that will help us overcome some of the most common hangups that people face.  Here’s what we’ll be looking at:

January 18 – mind games
January 25 – addictions
February 1 – anger
February 8 – lust

If you come in with an open mind ready to apply what you hear, I can guarantee you your life will be better because of it.  So come see us, and bring a friend.  Click here for directions and more information.

FreedomRidge … Coming Soon

Our first official Sunday service will be on January 18 at 10 a.m.  We”ll be meeting in the Ames Middle School (click here if you need directions).  Our service will start at 10 a.m. and will last approximately 65 minutes.  I’m excited to finally get started with Sunday mornings.  We’ve got a lot of big dream and plans which will take time to implement, but I am confident we can begin right away making a difference in people’s lives and this community.  And that is why we’re here.  If you are reading this and you don’t go to church anywhere, I want to invite you to come see us.  I’m pretty sure you’ll like us.  If you are reading this and you already go to church somewhere, please pray for us.

Have a Happy New Year!

Our Radio Ads

We are advertising on 105.1 in Ames leading up to and past our launch.  We have 3 different ads that are playing for a total of 4 times a day, 7 days a week, for several weeks.  They are only 15 seconds long, but are designed to get the word out about us and drive people to our website.  We have them on our youtube channel (go here to see it), or you can listen to them here.

Have You Seen Our Billboard?

Our billboard is located on Duff Avenue in front of the Super Wal-Mart.  We have the north side in December, then in January it will be on the south side.  If you drive by and see it, let me know!

What does “Never Church As Usual” mean?

In some of our advertising and publicity we use the phrase “never church as usual” as our slogan.  People ask or wonder aloud, “What does that mean?”  Well, here’s what it means.

It means we’re not doing church they way it has been done the past 200 years. We have a very distinctive “now” feel and are a church for people who don’t like church. We’re definitely not your stereotypical church. We don’t have a dress code (other than you MUST wear clothes!), and  you’ll always hear real life lessons from the Bible in understandable words enhanced with videos, humor, Q&A’s and more! We’re not tied down with traditions, order of services, or denominational affiliations.

If you like church with the “same ‘ole same ‘ole”, then Freedom Ridge is probably not for you.  Not everyone will like us, but that’s OK.  If you like church that does things a little differently, then you might have just found yourself a church home.

$30 & A Prayer

We launch on Sundays in 66 days (January 18, 2009), and in anticipation of this we have designed a marketing campaign to help get the word out.  On December 4 we have a billboard going up; come back then to see a picture of it.  On December 1 we begin advertising on 105.1 here in Ames.  In January we’re going to do some major (hopefully) canvassing of neighborhoods to place door hangers.  We may have something going on with a newspaper, and possibly will be sending out some mailers to targeted people.  If we can swing it, we’ve got a couple community service projects in the pipeline.

All this cost money, so to help with this we are sponsoring $30 & A Prayer for FreedomRidge.tv.  It’s pretty simple.  You send us at least 30 bucks, and say a prayer on our behalf!  This money will help us get the word out to people who will come to FreedomRidge.tv and find out more about Jesus.  Your $30 will make an eternal difference to someone.  Want to help out?  Go here to find out how.

I’m Baaack

After a two month unscheduled blogging hiatus, I am making a return.  I’ve been fairly busy the past two months, and quite honestly always found something else to do other than sit down and write a post for my blog.  So now I am hoping to post on a more regular basis, although it probably won’t be daily.

The world is now a much better place.

Freedom Ridge TXT MSG

Here’s an UPDATE of our SMS services that we offer at Freedom Ridge.

1. text AMES to 41411 for news and updates; when you do you will receive a message back with the latest update from Freedom Ridge. We’ll use this as a form of advertising, or if you are wondering where the next meeting is or the next big thing going on, you can text AMES to 41411 and get your answer. This will be for general news.

2. text SUB AMES to 41411; when you do you will automatically be subscribed to our alert list. We will use this to send out texts of immediate importance. For instance, if we need to reschedule a meeting or service we’ll send out a text. We may occasionally send out important reminders. Just rest assured that we will not abuse it and you can unsubscribe at any time. So text SUB AMES to 41411 to join the list.

This service now works with all major carriers; standard text messaging charges apply, so check with your cell carrier.

Church Planting Lessons

These aren’t the only lessons I’ve learned in church planting, but I’ve got a couple important ones I want to share with you. I’ll share more later …

1. Most of church planting is done in Plan D.  What I mean by that is you can enter your city with a strategic plan, but once you hit the ground you quickly realize you have to move to Plan B.  Then something happens and Plan C comes into play … and so on.  So don’t be a slave to the plan, but be true to the mission.  Church planting isn’t done in theory, it’s done in the trenches. If you can’t adapt, you’ll die.

2. Most of the time, the future isn’t clear.  If there is a church planting crystal ball out there, I haven’t found it yet.  I’m reminded of the time the Israelites had to step into the Jordan River BEFORE God showed the way and parted the water (Joshua 3:7-13).  They had to step out FIRST.

I’m working on something right now with Freedom Ridge that if it pans out will be a major plus for us.  But as I’m looking at it on paper I have no idea how we are going to pay for it.  If God wants it to happen, then it will … but I can’t get in the way.

Church planting is some of the most exhilirating, stressful, frustrating, and rewarding work out there.

You Can’t Be Nice

The other day I stopped by a large store in Ames that will remain unnamed so it doesn’t trigger any google alerts.  I talked with them and filled out the paperwork so we could hang out in front of their store and give away free sno-cones.  I’ve seen different organizations do this kind of stuff, although they are usually selling something and not giving it away.

When the store called back to get more info, they confirmed we were a church and that we were doing it for free.  When they found that out they said “You can’t do that, so the answer is NO.”

I couldn’t believe it.  Now if we were to charge money for the sno-cones, then give that money to a women’s shelter, then we would be able to do it.  But to sit out there and pass the things out for free was not going to happen.  You just can’t be nice anymore.

Random Thoughts

1. I’m enjoying my time in Canton, Georgia.  The drive down here was a killer, and I’m not looking forward to doing it again on Sunday as we head back to Ames, Iowa … but, hey, anything for the cause.

2. We got here at 5:30 am on Friday and I was out of bed a little before 10; slept maybe 10 minutes in the car.  This morning I tried catching up on some sleep.

3. Yesterday I got to meet Gary Lamb of Revolution.  I had seen pictures and heard podcasts, but this was my first time to meet him face to face.  I was glad for the chance to visit with him because he spent some time in Ames where I am now planting a church.  So not only did I get to get some church planting tips from Gary, but they are tips tailor made for my city.  Pretty cool deal.  Thanks, Gary!

4. On Sunday, my new friend Jason and I are driving over to Oak Leaf to their first service to check them out, then we’ll be back to Revolution for the second service.  I’m really looking forward to it.

5. Georgia has a lot of scenery. My part of Iowa is fairly flat with some rolling hills; more corn than trees.

6. Gustav looks to be headed for New Orleans.  I’m glad I don’t live there.

7. I’ve got so many ideas rolling around in my head about Freedom Ridge that my head hurts. I can’t wait to go public with Sunday services.

I’m Going To The Revolution

On Thursday I’m heading south to Canton, Georgia, to visit Revolution Church. Revolution was started by Gary Lamb, and Gary used to minister in Ames. I’ve never met Gary, but I’m looking forward to checking out his church and I’m hoping I get to pick his brain for a couple minutes. I’m sure I’ll learn something I can apply to Freedom Ridge.

Freedom Ridge Informational Dinner

On Friday, September 12, we are having another informational dinner to give an update and share some things about Freedom Ridge. It’s FREE and you’re invited! If you want to be part of Freedom Ridge, then do everything in your power to be there. And it would even be cool if you could bring a friend or two along, because that’s what it’s all about.

Here’s the details …
Date: Friday, September 12
Time: 6:30pm – 7:30pm (if you can’t be there right at 6:30, come whenever you can!)
Location: 2330 Lincoln Way (it’s the CCF office space in the basement of First National Bank)
RSVP: please let us know by 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 11, that you’ll be coming so we know how much food to get. It would actually be ideal to let us know ASAP and not wait to the last minute.

This won’t be like past dinners. And I am looking forward to sharing with you more details about Freedom Ridge; a possible meeting location for our Sunday services; our missional view towards Ames, Boone, Huxley, Nevada, Story City, and beyond; and how you can make a huge difference in the lives of people and make an eternal impact.

I hope you can make it, and help spread the word!

This Is Funny

WordPress has this section where you can see how many hits your blog has had, and what the search terms were that they entered into a search engine. Today someone came to my blog that had entered the search term “bathroom tornado.” Not sure what that says about my blog, but I thought it was pretty funny!

The New Generation & The Church

I recently read an article about the new generation that has been dubbed by the pollster, Zogby, as The First Globals. He has written a new book called “The Way We’ll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream.”

The article talks about how the new generation of Americans (between ages 18-29) are making dramatic moves away from traditional American ways. He obviously writes about it from a political standpoint, but I think there is something for the church to learn from it.

Here’s a summary of how he describes the new segment of our socieity:

- they are materialistic and self-absorbed
- they want to look richer than they are
- they obsess about relationships
- they are more accepting of homosexuality (more socially liberal)
- 66% say abortion is always morally wrong (you read that right, it’s not a typo)
- they are “color-blind”
- they no longer identify themselves as primarily American, but global
- they are willing to adjust their lifestyle to conserve energy
- they hunger for authenticity

I see some good things in there, but I also see some troubling things. I think the church can really capitalize on the hunger for authenticity; but it must be a true authentic authenticity. Authenticity for authenticity’s sake is like a festering boil and those who want authenticity can see right through it and will call it what it is: fake. The article says, “The America of 2020 will be a more tolerant nation,” he writes. “Our people by then will have lived for two decades in a new world of less . . . We will expect our leaders to talk straight: Hype, hokum, and hooey in politics, in advertising, wherever it appears (emphasis mine) will be punished.”

So what do you think? How can the church be effective in reaching out to this mindset? There’s a lot to digest here, but it’s also a good opportunity.

You can read the article in it’s entirety here.

Pop Goes The Church – #3

I have agreed to do a blog discussion of Pop Goes The Church by Tim Stevens (TS) with 3 other much wiser and better looking guys than me … Mike Demastus, Dan Hudson, and Kyle Phillips. We’re going to read a section, then post our thoughts and insights on our own blogs.

I like how TS approaches chapter 4 by giving different examples of churches reactions to a movie being shot in their town. I like word pictures and practicality, so this is easy for me to wrap my brain around. He says, “Every church makes a choice in how to respond to the pop culture, and the choice it makes determines how much of an impact it will have on its community.”

Response Choice: Condemn the Culture. TS raises the question of when did the church decide it should mandate the direction of our culture? Why are we focused on the fruit rather than the root (p71)?

I love this because I’ve always thought churches are treating the symptoms rather than the cause. We get mad and boycott McDonald’s because of their acceptance of homosexuality. I don’t agree with it, but shouldn’t we be more concerned with the lives and hearts of the execs that made the decision. Why not pour our boycott energies into praying/serving them?

Going right along with this, TS says Christians are using the Bible as a hammer against people trying to force reform. No wonder people are turned off! Who gets the warm fuzzies over something that just whacked ‘em up side the head?

He quotes the book “A Matrix of Meanings” (this is a fantastic quote): “In the New Testament, only the Gospels were written with the general public in mind. Yet many in the church read pop culture in light of Peter, Paul, and John’s letters. Books of the Bible intended as ‘inhouse’ documents, designed to purify God’s people, have been used inappropriately to correct the broader culture. So the warnings against sexual immorality in 1 Corinthians 7 get directed toward audiences Paul never intended.”

When we condemn the culture and use the Bible as a hammer, we’re just proving that we ARE judgmental and uncaring.

Response Choice: Separate From the Culture. When Jesus was on earth, he didn’t make a ton of list of don’ts; instead he focused on lists of character qualities we should have.

Response Choice: Embrace the Culture. Many mainline denominations have done just this, and as a result have become like the culture rather than a “light in the darkness.”

Response Choice: Ignore the Culture. Just because you ignore it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. And you’re missing out on a teachable moment. Jesus didn’t ignore the culture.

Response Choice: Leverage the Culture. This is obviously the best choice, and it is just that … a choice.

Chapter 5 goes right into leveraging the culture. TS talked about “sacred vs secular.” I agree with him that a lot of stuff in the Christian market is downright cheesy and embarrassing. When Paul was in Athens he was able to speak to the people there of their “unknown god” and point them in the direction of Jesus.

We are starting Freedom Ridge with the belief that everyone is on a spiritual journey whether they realize it or not; it is up to us to point them to Jesus. We need to meet people where they live, tap them on the shoulder, and begin walking with them as we steer them to Jesus.

I’m writing a post on the new generation initially called First Globals that will publish early Monday (August 18th). It’s got some interesting tidbits that I’d like to hear your comments and insight on. Please make sure you check it out.

Random Thoughts

1. I’ve enjoyed watching the Olympics, but can’t they show something else in prime time other than swimming? I can only take so much of it.

2. I don’t think any one would watch the women’s beach volleyball if the players actually wore clothes. And when did synchronized diving become an Olympic sport?

3. I’ve enjoyed Facebook. I’ve been able to reconnect with some old friends, and keep connected to new ones. If you have a Facebook account, request me as a friend.

4. Twitter has been fun, too. I’ve been able to meet some new people through Twitter.

5. I’m trying to get into running. I’ve always thought it looked fun, but never did it. Tonight I got just over a half-mile in before the lightning scared me enough to make me go inside. I was running long enough for a bug to hit the back of my throat and almost cause a hacking fit.

6. I finally broke down and traded in my Nokia 6010 that I’ve had for 4 years for a new cell phone. At first it was hard parting with ole reliable, but I’m really liking my new phone now.

7. School starts up on Monday. Where did the summer go?

8. Sunday Church is loaning a truck to Freedom Ridge. This is an answer to prayer.

9. Our house in Houston still hasn’t sold. When is it going to sell?

10. Had an impromptu lunch today at BK with a friend. No one in my family likes BK, so I’m glad Eric went with me. Thanks, Eric!

11. Looking forward to speaking at Pathway this Sunday. If you’re in the area, come join me there!

Adultery & a Speaking Engagement

This coming Sunday, August 17, I am speaking at Pathway Church in Johnston IA. It’s right by Des Moines. Anyway, their pastor (Dan Hudson) is going to be out of town taking his daughter off to college. So he asked me to fill in for him, which I gladly agreed to do. After I agreed, he then informed me that they are going through the 10 Commandments and my week will be the Commandment “don’t commit adultery”. So out of all the Commandments, I get the one that is PG13! I think Dan did that on purpose.

Actually, I’m looking forward to it and appreciate Dan giving me the opportunity. If you can come to Pathway, I’d appreciate seeing some familiar faces in the crowd. They start at 10, and click here for directions. If you are coming, let me know and I’ll look for you.

Freedom Ridge Text Updates

We now have the capability of using text messaging in a couple different important ways. (FYI for all you US Cellular customers out there: this service does not currently support US Cellular, but I talked to our tech guys and they said in the next 90 days it will, so stay tuned. If you want, you can send an e-mail to me stating your interest and then I’ll shoot you an e-mail when it is compatible.)

First of all, you can text AMES to 41411 and you will receive a message back with the latest update from Freedom Ridge. Go ahead and try it. No really, go ahead. We’ll use this as a form of advertising, or if you are wondering where the next meeting is or the next big thing going on, you can text AMES to 41411 and get your answer. This will be for general news.

Secondly, you can text SUBSCRIBE AMES to 41411 and you will automatically be subscribed to our list. We will use this to send out texts of immediate importance. For instance, if the weather is bad and we had to cancel a meeting or service, we’ll send out a text. If someone donates $100,000 to Freedom Ridge, we’ll send out a text to spread the good news. We may send out important reminders. Just rest assured that we will not abuse it and you can unsubscribe at any time. So text SUBSCRIBE AMES to 41411 to join the list.

Your standard text messaging charges apply, so check with your cell carrier.

Ain’t technology great?? Just one more way to communicate.

Do The Right Thing, Part 2

Yesterday I shared with you 2 principles I have learned in my life as a pastor about making decisions and doing the right thing. They were 1.) the right thing is not always the easiest thing, and 2. some people will hate you for your decision.

Today I want to share 3 more principles with you that will hopefully help you do the right thing.

3. Don’t second guess yourself. This is when you get into the arena of “what ifs?” and that is not a healthy place to live. Now if a trusted coach points out how it could have been done more effectively, don’t be to arrogant to adapt and/or regroup. But just because people whine and complain doesn’t mean your decision was wrong. Which leads to …

4. Stick with it. You may be tempted to give into the whiners, because that would be THE EASY THING TO DO (refer to #1). Again, if you’ve made your decision based on God’s vision for you then you’re OK. The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 3:13, “…never tire of doing what is right.” If it’s right, stick with it regardless of the pain, discomfort, or temptation to give up. Then …

5. In the end, people will understand. Some of them may never tell you, but in their heart of hearts they will appreciate the fact that you did the right thing and didn’t waver from your convictions.

Moses in the Old Testament worked with the largest group of whiners in history. Moses just rescued them from bondage (through a bunch of really cool God-thing events, I might add), and they were whining from day one! But he stuck with the task God had given him, and God was able to work through it.

If you stick with your decision and people NEVER understand it is not your problem, it’s their problem. At least you did what God wanted you to do.

Now go do the right thing.

Do The Right Thing

Decisions, choices, are a part of life. Someone once said that our life is a sum total of all the choices we made. Sometimes the decisions come easily to us; they are a no-brainer. Then others call for a little more thought. Some call for courage.

Those in leadership positions face decisions on a daily basis, and these decisions will affect the organization either in a positive or negative way. It can be daunting, but it is necessary. Putting off a decision is in essence a decision you are making … deciding not to decide. And I’m sure I don’t have to convince you that only leads to many fires needing to be put out later down the road!

Don’t make decisions that only serve to pacify the masses or a few people; I want to encourage you to do the right thing and make the tough call. I’m by no means perfect, but here’s what I’ve learned as a pastor;

1. The right thing is not always the easiest thing.

Everybody knows this. Dumbledore of Harry Potter fame (I’ve read all the HP books and seen all the movies) said, “We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.” Very true, Dumbledore! If you just make the easy choice or decisions, you are NOT leading … you are coasting. And you can only coast downhill; it requires no effort to go with the current.

Fear of the unknown or uncertainty can cause decision-paralysis. Knowing this, someone much wiser than Dumbledore said, “If you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll never get anything done.” That’s King Solomon talking in Ecclesiastes 11:4 in the Old Testament of the Bible.

Having a clear cut vision from God and understanding His mission for your life and church will help deter the decision-paralysis. So step out, step up, be a leader and realize you need to do the right thing and make the right decision. When you do, realize …

2. Some people will hate you for your decision.

You can’t make everyone happy, and you don’t want to. Look at the life of Jesus. He was always ticking people off! It’s not because He was being a jerk, but it was because He was sticking to His mission and wouldn’t let the urgent detract Him from the greater goal.

When you have God’s vision for your church as the driving force for your decision making, you will tick people off. They will call you an uncaring-selfish-empire-building-dictator and may try to make life miserable for you. If you have made your decision in line with God’s vision for you and His principles, then don’t sweat it! There’s more important things to do than worry about what people think of you.

In a previous ministry I had to make a tough call of removing someone from a leadership position and it angered a lot of people, but it was the right thing to do and the church was better for it. It wasn’t easy, but it was the right thing to do.

Come back tomorrow and I’ll share three more principles that I’ve learned about doing the right thing.

What Is The “.tv” In FreedomRidge.tv?

I’ve had people ask me this question, and wonder aloud if it means “televangelist” or if we were a new TV channel in town. “.tv” is a domain extension that was actually introduced in 1996. It comes from the country of Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean. Several small islands have entered the business of TLDs as a way of generating money for their economy. For instance, “.cc” comes from the Cocos Islands and “.ac” come from the Ascension Islands. The “.tv” extension can be used for any type of website, and is becoming increasingly popular.

We chose “.tv” for a couple reasons. One, it makes people ask weird questions and we get to talk to them. And two, in the future we are going to have a lot of video content; so it will fit even more then.

Pop Goes The Church – #2

I have agreed to do a blog discussion of Pop Goes The Church by Tim Stevens (TS) with 3 other much wiser and better looking guys than me … Mike Demastus, Dan Hudson, and Kyle Phillips. We’re going to read a section, then post our thoughts and insights on our own blogs.

When I saw the title for chapter 2, “Lost In Translation,” I thought I’d be able to breeze right through it. I knew from the title what it was about, and I have tried and I think succeeded in removing most forms of Christianese from my vocabulary. I can speak it if I need to (although there are some words I don’t even understand), but most of the time I speak in the language of the “common man.” I’m multi-lingual.  (Update: see my comment to this post below.)

But TS went a little deeper than just Christianese and approached the topic of filters, which makes perfect sense. Because of our past, our upbringing, our different life experiences, we all see life through different filters. And this one can be a little trickier because as Christians we need to communicate knowing the hearers wear filters and WE wear filters.

“The Curse Of Knowledge” (p46) is a principle that says once you learn something it is hard for us to imagine life without knowing it. When you become familiar with the Bible it is easy to let that affect your word choices. TS says, “Speaking the right language is more than the words that are spoken. It is about context, timing, previous experiences, and culture.”

Check out John Voelz’s blog post about Christianese and taking things out of context.

I recently visited a church that is from a denomination I am not real familiar with and had a style of service that was foreign to me. I felt like a fish out of water. I didn’t know when to stand, when to sit, when to read, when to do anything (except look at my watch, which I did quite often). Everyone else was fine, because they were used to it. I was weirded out because I didn’t know what in the world was going on. I’m glad I was there, though, because it helped me be more sensitive to those “out of the loop.”

Chapter 3 is called “Why Pop Culture Is So Popular.” Pop culture is popular because it is all around us. Personally, I don’t put celebrities up on a pedestal just because they are celebrities. I didn’t watch the OJ trial; when Brittany or Lindsay or Paris are on the TV, I turn the channel. Tom Cruise is probably a nice guy. Oprah drives me nuts.

TS recently expanded on this chapter on his blog. You can read his thoughts here.

I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the book. Chapter 4 looks like it has some good stuff in it that I can’t wait to comment on.

An Observation About Encouragement

I recently came across this great post about encouragement. I copied it below, or you can see it in the original form here …

Pardon me for a moment while I make a pointed observation:

I have never met an over-encouraged pastor.
It’s almost an oxymoron. Almost all are walking-wounded. Bitten by their own sheep.

It has always boggled my mind when someone who has never undertook the tremendous physical, mental & spiritual challenge of planting a church criticizes a church planter. That takes a lot of gumption, y’know?

Likewise, it has always astounded me when someone who has never pastored a church criticizes their pastor. I think Paul said something about this in 1 Timothy 1.6-7.

It would be like me trying to tell my primary physician he’s doing everything wrong while he’s trying to treat me. Ludicrous & judgmental, right?

Further, it has also always struck me as audacious when seminary students criticize pastors. This is like a first-year med student walking up to a tenured brain surgeon with years of mettle and experience and saying, “Hey Doc, I’ll take the scalpel here. I obviously have a steadier arm having been watching from the sidelines. You can scrub out.”

My point? Your pastor doesn’t need your criticisms & judgments, trust me. He needs your prayers and loud encouragements.

Allow me to go a step further with this observation: If you have a long critical email/blog post/phone call that you can’t wait to use to get your pastor’s attention, read Hebrews 13.17-18 first. And then if you’re still feeling moved to speak, watch Session 2 from Unleash (unpacks Heb 13.17 perfectly).

Bottom-line: It’s hard to create something beautiful with a sledgehammer. Criticize by creating. Trust that the true Senior Pastor (1 Peter 5) is consuming
& guiding your local pastor’s heart – the workman already approved.

Heath Ledger As “The Joker”

I haven’t seen Heath Ledger in a lot of movies, but I really liked him in The Patriot. I actually own that movie on DVD. Then Heath went and acted in the movie about some cowboys out West. I never saw that movie, never wanted to see it, and never will see it, but I know enough about it to know what the movie is about. Needless to say, I was disappointed in Heath and haven’t been able to watch The Patriot since then.

I went today to see The Dark Knight where Heath plays Batman’s nemesis “The Joker”, hoping that he would redeem himself in my eyes. He did a fantastic job. He was creeping me out in some scenes and was very believable as the insane, sadistic, madman.

I think I might just be able to get out my “The Patriot” DVD again.  (UPDATE: I thought he was GREAT in A Knight’s Tale.)

The Life Of A Church Planter

Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!

-(From the Message paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 in the New Testament.)

My Bible Journey – Philemon

Philemon is a short book in the Bible, but is jam packed with good stuff. Let me set this up … It was written by Paul to a guy named Philemon who was living in a town called Colossae. Paul and Philemon had a mutual acquaintance, Onesimus. Onesimus was a slave of Philemon’s who ran away and met up with Paul in Rome while Paul was under house arrest. Under Paul’s teaching, Onesimus became a Christian.

Now Paul had this teaching that says (Ephesians 6:5), “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.” So after Onesimus becomes a Christian it is natural that he should go back and make amends with his earthly master that he had wronged. Understandably, Onesimus is a little hesitant to do this so Paul sends a letter on ahead to soften up Philemon and let him know what is going on in Onesimus’ life.

Here’s some great lines that Paul wrote to Philemon: v6, “I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ.” v8-9, “That is why I am boldly asking a favor of you. I could demand it in the name of Christ because it is the right thing for you to do. But because of our love, I prefer simply to ask you.” v17-19, “So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it. And I won’t mention that you owe me your very soul!“

Do you detect any truthful sarcasm there? I think it’s great the way Paul is approaching it, and Philemon really has no choice but to accept Onesimus back as an equal and a brother.

Here’s what all this means to us; this story is a great word picture of God’s redemption plan for us. Philemon represents God, Paul represents Jesus, and Onesimus is you. You have wronged God and ran away, but when you meet up with Jesus He goes to God on your behalf and says “If he has wronged you in any way, charge it to me. I will repay it.” Jesus acts as your mediator to smooth things over between you and God. And as a result God accepts us as children into His family. We no longer need to run or hide in fear, but can confidently approach God because of the love of Jesus.

Pretty cool, huh? If you aren’t livin’ the Jesus life, I encourage you to come on over. There’s plenty of room in God’s family.

Spike In Attacks Against Egyptian Coptic Christians

Groups Organize Demonstrations to Protest the Attacks

The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has learned that a recent increase in attacks against Egypt’s Coptic Christians has prompted various Christian groups to organize demonstrations condemning fanatic Muslims engaging in these attacks and the officials of the Egyptian government who have failed to protect Christians against such attacks.

This spike in attacks has resulted in the death of four Christians, the destruction of several churches, the kidnapping of four Christians, and the ransacking of their properties:

• Four Egyptian Christians were gunned down when a jewelry shop belonging to one of them was attacked by two masked men. No one has yet been arrested for this attack that took place on May 28, 2008.

• On May 31, sixty well-armed Muslims assaulted the historic Abu Fana monastery near Minya. Besides causing damage to the property of the 4th century monastery, the fundamentalist Muslims kidnapped three monks and one Coptic farmer during the attack. The monks were tortured and pressured to convert to Islam. They refused and were eventually released, but the Coptic farmer is still missing.

• On June 20, Muslim fundamentalists carried out large scale attacks on Christians in the village of al-Nazla. Cars, homes and businesses belonging to Coptic Christians were ransacked and the windows of a Coptic church shattered. The attack was the result of a rumor circulating that a Christian woman who converted to Islam was abducted by her Christian family.

This rise in attacks against Christians in Egypt is being fueled by the growth of the radical Wahhabi Islam propagated by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Wahhabi Islam is highly intolerant towards Christians and other minorities and encourages violence against them.

Though the attacks against Christians are perpetrated by fanatic Muslims, the officials of the government of Egypt have at times failed to prevent the attacks when they could. In most cases, after the attacks occur, the police fail to bring the perpetrators to justice. The perpetrators are therefore encouraged to carry out further attacks with impunity.

Enraged over the widespread attacks and the failure of the Egyptian government to protect its Christian minority, various Christian organizations are planning to hold demonstrations in Washington, D.C. and New York City. International Christian Union and American Coptic Association are organizing a demonstration in Washington, D.C., which will be held in front of the White House on Wednesday, July 16 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Another demonstration, being organized by the Voice of the Copts in New York City, will be held in front of the United Nations and Egyptian Consulate in New York on Wednesday, July 23 at 12:00 pm.

ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, Darara Gubo, said, “Egypt has an international obligation to protect its Christian minority against attacks by fanatic Muslims. Egyptian authorities must carry out their obligations by prosecuting the perpetrators of such attacks.”

ICC calls upon those concerned about religious freedom for Egypt’s Christian minority to join the rallies in Washington, D.C. and New York City. By attending these rallies Christians will get the opportunity to highlight the plight of their brothers and sisters in Egypt.

You can also call the Egyptian embassy in your country. Please politely ask the Egyptian embassy officials to protect Christians against attacks.

Egyptian Embassies

Country		Phone		Fax		Email
USA		202-895-5400		202-244-4319		Embassy@egyptembassy.net
Canada		613-234-4931		(613) 234-4398		egyptemb@sympatico.ca, egypt4931@rogers.com
UK		020-7499-2401 / 499 3304		020-7491-1542		info@egpressoffice.com
Australia		(61 2) 9281-4844		612-9281-4344		info@egypt.org.au
Germany		030-477-5470		030-477-1049		Embassy@egyptian-embassy.de

###

ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC delivers humanitarian aid, trains and supports persecuted pastors, raises awareness in the US regarding the problem of persecution, and is an advocate for the persecuted on Capitol Hill and the State Department. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.

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The Freedom Ridge Personality In 24 Words Or Less

Yesterday we talked a little bit about what our weekend services will look like. Although I don’t know a single descriptive term, I want to fill you in on our personality because that will have a direct effect on our services. Again, I don’t know a single descriptive term to describe our personality.

Here’s what I envision when I see Freedom Ridge … we are going to be a church for people who don’t like church, so that means we’re gonna do things differently. Our format will be different; as soon as we can swing it we will be video intensive. We will have man-on-the-street interviews, video illustrations, and I will probably even teach some of the points of my lesson by video (so it will be on-the-scene illustrations, but I wouldn’t do this every week.)

The lessons will be Bible-based, concise, and practical; that means you will get something on Sunday that you can use in your life on Monday.

As far as music, we will be guitar driven. I am not opposed to using today’s culture to make a point (look at Jesus’ parables), so if there is a good secular song that will fit the theme for the day, the band will play it. The style of the band will be rockish. I’m especially praying for a couple electric guitar players that can really rock out. Again, I don’t want us to be the typical mellow-sounding-contemporary-church-worship-team that you’d normally expect.

Weekend services are just one part of Freedom Ridge. One trait that I want us to really be known for is community service. We will serve in a variety of ways with no strings attached purely because God loves people and so do we. If we ever disappeared for whatever reason, I want the community to miss us.

So if I had to boil it down to 24 words, I would say, “Freedom Ridge will be an externally focused and practical church that hits people where they live using culturally relevant means to fulfill our mission.”

Sound like something you might like to be involved in?? Let me know. We’re developing our launch team right now!

What Style of Service Will Freedom Ridge Have?

People ask me all the time what type of service Freedom Ridge is going to have. It is kind of a tricky question to answer in just one or two descriptive words, not because I don’t know what we will be like. I can see it very clearly in my mind. It is because I don’t know what “term” to use.

“Traditional” means you have a choir, perhaps dressed in robes sitting either on the stage or to one side of the stage. An organ and piano plays the songs while everyone sings verses 1, 2, 3 & 5 of hymn #472. There is nothing wrong with this, but we are definitely not going to be traditional.

“Contemporary” means you don’t have a choir, but you have somewhere between 3 and 12 people on the stage each with their own microphone singing what is affectionately called “praise & worship” songs with the words on a screen. You usually have drums, maybe a couple guitars, and definitely a keyboard. Throw in a casually dressed speaker, maybe an occasional drama, and you’ve got yourself a contemporary church service. I think contemporary is the new traditional. We are not going to be contemporary.

The other terms that people use to describe church services are “emerging” and “emergent.” Honestly, I haven’t been able to wrap my mind around what these mean. I could be wrong, but it seems that those who subscribe to this train of thought are re imagining what church is supposed to be and are tired of the way that modern churches are doing things, so they are going back to the way church was done 2000 years ago. I understand the premise, but it seems they are not going back to the true authentic church of 2000 years ago, but are only going back about 500 years. It is not to say they are traditional, because they are not.

To oversimplify it, it has something to do with incense, you can maybe sit on couches instead of pew or chairs, there’s some chants or group readings, you can visit a prayer or confession station, the service is more conversational, and there are definitely candles. We are not going to be emergent, although during our services some people may raise their ignited lighters as the band is rocking out a song to God.

So what type of service is Freedom Ridge going to have? Maybe conmergent. Maybe emergeporary. Maybe something else. We’re not going to be Willow Creek, or Saddleback, or Mars Hill, or LifeChurch, or Lakewood Church, but we will be Freedom Ridge. We’ll take what we can learn from other successful churches, apply it to our setting here, and not worry about fitting in some sort of box. Boxes are too restrictive anyway.

Come back tomorrow and I’ll give you a little insight into what we’ll be like.

Pop Goes The Church – #1

I have agreed to do a blog discussion of Pop Goes The Church with 3 other much wiser and better looking guys than me … Mike Demastus, Dan Hudson, and Kyle Phillips. We’re going to read a section, then post our thoughts and insights on our own blogs.

And we’re off … The author, Tim Stevens (henceforth known as TS), asks a couple good questions in the introduction that really stuck out to me. “Where is the church known more by what they do than by what they say?” (p16) and “Would your community be any different if your church ceased to exist?” (p17). I think if most churches are honest, they would have to say the community would not miss them if they disappeared. This is what scares me about launching Freedom Ridge … my decisions now and the DNA that is implanted into Freedom Ridge will have a direct effect on our personality and community involvement for years. I have said even before arriving in Ames that I want us to be doers and not just talkers, so this book already has me hooked by page 16.

I love the title of chapter 1: “Molly, your church sucks!” I think I’ve been to Molly’s church. TS quotes U2’s Bono (p24) who said in 2006, “I never had a problem with Christ. But, uh, Christians were a bit of a problem for me.” I know exactly what he means. The reason for this is because there is really no discernible difference between Christians and those who aren’t Christians. To help make the point, TS quotes a survey from the book unChristian that says “Christians are known as hypocritical, too focused on getting converts, homophobic, sheltered, too political, and judgmental” (p24). OUCH … but sooo true.

Don’t you think if we (Christians) put our money where our mouth is, or lined our life up by what we say we believe, that it would help others (those who aren’t Christians) see the difference Jesus makes in your life?? We’ve got a long way to go, and you can’t really blame those who aren’t Christians, because we Christians screw things up so much and get in the way. I’m a pastor, and there are a lot of Christians I don’t like (but that is a post for another day.)

TS makes the point that people are becoming more spiritual but are less apt to attend church. That is because “thousands of churches have made boring an art form” (p30) so most people see church as irrelevant. As a result, we need to engage the culture and remember that the church is supposed to reach out. We need to show how the Bible is relevant and can make a difference in people’s lives, but we need to do so in an honest, sincere way. Respect the fact that everyone is on a spiritual journey … we’re all at different places … and don’t be judgmental because someone isn’t as far along as you are.

TS ends the chapter saying, “If we keep doing what we have always done, we will keep getting what we have always gotten – and I am not satisfied with that” (p40). Ditto, my friend.

Our House For Sale

I have shared with you about our house in Houston that is for sale. It has been on the market since the first of December, and to date we have received ZERO offers. We have been living in the Ames area, paying the mortgage and utilities and homeowner association fees for a house we are not even living in. Needless to say it has not been easy OR fun. Now we are even having to pay for someone to mow the yard! It’s driving me nuts.

Our realtor is having an open house on Saturday, July 12, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. PLEASE pray now and during that time that someone will show up, love the house, and buy the house from us. We are ready to be done with it and get on with life here.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

What Kind Of Life Do You Want?

When we were younger and growing up we had a pretty good idea of what our happy life would look like. But then as we grow up and grow older, the responsibilities come, reality sets in, and life throws us curve ball after curve ball. I can remember playing whiffle ball and kick ball as a kid in our yard wanting my parents to call me “Jack” and hoping it would never end. Life was good.

Life is a series of choices that we make. We cannot control everything that life throws at us, but one thing we can control is how we choose to respond to the situation. Make the right choice (respond the right way) and life goes a little better. Make the wrong choice (respond in a destructive way) and you heap more troubles onto yourself.

At Freedom Ridge all of our lessons will be Bible based and will be done in such a way to provide you with practical life changing information. We can’t and won’t make your life choices for you, but we will provide you with the tools so you can make wise choices. Then you can turn around and share what you’ve learned with all your friends. It’s a win win for everyone!

4th of July Update

Ames had a pretty big 4th of July celebration going on all day yesterday. At the Bandshell Park there was a small carnival for the kids, concerts were going on just about all day, and a lot of vendors were set up there selling tons of different things. This is where we were, but we were giving away free popcorn as well as inviting people to enter a drawing for a free $100 gas card.

Our first priority was to meet some people and do something nice for them. In that respect, I think the day was a big success. We passed out over 1100 bags of free popcorn, and had 293 people enter the drawing for the gas card. I don’t know how many cards we passed out, but it was A LOT.

Here is a picture of our booth …

Several times we would have people lined up 15 deep waiting on their bag of popcorn. The popcorn popper just wouldn’t keep up with the demand sometimes. This picture doesn’t show the line because when there was a line we were too busy to take pictures.

I got to meet a lot of neat people. One of them was none other than Abraham Lincoln. I asked him if he would like to come to Freedom Ridge, but he started droning on about “four score and seven years ago” and how he really hates going to the theater, so I just casually backed away and busied myself with popcorn bags.

It was a tiring but very fun day. The weather was absolutely PERFECT. I’m glad we were able to take part in the day’s activities and I look forward to Freedom Ridge making a positive contribution to the Ames area. Ames is a great place, and we are glad to be here!

Speak Up for Imprisoned Chinese Christian

Chinese Officials Ignore their own Laws by Holding Bookstore Owner without Charges

The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has learned that the owner of a Christian bookstore near the Olympic Village in Beijing is being illegally held in an undisclosed location by Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials who charge only that the prominent house church leader is a “dangerous religious element.”

Shi Weihan, a leader, publisher, and father of two daughters, has been held for three months, a month longer than legally permitted, without formal charges or a court hearing and has only been allowed one visit with his attorney. Arrested on March 19, Weihan was expected to finally stand trial two weeks ago, but the PSB has stated that any action on the case will be delayed indefinitely.

Police have been overly interested in Weihan and his legally operated bookstore near the Olympic Village since November of last year when they initially arrested him on charges of “illegal business practices,” but were forced to release him in January for lack of sufficient evidence. The timing of his re-arrest and illegal detention remains suspicious in light of the recent crackdown on Chinese house church leaders and other suspected “dissidents,” especially given the proximity of Weihan’s bookstore to the Olympic stage in Beijing.

Concern is mounting over Weihan’s health as he struggles with diabetes and police have provided no indication that he is receiving any sort of medication. During the only visit afforded to his attorney, Zhang Xingshui, Weihan was described as having lost a significant amount of weight and as exhibiting signs of what officials called an “allergic reaction,” though the same symptoms are also common in diabetics who do not have the necessary diet or medication.

Despite his health and the illegal conditions of his detention, the PSB is refusing to allow his family or attorney to see him, citing a “complex case” as the only explanation for their ongoing investigations and delays in processing.

While it seems that China’s government is attempting to sweep this “dissident” under the rug, Weihan has been described by countless friends and business acquaintances as a “model citizen of China,” claiming that his patriotism inspired them to greater love for their homeland. Weihan is also said to have sacrificially served the poor and minority children in rural communities, and now he and his family are in need of others to speak on their behalf.

ICC is joining Open Doors USA and China Aid Association in speaking up for Shi Weihan. Would you join us and contact your Chinese embassy to voice your concern over this case? Politely tell the embassy officials that you believe that Shi Weihan should be given regular access to his attorney to ensure that he is fairly represented, that his family should be allowed the right to visit and bring his diabetic medication, and that steps should be taken to ensure that he is given a fair and speedy trial.

Chinese Embassies:

Country	Phone	Fax	Email
USA	202-328-2500	202-588-9760	chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn
Canada	613-789-3434	613-789-1911	chinaemb_ca@mfa.gov.cn
UK	020-72994049	020-76365578	press@chinese-embassy.org.uk
Australia	0061-2-62734780	0061-2-62735848	chinaemb_au@mfa.gov.cn

Pop Goes The Church

I bought this book a little while ago, but I haven’t even cracked it yet because there were other books in my reading queue. I have a feeling that I’m really going to like it and I’m hoping it will help put some feet to the things I want to do at Freedom Ridge.

I have agreed to do a blog discussion of this book with 3 other guys … Mike Demastus, Dan Hudson, and Kyle Phillips. We’re going to read a section, then post our thoughts and insights on our own blogs. The first post will be up no later than July 15, which is good because since we just moved I have to find where I put my book.

UPDATE: I found my book! I walked into the room that is going to be my temporary office, and a bright ray of light was shining down on a box in the corner of the room. I think I even heard angels singing. So I marched over to the box, took off the lid, and there was my book sitting right inside!

Truthfully, I remembered I drew stars all over a certain box that I wanted to locate easily (it has some books and important stuff in it.) I just looked for that box. It didn’t take that long to find it, although I like the “ray of light” story much better.

Freedom Ridge Card

Here’s the front of the card we’re gonna pass out on the 4th. It measures 3″x3″.

Here’s the back of the card.

Things Have Been Busy

When I started blogging I made a personal commitment that I would post as regularly as possible, but only if I had something to say. I don’t want to blog just for blogging’s sake. Well, for the past 10 days or so I haven’t had a lot to say because I’ve been REALLY busy. Let me tell you why …

We have been living in a duplex that is 1000 square feet with one bathroom. Not a lot of room, especially when you throw 2 teenage daughters, two dogs, and a cat into the mix. Well, we just recently moved into another rental (a house this time) that is HUUUGE compared to where we were, and the rent is a little cheaper. This house was built in 1875 when Ulysses S. Grant was president. But I think it will serve its purpose for us while we wait for our Houston house to sell.

So I’ve been busy, because we’ve been moving, and because I’ve been extra busy I haven’t had a lot to post. Now that I’m getting back into a routine, I’m hoping to post more regularly.

When I was a kid, it seemed like summers were when things slowed down and the phrase “the lazy days of summer” had some truth to it.  I think summers are the busiest time of the year now.  What’s up with that?

4th of July Booth

The city of Ames has a day long celebration on the 4th of July. Freedom Ridge is going to be taking part by having a booth at the Bandshell Park. (Here’s a map.) We will be there from Noon to 7 p.m. passing out free bags of popcorn as well as inviting people to register to win a free gas card worth $100.

I’m excited about this opportunity, because I am positive that Freedom Ridge has a lot to offer to the Ames community and surrounding area. We are designing a church made for people who don’t like church and invite them to experience the freedom found in Jesus. It’s gonna be fun.

If you want to volunteer to help with our booth, please let me know. If you can’t help but are in the area, please stop by. We’d love to meet you.

My Soda Saga Pt. 2

About 3 weeks or so I shared with you how I am going to lay off the soda. Well, I have fallen off the wagon. I made it 3 days without any, then it just sorta started trickling back in until it started gushing. I’m still not back to previous levels though, which is good.

I still have the goal of going an entire week without any, with the ultimate goal of having it only occasionally. I find myself drinking it to get my sweet fix, which I am a major sweetaholic. I haven’t given up.

Catching Up

I’ve been kinda busy lately, so I haven’t been posting as much as I like to do. So I am going to try to catch up with some details so you know what’s going on …

1. I’m liking Twitter. Even though the only people I know who are doing it are my daughters, it is still pretty cool. Twitter is still relatively new, so I figure more people will jump on board as time passes. I encourage you to sign up, and you can follow me here.

2. We are moving to a different house next week. Right now we’re in a 1000 sq ft duplex with one bathroom. We’re moving to another rental, but this time it is a much larger house for a little cheaper rent. If you want to help us carry some heavy stuff, let me know.

3. I performed a wedding on Saturday. They had it outside, and I had been kinda worried for them since the weather has been really weird. But the weather was almost perfect. They are a cute couple, and it was my first wedding to do as Freedom Ridge’s pastor.

4. Our house in Houston still has not sold. Sometimes I wonder what God is doing.

5. I found some office space in downtown Ames that I’d like to get for Freedom Ridge. I’d be more productive getting out of the house, and it would get us some “face time” in town. It cost around $300 a month, and that is with utilities included. Anyone out there want to buy us a year’s worth of office space?

6. We got our car fixed, so it now goes in reverse again. We took it to Max’s Auto outside of Ames and saved ourselves almost $200 over the quote the mechanic in Ames quoted me.

7. Life is good.

Father’s Day Is The Most Important Day Of The Year

I think it’s ironic how Father’s Day is treated. It doesn’t get the attention and respect that it deserves. This year it is stuck right in between Flag Day (June 14th) and National Fudge Day (June 16).

I am of the opinion that Father’s Day is more important than Mother’s Day; maybe that’s because I’m a dad. Maybe it’s because I know the importance of a dad being involved in the life of his child. Maybe it’s both. I’m a dad and there’s not much more that I enjoy than being a dad.

Here’s how it goes: on Mother’s Day the mom says, “Honey, it’s Mother’s Day and I REALLY need a break from the kids. Why don’t you take the kids and go do something with them?” Then on Father’s Day the mom says, “Honey, it’s Father’s Day and it would be a good idea for you to spend some time with the kids. Why don’t you take them and go do something?” Somehow, it’s been turned around on us. But that’s OK.

So to all the Dads out there, please realize how important it is for you to be there for your kids and to be a huge part of their life. Maybe you have said “I spend quality time with my kids.” That’s usually a cop out for someone who doesn’t spend a lot of time with their kids. But here’s a harsh truth: quality time comes out of quantity time. The more time you spend with your kids, the better chance you have of having quality time with them.

So if you’re a dad, be a Dad. You’re a king, you’re needed, you are important. Don’t be an absentee wannabe.

Today Is Flag Day

Today, June 14, is Flag Day in honor of the day that the Stars & Stripes were adopted as our national flag way back in 1777. Also, this is the same day that the US Army was founded two years earlier in 1775.

This country isn’t perfect, but there is no other place I would rather call home. The freedoms we have here and unlike any other place, and we need to make sure that we do our part to protect them. I’ve always admired those who joined the service and literally lay their life on the line to protect our country and freedoms.

If you read this and you are an American, my words to you are “don’t be lazy, don’t be apathetic, and don’t feel like you are owed something. Be thankful, and do your part.”

Remember after 9/11 when everyone rallied behind the flag?? Those were the days. America IS a great place.

Gas Prices Keep Going Up

I went to Ozark Christian College in Joplin MO from 1986 to 1990, and I remember being able to by gas for 69 cents a gallon. I had a ‘79 Honda Civic and I could fill that thing up for about 7 bucks. Those were the days.

For about the last 18 months I have already been adapting my driving habits, mainly just by combining errands into one big one instead of running a bunch of little ones. If I can put off an errand for a day or two or three in order to combine it with something else, that’s what I do.

Lately I have been wondering how the rising gas prices are going to change our way of life. The obvious thing is everything else is going to get more expensive, but I think a much larger issue is that people’s sphere of activity is going to shrink dramatically. We’re going to become a much smaller society. Recreational activities and vacations are going to be closer to home. Neighborhood stores will become more important. People may even find jobs closer to home, or move closer to their jobs.

I’ve been especially interested in how this is going to affect churches. I’ve talked to some pastors and they’ve already seen the effect through lower offerings. I think people will start to find churches “closer to home” rather than driving many miles to a particular church. Here’s an interesting article about gas prices and the church.

How has the high gas prices affected you? Have you made any changes?

Turkey Forcing Church to Fight to Stay Open, Again

The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has just learned that last week police in the Turkish capital of Ankara warned a legally recognized church that it would be closed in three days.

The Batikent Protestant Church, located in Ankara, is one of the very few Protestant churches which have been legally recognized in Turkey by winning a series of precedent-setting court cases. On June 2, however, two police officers served the pastor with a notice from the local government that the church was to be closed within 3 days because it is meeting in a building that is not approved as a place of worship. This is in spite of the fact that the Batikent Protestant Church won a court case against the Yenimahalle Municipal Government last year that overturned the government’s attempts to shut it down on the basis of zoning code violations. This current notice is forcing the church to fight yet another legal battle over a case it has already won.

On June 4, the founding pastor of the Batikent Protestant Church, Daniel Wickwire had his lawyers open a court case challenging the police notice that they received on June 2. Wickwire, who has been a missionary pastor in Ankara for the past 23 years, said, “It is very obvious that what is happening to our church is a pre-meditated, continuous and jointly orchestrated direct attack against the Church as a whole in Turkey by the right-wing Islamic government (AK Party) that is currently in control in Turkey.” He mentioned specifically that the Yenimahalle Municipal Government has been working in conjunction with the national Ministry of the Interior to try to shut down the church.

Wickwire himself has been the target of much hostility for having the audacity to take the Turkish Constitution’s guarantee of religious freedom at face value. Officially, he has been forced to stay in Turkey as a tourist for the past 19 years while having to leave the country every 90 days, because the government refuses to give him either a residence permit or a work permit on the basis that he is a missionary.

His attempts to even apply for a work permit at the Turkish Consulate in Chicago were mysteriously “lost” in red tape. A year after he applied in Chicago his wife returned to follow-up on the application and was refused her request for information. Wickwire said, “The consulate officials became very nervous and said that they would lose their jobs if they were to give out this information. They said that if we were Muslims we would not be having this kind of trouble.”

A well-know TV newsperson repeatedly came to his church to do interviews with him with the express purpose of shutting down the church, but was convicted by the courts of trying to incite a riot against the churches in Ankara and was given a 2 year jail sentence. However, this man was somehow able to get out of having to do any jail time.

Pastor Wickwire has been involved in over 15 court cases in the last 6 years in order to keep the church doors open. Wickwire told ICC, “It is high time for the international community to speak out against such overt, blatant and continual harassment and persecution of the church.”

Would you pray for Pastor Wickwire and the Batikent Protestant Church? In addition, would you please call or write your Turkish embassy to ask them to uphold religious freedom by dropping this latest attack against the Batikent Protestant Church?

Turkish Embassies:

USA:Phone (202) 612-6700, Fax (202) 612-6744, contact@turkishembassy.org
Canada:Phone (613) 789-4044, Fax (613) 789-3442, turkishottawa@mfa.gov.tr
UK:Phone 020 7393 0202, Fax 020 7393 0066, turkish.emb@btclick.com

Back It Up

We have this Dodge Neon with a standard transmission. It’s a stick shift. The other day it decided to quit going into reverse. We can drive forward just fine, but when it comes time to back the thing up you are out of luck. You have to get out and push, and even though it is a small car it is still pretty heavy. So we’ve had to adapt a little bit in how we drive. You need to pull through the parking spaces so you don’t have to back up. Instead of parking in the driveway at home, you park in the street … drive around the block instead of turning around.

I took it to the garage to find out how much it will cost to go in reverse again. $500. And that’s $500 more than we have right now.

I don’t know about you, but when I think of “backing up” or “going in reverse” in life, it has a negative connotation to it. The way I am wired, I am always looking forward. But every now and then it is good to back up just a little bit, get a different perspective and evaluate, and then adjust course if need be or continue moving on like you were. But you have to keep moving forward.

I’ve learned in church planting, you need to have a plan and a strategy; that’s a given. But you also need to be flexible enough to adapt your strategy as you become more aware of the community’s culture, or as different opportunities arise. Just because it looks good on paper doesn’t mean it is going to work out in reality.

When it comes to life, you can’t go through life staring into the rear view mirror. I know people who live that way, and it’s a miserable way to live.

So even though “reverse” is a necessary gear, don’t get stuck in it. Keep on keeping on.

Sharing About Freedom Ridge

Last Sunday I had the opportunity to go to a church in Dubuque IA called The Bridge. They wanted me to come over and share with them about Freedom Ridge and our mission. It was a lot of fun. The people there were great, friendly, somewhat normal, and receptive.

This coming Sunday, June 8, I get to go the Clinton Church of Christ in Clinton IA to do the same thing. I’m looking forward to it. Please say a prayer for me.

I like talking about Freedom Ridge and I get pumped when I think about all that God could use us for. It scares me to death, too, because I don’t want to get in the way of what God wants to do. I feel unworthy to be in this position. Sometimes I feel like God could have made a better choice, but for some reason I am here and I want to be open to God’s leading.

Freedom Ridge is going to make a huge impact; not because of me, but because of God.

Web 2.0

I’m really starting to get into this stuff known as web 2.0. Of course I have my blog, but I also have a Facebook account, and our church has a page on Facebook also. I have just created an account with Twitter and think I could have a lot of fun with it.

As a church planter, I am learning the possibilities and advantages of having these things. I’m sure I haven’t tapped into their full potential, but I am learning! There’s also some really really cool things we could do as a church with Twitter, and if the opportunity arises we will definitely do it.

So if you read this … request me as a friend on Facebook, become a fan of our church page, and follow me on Twitter so we can read each other’s tweets.  Technology is amazing.

Our Trip To Parkersburg Iowa

This is going to be a longer post than normal. I usually try to keep it around a couple hundred words or so, but there’s a lot to say about this one … and there’s pictures to look at. We went to Parkersburg on May 31 to do what we could do. Here’s my thoughts about the day:

1. I was amazed at the extent of the damage. This town took a direct hit. Just look at the pictures and you can tell.

2. This is the guy who owns the house we first helped with. He was needing help carrying large stuff out to the street. His home was eventually going to be bulldozed and have to be rebuilt. I asked him how long he had lived there, and he said 35 years. They had built the home brand new. He had a really good attitude, because he kept saying it was just a house and they could get another one. He was also funny, because he kept saying “I apologize. My wife isn’t a very good housekeeper.” The next picture is a front view of his house, and the third picture is a shot of a board sticking out of the back of his house.

3. There were several “comfort dogs” around town. These were volunteers who took their well-trained dogs around town to help relieve stress from many of the storm victims and volunteers. They come from as far away as Boston and Kansas City to provide this service. You can find out more about them at Animal Assisted Crisis Response.

4. This is my wife (pink shirt) and my daughter (not pink shirt) in the upper level of a home.

5. Here’s some more pictures of damage.

6. This is me with my two daughters. The volunteers would check in at the local church, and from there you would be assigned to a work site. There were several shuttles that would be pulled either by a truck or a tractor and take you to your work site.

7. This is the second house we worked with. The house was totally blown off of the basement and wrapped around a tree in the front yard (see the second picture.) The basement was made out of cinder blocks, and the whole back wall caved into the basement. The basement was filled with a lot of debris. I am hoping these people were not home when the tornado hit, because their basement would not have been a safe place to be.

8. I want to give a big shout out to Target. They had a tent set up right outside the area where volunteers were to check in. They were passing out water, work gloves, sunscreen, a lot of snacks, and some fruit. We didn’t have any sunscreen, so we went over there and I asked them how much it cost. The woman working there said it was all free! Very cool.

9. The Red Cross impressed me again. I went to Pascagoula, Mississippi, to help with clean up after Hurricane Katrina and that was my first experience with the Red Cross. They were on top of things as they drove through the neighborhoods bringing food and drink to the families and volunteers. I witnessed the same thing in Parkersburg. Again, very cool.

10. Parkersburg was not the only town that got hit. Please pray for everyone in that part of the state, because it is going to take some time to recover.

11. The extent of the damage was massive. Seeing pictures here and on TV does not do it justice. If you can go help out there, do yourself a favor and go help.

If you went to Parkersburg or any nearby area to volunteer, please comment because I’d like to hear about your experience.

Touching Base

I don’t have a whole lot of time to write at the present time, but I just wanted to let you know that we did make it to Parkersburg on Saturday to help with the clean up from the Tornado. I will be out of town for the next couple days, so on Wednesday I will get you some details about our trip as well as post several pictures.

The Parkersburg, Iowa, Tornado

The tornado that ripped through Parkersburg and New Hartford has been officially classified as an EF5, the strongest possible. You can tell by the news and seeing pictures that the devastation was terrible.

Parkersburg is only about 80 miles from Ames. The Ames Chamber of Commerce is organizing a work trip to go up there tomorrow and lend a helping hand, neighbor helping neighbor. My family and I will be taking part in this trip, just because if the same thing happened to us we would appreciate the help. One of the core values of Freedom Ridge is “micro-missions,” taking part in practical, tangible activities to show the love of Jesus. So tomorrow we will be taking part in a micro-mission.

In the next couple days I’ll post about our experience there.

Six More Algerian Christians Face Prison for Practicing Non-Muslim Worship Without Authorization

-After Years of Religious Tolerance, Algeria Takes a Dark Turn-

The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has learned that six Christians could be sentenced to two years in prison for meeting in a friend’s home and allegedly distributing Christian materials to Muslims.

The six Christians are Rachid, Djallil, Sami, Abdelkader, Mohamed and Chabane. They have been accused of “distribution of religious material to convert Muslims” and “practice without authorization of non-Muslim worship.” The public prosecutor asked the court in town of Tiaret, Algeria to sentence each of the six Christians to two years in prison and a fine of 500,000 Algerian dinars ($8,000). The prosecutor alleged that the six Christians were gathered to worship at the house of Rachid, who is one of the defendants.

According to a report by Algerian daily newspaper, El-Watan, Djallil, another defendant, said that they were not carrying any Christian materials and therefore, they should not be accused of distributing them. The newspaper quoted the defense lawyer for the Christians as saying that the six Christians are a “band of friends and none of them have taken into their possession or are in the process of distributing documents that undermine the faith of a Muslim, and that the apartment was used by Rachid not as a place of worship, but as a place of reunion for the group of friends.”

After hearing the arguments from the public prosecutor and the defendants, the court has set the date for its decision as Tuesday, June 3, 2008.

Update on Habiba’s Case

In another development, the court considering the case of Habiba Qawider, who was charged with illegally practicing her Christianity by carrying Christian literature on a public bus, decided yesterday that the case required “supplementary investigation.” ICC reported on the initial hearing on May 23, 2008, in a press release. In that release we mentioned that the public prosecutor asked for a three year prison term for Habiba, and that the court would make its decision on May 27.

The prosecutor has ten days to appeal the decision of the court, according to El-Watan.

Habiba’s defense lawyer criticized the court’s decision by saying that the court is just trying to buy time until the media shifts its attention elsewhere. Habiba’s case has drawn widespread critism both from the local and international media. According to some commentators, the judge was forced to order further investigation due to the attention that the case has attracted.

ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, Darara Gubo, said, “The international community should step up its pressure on the government of Algeria so that the government stops interfering with the religious freedom of its Christian minorities.”

ICC would like to thank all the Christians who are praying for their brothers and sisters in Algeria. Please continue to call the Algerian embassies in your countries. Your prayers and calls are very important to support our suffering brothers and sisters in Algeria.

Algerian Embassies:

Australia: (02) 6286 7355
England: (020) 7221 7800
France: (33)-1-5393-2020
Germany: (49) 30 437370
USA: (202) 265-2800

###

ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC delivers humanitarian aid, trains and supports persecuted pastors, raises awareness in the US regarding the problem of persecution, and is an advocate for the persecuted on Capitol Hill and the State Department. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.

A Couple Prayer Requests

I’m gonna be a little selfish and ask you to pray for a couple things for me and my family.

First of all, we are still trying to sell our house in Houston. It has been on the market for 180 days, and we are still paying the mortgage and all the utilities (and now paying to have the yard mowed!) To date we have received no offers. This weekend we are switching it over to another realtor, so hopefully this will help to generate a little more traffic to the house. Please pray that it will sell SOON, because we can’t move forward here with a new home until we sell the Houston house … not to mention the financial strain.

Secondly, I am traveling to Dubuque IA this weekend to speak at the Bridge Christian Church. The pastor there has asked me to come share with them about Freedom Ridge, our mission, and what is going on. They have also promised a financial gift to Freedom Ridge, and we really need it since it takes money to do ministry! Please pray that I do a good job, and pray that God gives The Bridge an extra measure of generosity to help us reach out to people in the Ames area.

Memorial Day

As you are grilling today and hanging out with friends and family, please remember the true meaning behind Memorial Day. We enjoy tremendous freedoms here in America, but freedom isn’t free.

My Soda Saga

I wanted to let you know how I was doing so far on my soda-weaning process. Yesterday was my first day, and all I had was one can of Diet Twist-up (nothing but the best at our house.) I have this huge 1-liter water bottle that I filled up 5 times yesterday, which comes to 1.3 gallons of water. If I can’t drink Dew, I’ve got to drink something.

Today all I’ve had is a large Diet Coke from McDonald’s (not supersized and no refills), and I have drank 4 liters of water. I’ll probably get at least one more liter of water in before I go to bed.

Before I started this I would have had about 10 cans under my belt by now.  So I’d say I’m off to a good start, although my left eye is twitching and my neck keeps jerking and when I look at my family their heads look like Mountain Dew cans.

Algerian Christian Faces 3 Years in Prison for Carrying Christian Books

The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has learned that Habiba Qawider could be sentenced to three years in prison for carrying Christian books while traveling on a public bus from Tiaret to Oran, Algeria.

Habiba, 39, was first detained by police on March 29. The police freed her after detaining her for 24 hours, but ordered her to appear in court in the city of Tiaret on May 7.

The court, however, delayed her case until Tuesday, May 20. During the initial hearing, the public prosecutor accused her of practicing “non-Muslim worship without authorization” and demanded the court to sentence her to three years in prison.

The prosecutor’s argument was that carrying Christian books is tantamount to practicing Christianity, which is legal only in designated areas approved by the government. If the court accepts this argument, it would set a dangerous precedent that could send all of Algeria’s Christians to prison.

In response to a question from El-Watan, an Algerian daily newspaper, if there was any law that prohibits carrying Christian books in Algeria, Khelloudja Khalfoun, Habiba’s lawyer, said, “No! There is no law which prohibits people to be in possession of religious books. There is a provision of the Ordinance of 2006 which prohibits having a number of booklets, books and distribute them to undermine the faith of Muslims….on the contrary, it [carrying a Bible] is a lawful act which is guaranteed and protected by the Constitution [of Algeria]. The Constitution speaks of freedom of worship and sees it as sacred.”

After hearing the arguments from the public prosecutor and the defendant, the court has set the date for its decision as Tuesday, May 27, 2008.

Double Jeopardy for Christian Man

In another development, a Christian man named Djallal was detained yesterday, May 22, 2008. Djallal and another Christian were first arrested by police in June 2007 when police found Christian literature in their car. He and his companion were brought before the court in Tissemsilt, Algeria, which is near Tiaret. The court found them not guilty.

However, when Djallal’s father contacted authorities yesterday to ask why his son had been detained again, they told him that he would be transferred to Tissemsilt. It seems that he is facing charges in the same case in which he was tried and found not guilty in 2007.

Campaign against Christians

This year Algerian officials have begun cracking down on Christians. More than 20 churches have been closed by Algerian officials under the guise of failing to register with an as yet non-existent government body.

Many Christians have also received suspended prison terms, threatening them with prison if they continue evangelizing Muslims.

Algeria has made a huge comeback from a bloody civil war between the government and Islamic terrorists that resulted in the death of over 100,000 Algerians. Currently, the country is enjoying peace and economic progress, but its heavy-handed approach towards Christians, which constitute less than 1% of the total population, is tarnishing its image.

Darara Gubo, ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, said, “Algerian officials have the duty to respect religious freedom. They must, therefore, re-open the closed churches, and stop detaining and harassing Christians who are practicing their faith. The international community must exert pressure on the government of Algeria so that the country stops violating religious freedom.”

Christians can help their brothers and sisters in Algeria by praying for them and by calling Algerian embassies in their respective countries. Please politely ask the Algerian embassy officials to re-open the churches in their country, and to stop harassing and imprisoning Christians. Please also specifically bring Habiba’s and Djallal’s cases to their attention.

Algerian Embassies:

Australia: (02) 6286 7355
England: (020) 7221 7800
France: (33)-1-5393-2020
Germany: (49) 30 437370
USA: (202) 265-2800

###

ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC delivers humanitarian aid, trains and supports persecuted pastors, raises awareness in the US regarding the problem of persecution, and is an advocate for the persecuted on Capitol Hill and the State Department. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.

I Bleed Mountain Dew

I love Mountain Dew. It is my favorite drink. I drink so much of it, that I think if you would cut me I would literally bleed Mountain Dew. A few years ago I started to drink Diet Mountain Dew so I wouldn’t be drinking all those calories. Eventually I noticed caffeine was starting to affect me, so I made the hard decision to lay off the Dew.

When we moved here to Ames, imagine my delight when I walked into the store and noticed caffeine-free Diet Mountain Dew on the shelves! I had never heard of such a thing. I was back in business!

Yesterday I was thinking about how much I drink. On a normal day I will down at least 4, usually 5 cans. That doesn’t seem like a lot to a hard core Dewaholic, but it adds up to 120-150 cans a month or about $50 a month. The other thing that is beginning to worry me is all the junk in the soda that I am drinking. I’ve never really listened too much to studies done that show this one thing causes cancer or will make hair grow on your palms, because next month another study will disprove it. But still I have to wonder.

Here’s what I’m gonna do. I am going to lay off the soda. I’ve got 6 cans left, and when these are gone I am going to go at least a whole week without any soda of any kind. When I get to the end of that first week I will either decide to go for another week, or I will reward myself with a nice cold Dew and then go for another week. My ultimate goal will be to move from a Dewaholic to a casual Dew drinker.

I will post about my progress here; maybe you can join me. By the way, I said I’ve got 6 cans left, but I am going to try my best to make these things last. Then I’ll get started.

I’m Sick Of Viagra Commercials

If you have watched any amount of TV, you have undoubtedly seen one of those Viagra or Cialis commercials. I’m sure those drugs serve their purpose, but do they need to advertise those things during family friendly programming? I hate watching a TV show and having to turn the channel during the commercials! I don’t want my daughters to know that you don’t have to “worry about interruptions” or if you take this drug you will be able to sit in a bath tub overlooking a beach or to constantly hear the song “Viva Viagra!” I’m not a prude, but there is a time and a place for things. Something else I haven’t understood is when during a TV show that is rated TVPG they will advertise an upcoming TV show with a preview that is rated TV14. Doesn’t make sense to me.

I remember as a kid when they would advertise lady’s undergarments, the clothing would actually be on a mannequin with a live person talking about it. We have come a long way in what is shown and talked about on TV. Sometimes the good ole’ days really were good.

That’s my rant for today.

Freedom Ridge Dinner 2 Update

Last night we had another dinner to briefly share with people who we are as a church and some of the things we hope to do. Again it was well attended, although some people who said they would be there had some things come up at the last minute and weren’t able to come. That’s OK, because we’ll do it again. We had it at Valentino’s Pizza. It was good pizza, and the service was good.

If you weren’t able to make it to the dinner, keep watching this blog and Freedom Ridge’s website for information about upcoming activities you can be involved in.

Remember, we are here to “love God, love people, change the world!”

Freedom Ridge Dinner 2

We’re having a free informational dinner on Saturday (May 17) to share a little more about Freedom Ridge, and I’m excited about it! You can find out more info about it here.

Anyone is welcome to come, but I just ask one thing … please bring an unchurched person with you. Help us fulfill our mission! If you want to come, let me know so I can tell Valentino’s Pizza how many people will be there.

Blind Spots

I’ve shared with you how my oldest daughter now has her learner’s permit so she can drive. She’s been doing pretty good. The other day I was trying to teach her about the infamous “blind spot.” I was driving down the highway with her in the passenger seat, and a car began to pass us. When it got into my blind spot, I sped up a little so he would stay there. I then calmly had my daughter look and explained to her how she needs to be careful and always aware so the blind spot doesn’t end up causing problems for her.

I’m sure the guy in the other car called me a few choice words, and my daughter was the typical teenager and acted like she would rather eat glass than listen to my important life lesson. But because I love her and want her to be safe, she got the blind spot lesson.

We don’t just have blind spots in driving, but also in life. The other day someone lovingly helped me see some blind spots in my life. I would have rather eaten glass than listen, but deep down I know if I listen and learn that I will be a better person.

What are your blind spots? Chances are you don’t know, so it is best to ask someone you love and respect and ask them to point out some blind spots in your life. It won’t be fun. But you’ll be better for it in the long run.

500 Miles To Drop By

My old church met in a school, so we would do the set up and break down every Sunday. I’d be lying if I told you it never got a little tedious, but overall it was a lot of fun and something I didn’t mind doing. I would meet a church member named Oscar at 7am every Sunday, we would hook up the trailer to his truck, haul it the 6 miles to the school, and unload it and begin setting stuff up. It soon became a time I looked forward to, and through the course of that singular purpose we developed a friendship.

Oscar visited our church on the very first Sunday. The truck the church owned actually broke down on that first Sunday and we weren’t able to use it to get the trailer back to the storage unit. Oscar volunteered to pull the trailer back with his truck, and he never missed a Sunday helping out with the trailer after that, unless he was out of town (which wasn’t very often).

Now I am living in Iowa. Oscar was in Indiana on a job, and he “dropped by” to see us. I looked at mapquest, and he made a 496.59 mile trip to drop by. He was here for about 3 hours before he had to head back to Houston. I’m glad he stopped by; it was very good to see him.

Did Superman Need Jesus?

Do you remember that thermometer I told you about awhile ago? It is wireless, we have a sensor outside, and the base tells us what the temperature is outside and inside as well as the lowest and highest yet registered. So far the warmest day we have had was 75 degrees, until a couple days ago.

I was outside grilling some stuff for supper and I went inside to get a drink. The base to the thermometer sits next to our fridge, so I glanced at it to see what the temperature was outside because it felt good. I mean I was grilling outside, so it had to be decent. It said the temperature was 90.7 degrees!

I was amazed it was that warm, then I remembered where the sensor was. It needs to be covered so it is out of the weather. I had put it on the shelf underneath the grill with the wire hanging out a couple feet behind it. It was picking up some radiant heat from the grill. It still felt good outside, but it wasn’t 90.7 degrees.

This reminded me of something Jesus said when he spoke about how he is the vine and we are the branches and we can’t do much of anything unless we’re connected to him. We may feel like Superman and we’re invincible and don’t need Jesus, but sooner or later we’re gonna be reminded that we do need him. We might as well make it a point to be connected to him on a regular basis now so we don’t have to go through a potentially painful reminder later.

As a pastor and church planter, it is too easy for me to hit the ground running or get bogged down in details when I should be spending time with Jesus and working on my connection with him so that I can indeed bear fruit. I’ve got to be intentional. How about you?

How Do You Treat God?

I went to the Redbox at McDonald’s this evening to return “I Am Legend.” Good movie. I had to wait for a couple minutes because someone else was using the machine trying to rent “27 Dresses.” The machine wouldn’t accept his card.

Anyway, while I was waiting I noticed a young mother who was dining there with her child. The reason I noticed her is because her child was throwing a fit. The kid was sitting in a high chair and couldn’t have been more than a year old, but was making enough noise for 5 or 6 kids. I turned around and looked, and this mother was sitting there with a smile on her face, holding a huge ice cream cone, saying, “No, I need to hold it. No, I need to hold it.” It was obvious that she was sharing her ice cream, but the kid was wanting to hold the cone and eat it all himself. How ungrateful. How immature. But not really surprising.

We expect that kind of behavior from babies, don’t we? I thought it was cool that this young mother was being patient and kind and cool under pressure. I give her props.

But how often do we act like that child towards God? You know what I’m talking about. God gives us a gift, but we focus on what he hasn’t given us. He grants us goodness, but we want so much more and we want it right now, so we view his timing as a lack of compassion.

Do you act like a whining, blabbering, snotty-nosed, fit-throwing kid towards God sometimes? I know I do.

Track Meets & What They Taught Me

Last evening I went to my daughter’s track meet. She just runs a couple events, so I am only fully engaged for about 3 minutes of the 4 hour track meet. But as I sat there watching, I finally noticed something that is really cool.

Something that has bugged me was how at each track meet so far they run at least a dozen 100 meter dashes. The kids line up, the gun goes off, the kids run as fast as they can across the finish line, then the next group of kids line up and the process starts again. I always thought they were wasting time.

But last night I was actually paying attention and I noticed as each group takes their turn, it becomes obvious that the slower and “less fit” kids are taking part. During some of the other events, some kids are even lapped.

Here is what I have witnessed so far … no kid has ever quit. Even though they do not look the type and are running well behind the leader, they are giving their 100%. They are trying their best. And as these lone runners are making their way past the stands, the crowd claps and cheers and many of their team mates encourage them on as if they were about to set a record and win a gold medal. Very cool. In the big city the competition is so much that these kids would not even be allowed on the team.

I’m glad we’re back in an area where kids can be kids and everyone is part of the team. It’s amazing the things you notice when you pay attention.

Fourth Christian Martyred in Somalia in the Last Six Months

The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has learned that Islamic extremists shot and killed a Muslim convert to Christianity on April 22 in Baidawa, a town 149 miles away from Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. His name was David Abdulwahab Mohamed Ali, and he was 29 years old.

On Tuesday, April 22, 2008, at 4:30pm local time, one of David’s cousins led two other members of the Islamic extremist group Al-Shabab to David and asked him if he was a Muslim or an infidel. He answered, “Neither.”

They asked, “Then what are you?”

He answered, “Waxaan ahay Masiixi,” which means, “I am a follower of the Messiah.”

At this, David’s cousin was enraged and humiliated. In Somalia’s strict Muslim society, David’s conversion to Christianity brought enormous shame on his family. His cousin’s first response was to pull out a gun and shoot David. The other two extremists did the same, and the three continued shooting David until their Muslim “honor” had been avenged.

David had been living in Ethiopia since 2000 when he traveled to Somalia this April to visit his family. He came to Christ in 1995, in Yemen, where he was living as a refugee. In 2000, David’s good friend, Mohammed Omer Haji, was sentenced to death by the government of Yemen for his faith in Christ (Haji was able to take refuge in New Zealand). David had to flee Yemen and move to Ethiopia because Yemeni authorities were looking for him also.

David was a gifted and brilliant evangelist who led many to the Lord, actively sharing his faith through blogs. He was also a linguist and a philosopher whom some Somalis called “The Great Thinker.”

Recently, Islamic extremists have intensified their attacks against Christians in Somalia. In the past six months alone, four Christians, including David, have been martyred for their faith. The other three martyrs are: Da’ud Ali, Mohamed Yusuf and Hassan Mo’alim.

The attacks against Christians in Somalia are carried out by a group called Al-Shabab, an Al-Qaeda linked militant group. Al-Shabab is fighting to establish an Islamic state in Somalia, ruled by Sharia law, and is on the United States list of terrorist organizations.

ICC spoke with a leading Somali Christian who urged the international community to condemn the genocide-in-the-making that the Church in Somalia is facing.

The Somali Christian expressed his fear that “less than three percent of the Somali population is Christian and we [the Christians] could be eliminated in this generation by the Muslim violence if the massacre is not stopped now.”

ICC’s regional manager for Africa, Darara Gubo, stated, “The deadly Jihad against Christians continues and Christians in Somalia need our help and support. Please don’t forget our brothers and sisters in Somalia.”

To learn more about the needs of Somali Christians and how you can help them, please contact ICC.

Contact Darara Gubo, Regional Manager for Africa, 1-800-ICC (422)-5441, icc@persecution.org for more information.

# # #

ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC delivers humanitarian aid, trains and supports persecuted pastors, raises awareness in the US regarding the problem of persecution, and is an advocate for the persecuted on Capitol Hill and the State Department. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.

Sharing About Freedom Ridge

Yesterday I got the opportunity to speak at North Grand Church here in Ames. They were having a Mission Emphasis Sunday, and they asked me to come in and share some of the vision and philosophy behind Freedom Ridge. It was a lot of fun and I had a good time there.

The cool thing about it is they were planted by CEM around 40 years ago, and now we are being planted by CEM. It was almost like I was speaking with family.

I appreciate their willingness to let me come in and speak during their service.

Fusion by Nelson Searcy saved my butt

I’ve been reading the book Fusion by Nelson Searcy and it is very good. It talks about the assimilation process of churches and gives some very practical insight and advice on narrowing the back door of your church. It has a lot of good stuff in it, and it has a lot of stuff that you can begin to use in your church right now. We’re definitely going to be implementing a lot of the stuff in our church when we begin meeting publicly. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in fortifying their assimilation/first impressions/guest services in their church. Go buy it if you don’t already have it.

Tonight I was very thankful that I purchased it, because as the title of this post says, the book saved my butt. I headed out to my daughter’s track meet this evening and I grabbed the book to read in between her events. When I got to the track, the temperature was about 38 degrees and the wind was blowing about 20mph. So needless to say it was very cold. I sat down on the frozen metal bleachers and the chill shot right through me. The wind was blowing and I was shivering. After about 5 minutes I knew I was not going to get any reading done because of the wind and I was shaking too much to hold the book still. I thought I would go into hypothermia and quite possibly die.

Rather than hold the book, I sat on it. The 180 some pages were enough to raise me up off the frozen bleacher and increase my body temperature by a couple degrees. So Nelson, if you happen to read this post, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my butt for writing Fusion, because it saved my life.

u can txt me now

My family has finally joined this century and signed up for unlimited texting. Our daughters have been begging for awhile, but we’ve been putting them off. I actually kinda wanted it, too, so we finally got it.

So if you want to touch base or send a short note, you can text me without it costing me 15 cents.

Do You Remember CHiPs?

I used to love CHiPs when I was growing up. It was a cool show, and I loved it especially because it was about motorcycles. I would sit in jealous awe as I watched the intro to the show when Ponch and Jon were riding down the freeway and the camera got closeups of every piece of the bike. It was cool and it made me want a motorcycle so I could ride down the freeway next to my friend.

My youngest daughter and I like riding our bikes together. Ames has some pretty good bike paths, and we like going on them into parks and looking for the “off road” trails. We’ll see them and take them every time. That is where the fun is at. The other day we were riding down a paved path and I was right behind her. The path was clear so I sped up so I was right next to her, and I said “We’re CHiPs.” She had no idea what I was talking about. Kids these days.

Learner’s Permits And Their Effect On Prayer

My oldest daughter passed her test for her learner’s permit the other day, so she is now able to legally drive. The learner’s permits are just as ugly as the driver’s license (see my thoughts here). Anyway, the only driving she has done so far is in a straight line a mile or so down a gravel road and turning into a driveway. She has done this a few times.

We were getting ready to head out to church this morning, so I asked if she wanted to drive to church. She did, and this was her first experience with stop signs, stop lights, parked cars, curbs, and traffic in general. She did a pretty good job for her first time. She’ll be taking driver’s ed this summer, and we just want to get her ready for that.

All I can tell you is if you are having trouble with your prayer life, just get in the car with a new driver. It will break you out of your rut in no time.

Warmest Day Yet

We have this wireless thermometer at our house that we bought from Gander Mountain. It has a sensor that you put outside, then the small base sits inside your house so you can see what the temperature is. It measures the indoor temperature, the outdoor temperature, and the relative humidity. It also shows you the coldest and warmest temperatures it has measured to date.

We set it up the beginning of January right after we moved here. The coldest day we experienced was -12.7. Today was the warmest so far at 75. That is a 87.7 degree difference. I think I finally stopped shivering today.

What’s With The Name “Freedom Ridge”?

Yesterday I mentioned I’d give you some insight into how I chose the name Freedom Ridge for our new church.

I prayed a lot about it. I surfed the net to get ideas. I even made up a list of possible names as they came to me, and I showed them to my family and a few friends to get their input. Talking with others helped me to condense the list a little bit.

I was looking for something that could be more of a personality or a brand than just a name; something that describes who we are rather than just a cool name on a business card. I believe everyone is on a spiritual journey whether they realize it or not, and people are trying to fill some kind of void in their life with something. Those of us who are Jesus-followers know what they are looking for, and we need to make the introduction to Jesus.

When Jesus came to this earth, he said a couple interesting things. In John 10:10 he says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” In John 8:36 he says, “So if the Son (Jesus) sets you free, you are truly free.” Who wouldn’t want to live life to the fullest? Who wouldn’t want to be truly free?

Freedom Ridge is not a place, but it is a state of mind, it is a life that people aspire to. Through Freedom Ridge, we want to give people Jesus so they can have freedom from religion, freedom of life, freedom from addiction, freedom from hurts, freedom from hangups, freedom to live the way God wants them to live. At Freedom Ridge, we definitely want to show people how to have eternal life through Jesus, but we are just as excited to share how everyone can have a full life NOW.

Mike Yaconelli said it best when he said, “Jesus Christ came to rescue us from listlessness as well as lostness; He came to save us from flat souls as well as corrupted souls. He came to save us from dullness. Our culture is awash in immorality and drowning in dullness. We have forgotten how to dance, how to sing, how to laugh… We have been stunted by mediocrity.”

There you have it. Freedom Ridge is about freedom in Jesus.

Church Names For Dummies

I recently sat in on a group of guys who were talking about church names and if they mean anything anymore. It was interesting to hear all the different view points and their reasoning. I was surprised how many thought that names didn’t really make a difference if someone would attend a certain church or not. I agree that a great name doesn’t necessarily make a great church, because if there is nothing behind that name (such as great ministries to the people and community) then chances are people will not return. But I am of the mindset that an attractive name is important, because how many people would go to check out the “First Church of Crap”? It doesn’t matter what they have ministry wise; people will probably be reluctant to visit a service.

Mark Driscoll came up with a formula for helping people pick out the perfect church name. You can see his blogpost here.

Tomorrow I’ll give you some insight as to why I chose the name Freedom Ridge for our new church.

Can You Relate?

Have you ever felt like this cow?

Confession: Prayer Is Hard

I don’t like to talk on the phone. As a matter of fact, I hate it. I would rather jump in my Jeep and drive across town to talk to you face to face rather than call you on the phone. I want to see you, see your expressions, when we talk. But logistics, time, and common sense don’t allow face-to-face meetings all the time. So I call you on the phone.

I told you a couple posts ago I was going to share some confessions pertaining to areas of dissatisfaction in my life. Here’s the first one: prayer is hard for me. Maybe my dislike of talking on the phone might be related to my stinkiness at prayer. I don’t know.

When I first got out of college I bought a book called “Spending An Hour A Day With God” and it had the whole outline for each day of the year so you could spend a whole hour every day with God. I was excited and committed to doing this because I was going to become a great man of God. I sat down at my desk in my office, opened the book, and began following the outline. I made it about 27 minutes. My personality isn’t wired for long moments of silence or endless contemplation.

Some think since I am a pastor that I have a direct line to God. Some pastors may have that, but I can tell you this is one pastor who doesn’t. When it comes to prayer and Bible reading, I have to work at it. It doesn’t come naturally to me. Don’t get me wrong, I pray and I read my Bible, but not nearly as much as I should. I’m not as intentional as I should be.

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to pray continually. I am pretty good at shooting up short little prayers all the time, like “That’s cool, God” or “Give me the words, Jesus.” But when it comes to sitting down, folding my hands, bowing my head, and spending time in prayer, I fail miserably. I think this might be a stumbling block for a lot of people, because they think if you spend a looong time in prayer it makes you more spiritual. It doesn’t work for me like that in my life. I’m not sure the fact that you pray lengthy prayers automatically increases your spiritualness.

What do you think? How are you at prayer?

By the way, don’t be afraid to call me on the phone. I will talk to you.

Iowa Driver’s Licenses Are Ugly

Today I went in and got my Iowa driver’s license so my daughter could take her learner’s permit test. The cool thing was I got it instantly. They took my picture, printed it out, and gave me my license about 3 minutes later.

The bad thing is the license is the ugliest things I’ve ever seen, and I’m not talking about my picture. It has too much pink on it, some pastel bluish color on it, and some embossed flowers. It is waaaay to feminine. It’s a good thing I can keep it tucked away in my wallet, because if I had to wear it around my neck I would probably get the snot beat out of me.

Somebody down at the DMV needs to do some serious redesigning.

contentment vs contentment

I visit dictionary.com all the time. It is one of my favorite sites. It defines contentment as “the state of being contented; satisfaction; ease of mind” or “happiness with one’s situation in life.”

I think of myself as a content person, even though I want more for myself and my family. I don’t mean in a materialistic sort of way at all; I just want what’s best. I disagree with the above definition of contentment, because it uses the term satisfaction. I am content, but I am not satisfied.

Paul says in Philippians 4:12-13, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

I have come to this realization about myself: I am a Content person when it comes to life; but I am not content when it comes to satisfaction. Does that make sense? In the next couple days I’ll give you a glimpse into my head and heart (which might be a scary thing!), but it will kinda let you know how I am dissatisfied and what it does to me.  I guess you can say it is confession time.

Hang on to your hat!

Introducing Freedom Ridge Wear!

I am proud to introduce to you our first ever Freedom Ridge T-shirts.

The top example has sizes M-XXL available and the bottom example has S-XXL. (Sorry, no youth sizes available at this time.)

You can have your very own for $10 each, and it is a great way to get the word out about Freedom Ridge and to show your Freedom Ridge pride. Quantities are limited so don’t wait around to get yours. Send me an e-mail or give me a call and we’ll make arrangements to get your shirts to you.

My Heart Was Racin’

This morning it was very foggy, and I happened to be driving on Highway 30. Most of the time I could only see a couple hundred yards in front of me, so I was trying to be very cautious and was driving a little slower than I normally would. Occasionally the fog would break to where I could see further, but most of the time is was pretty thick.

I came up on one area, and a semi-truck, obviously growing impatient from waiting and stressed from the fog, decided to gun it and turn left from his lanes across the entire highway right in front of me. I hit my brakes and all the junk I have in the back of my Jeep slid up towards the front. This is one of the occasions where if there was a second’s difference I would probably be fishing in heaven right now instead of writing this post.

After I resumed my speed I realized there was a thumping in my chest. My heart was really racing.

Evacuate! Pt2

I made a post earlier about how we had to evacuate once because of a hurricane. You can read the original post here. My friend Betty made a comment that sparked some conversation at our house about our evacuation experience.

I had mentioned that we took our two dogs and left the cat behind. In the spirit of accuracy I want to make a clarification. We originally intended to leave the cat behind, but actually ended up taking her with us. It was my brother’s cat who stayed behind. I did not remember taking the cat, but it makes sense that we would take her because there is no way our daughters would allow her to be swept away in the storm. I would have, but it’s amazing what you do for your kids.

I’ve been blogging since February 3rd, and this is my first retraction. Not bad! Sure it’s not the last, but if something needs correcting I’ll correct it.

Can You Do It?

I saw this on another blog awhile ago, and thought I’d share it with you. It taught me a thing or two.

Gas Prices

I was out and about in town the other day and noticed that the gas price had done its normal thing and risen by 10 cents almost instantly to $3.16. I will never understand that. But I drove by one gas station on Lincoln Way where the price was still $3.06, I needed fuel, so I pulled in and filled up. It’s a sad sad day when $3.06 is cheap for a gallon of gas. I used to wish gas would get back down to $1 a gallon. Now I’d be happy if it got down to $2.

Freedom Ridge Core Values Recap

In case you missed any of our series the last few days, here is a summary of what we talked about. Click on the core value and you’ll be taken directly to the page with an explanation of that core value.

Freedom Ridge Core Values

1. everyone is welcome

2. Bible application

3. be culturally relevant

4. enjoy life

5. knowing God

6. micro-missions

Freedom Ridge Core Values Pt6

Today we finish up our series on the Freedom Ridge Core Values. I hope you have enjoyed it and it helps you have a good understanding of the heart and mission of Freedom Ridge: love God, love people, change the world.

Yesterday I said this last core value would make a huge difference in your life. It’ll take a commitment on your part, but it will be well worth it. Our final core value …

6. micro-missions

As you can tell from our mission statement, we are based on the Great Commandment (“love God with everything you’ve got, and love your neighbor as yourself.”) I want Freedom Ridge to be known as a church that reaches out to people and ministers to them in practical, tangible, discernible ways. This is not to make us look good or feel good about ourselves, but is driven by our love for our neighbors and desire to follow the Great Commandment. The great thing about micro-missions is we can do them as a church or you can do them as individuals.

Every time you take part in service projects in the area, or serve someone in your neighborhood or at your job, or go on short-term mission trips, or even the simple act of bringing someone to Freedom Ridge with you, when you do these things you are taking part in micro-missions. We’ll even do something as crazy as canceling services on a weekend and have an organized time of community service.

Simply put, when you reach out to someone in order to demonstrate the love of Jesus to them, then you are taking part in micro-missions.

We believe that the life we live and know at Freedom Ridge is to be shared with everyone! So let’s get after it!

Freedom Ridge Core Values Pt5

We’ve got two more core values to cover in this series. So far we’ve looked at (1) everyone is welcome, (2) Bible application, (3) be culturally relevant, and (4) enjoy life. Don’t take yourself so seriously.

All these core values will help us fulfill our mission: love God, love people, change the world. Today, we look at one that is the foundation of all that we do. It makes it all possible, and it’s a no-brainer. Today’s core value …

5. knowing God

It’s amazing that the creator of the universe wants us to know him, and he made it all possible through Jesus Christ. 1 Timothy 2 tells us “God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus …”

We will place a priority on helping people to know God. We realize that life is a spiritual journey and everyone of us are at different spots on our journey, so we won’t compare ourselves to each other. But we will encourage people to progress a little further each day, each week, and each month in their journey of knowing God.

Our weekend services, small groups, and service projects, coupled along with personal devotions, will help people in their journey of knowing God. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with everything you’ve got. It’s hard to love him if you don’t know him.

Tomorrow we’ll discuss our last core value that goes right along with Jesus’ statement, “It is better to give than receive.” Don’t worry, it’s not about money and I promise you it will make a huuuge difference in your life.

Freedom Ridge Core Values Pt4

We are now halfway through our series of looking at the core values that define who we are at Freedom Ridge. Our core values enhance and clarify our mission: love God, love people, change the world. So far we have looked at (1) everyone is welcome, (2) Bible application, and (3) be culturally relevant. We want to reach the current and next generation for Jesus.

The core value we will cover today has to do with Freedom Ridge as a whole and Freedom Ridgers as individuals. Today’s core value is:

4. enjoy life

Too many people equate church with boredom, rituals, or being just for pansies. They think that church is a waste of time and only for the weak; that it is stuffy and serious, and if you are having fun then you aren’t being a good Christian. When Jesus came to this earth, he came with the mission to provide freedom from religion and freedom of life to anyone who would choose to accept him. He even said “I have come so you might have life, and have it abundantly.”

We’re pretty sure that Jesus has a sense of humor. At Freedom Ridge we want people to know it is OK to have fun and it is OK to laugh … even in church! We’ll have regular events with the sole purpose of having fun just to spread the joy.

Tomorrow we’ll hit the core value that’s the foundation of all we’ve talked about so far. Until then, smile.

Persecuted Christians

Pray for those who share our faith, but not our freedom …

Thousands of Christians Protest Church Attack in Pakistan

From ICC (International Christian Concern) at www.persecution.org.

(March 25, 2008) The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has just learned that thousands of Christians staged a demonstration on March 19, 2008, that blocked the main highway through populous Gujranwala District, Pakistan, after land grabbers assaulted a church in a Christian neighborhood during Holy Week.

 

On March 18, a mob of people who wanted to seize a community center that belonged to a church in Garjakh, a largely Christian neighborhood in the city of Gujranwala, reportedly started tearing down the church’s walls.

However, the pastor of the church, Sharif Bhatti, and a group of Christians gathered to defend the church building. When the pastor arrived, the mob physically assaulted the pastor and the people with him, and started throwing stones at the church. When the Christians in the neighborhood heard what was happening, a large group of them gathered and approached the church, causing the mob to flee.

Word of the attack spread quickly, and the next day, thousands of Christians from across the city of Gujranwala staged a protest to demand that those responsible for the attack on the church be arrested immediately and brought to justice. They urged the authorities to provide protection to religious minorities and to their places of worship.

The protestors proceeded to block the Government Transport Road at Gondlanwala Chowk, a major intersection, by parking tractors laden with garbage across the road. The demonstrators blocked traffic while chanting slogans against the land grabbers for more than two hours.

Pastor Sharif Bhatti, Pastor Sabir and other Christians and labor union leaders threatened the local government that they would demonstrate outside the offices of senior officials if the police did not arrest the culprits within the next 24 hours. Finally, police arrived and promised the protestors that they would bring justice to those who attacked the church, and the demonstration dispersed peacefully.

Local Christian leaders then submitted a written complaint to the police station. However, the police had not registered this case nor had they arrested any individual at the time this report was written.

ICC Policy Analyst Jeremy Sewall said, “Unfortunately, the Christians in Gujranwala were given empty promises to make them quiet down. Pakistani officials ought to take note, however, of the scope and speed with which Christians gathered to protest this attack. Thankfully, the demonstration was a peaceful one. But Pakistani officials might have bigger problems on their hands if they continue to give their Christian citizens empty promises.”

Please contact the Pakistani embassy in your country and ask them to protect the rights of Christians and all religious minorities.

Pakistan Embassies:

USA: (202) 243-6500, info@embassyofpakistanusa.org
Canada: (613) 238-7881, parepottawa@rogers.com
UK: 0870-005-6967, hoc@phclondon.org

# # #

ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC delivers humanitarian aid, trains and supports persecuted pastors, raises awareness in the US regarding the problem of persecution, and is an advocate for the persecuted on Capitol Hill and the State Department. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.

Freedom Ridge Core Values Pt3

The core values we have covered so far this week are (1) everyone is welcome and (2) Bible application. These help define our mission: love God, love people, change the world. Yesterday I told you that this next core value could make or break Freedom Ridge and must be built into our DNA from the start, so without further ado let’s look at our third core value:

3. be culturally relevant

Have you ever heard churches say “But … we’ve always done it that way”? That’s not us. Our only tradition will be change, and the reason for that is we want to be as effective as possible in reaching the current and next generation for Jesus.

We won’t be afraid to try new things, and if it doesn’t work we won’t be afraid to scrap it. If a ministry or philosophy has outlived its effectiveness, we won’t be afraid to adjust it, rework it, or place it on the shelf of relics and move on. No sacred cows.

With that being said, I do want to stress that we will never compromise the message of Jesus Christ. Methods change, but the message stays the same. While we will be using culturally relevant means and updating the way we do things, our main goal will be to present the timeless truths of the Bible and the message of Jesus Christ in the most effective and understandable way possible.

Tomorrow we’ll talk about a core value that’ll bring peace of mind, and I’d venture to say may even blasts some stereotypes about church right out of the water. Can’t wait.

Freedom Ridge Core Values Pt2

Remember, our mission is: love God, love people, change the world. Our core values help define the mission a little further. Yesterday we talked about our first core value, which is everyone is welcome; we don’t care where people have been, we’re more concerned about where they’re headed. Today, we visit our second core value …

2. Bible application

This is important, because we want to give you something on Sunday that you can use in your life on Monday. We don’t want to waste your time by telling you feel-good-stories, or just teaching you a history lesson from the Bible. The Bible is a relevant and useful book and deserves more respect than that.

It is our goal and desire to share teachings from the Bible that affect you where you live right now. We want to equip you to get the most out of life. It is just understood that we will teach from the Bible because we are a church, so I won’t go into that right now. But the key word in this core value is the word application. How does the Bible affect me today? What does Jesus mean to me in my life right now? What can I learn that will make me a better person?

Freedom Ridge will be Bible-based, practical, useful, and up-to-date.

I’ll see you back here tomorrow as we hit on a core value that will make or break Freedom Ridge. It is important that we build it into our DNA before we even get started. Until tomorrow …

Our Home For Sale

We have a decent house in a Houston suburb that we have on the market right now.  We listed it around the first of December, and as of yet have not received any offers.  We are renting a dinky duplex in Ames until we can sell our Houston house, then we can get our own home here.

Please say a prayer for us that God will send someone soon (and I mean soon) that buys our house so we can get on with life here.  Thanks!

Freedom Ridge Core Values Pt.1

I’m gonna be doing a series of posts this week about the core values of Freedom Ridge. The core values are important, because they help define who we are and how/why we do things.

Our MISSION is simply stated: love God, love people, change the world. The core values take this a step further and defines the mission.

Our first core value is …

1. everyone is welcome

When Jesus said to “love your neighbor as yourself” he didn’t put any conditions on your neighbor. People are important. We don’t want to be a church that excludes people, but we want to welcome them regardless of race, economic status, political leanings, past ghosts, current habits, wardrobe choices, station in life, etc.

So at Freedom Ridge, we will welcome anyone and everyone. No perfect people allowed, which is a good thing or I wouldn’t be there either.

Come back tomorrow as we look at Core Value #2 …

The Mission & Core Values Series

Our mission at Freedom Ridge is simple: love God, love people, change the world. Everything we do will be tailored around our mission.

Starting on Monday (March 24) I’m going to do a series of posts on the core values of our new church, Freedom Ridge. I’ll make a post each day of the week highlighting a different core value. The core values get to the basis of who we are and why we do things the way we do them, so they’re kinda important. They explain our mission a little bit. Come back each day this week as we talk about a different core value.

I’m looking forward to it!

Sunday Is A Good Day

Easter is the day we celebrate, for obvious reasons. It is the day, the morning, that Jesus came back to life and everything that he went through just a couple days earlier was made worth it. He had defeated death, he had paid the price, and as a result we can now have a direct connection with him. We have his power and peace to live day by day, and we have his promise of life on the other side of death. Pretty good for us, huh?

As I was reading Matthew 28 this morning, a verse really stuck out to me. It says the disciples were meeting Jesus on a mountain for a reunion after his resurrection … some worshiped him, but some “held back, not sure of worship, about risking themselves totally.” That’s a sad verse in the middle of a great story.

So if you are a Jesus-follower, I want to encourage you to take a risk for him. Don’t hold back, but step out and make a difference. If you’re not a Jesus-follower, I encourage you to look at all the benefits of making a commitment to him.

Sunday is a good day.

Is Good Friday Really Good?

I can remember asking my parents when I was a kid why this particular day of the year is called Good Friday. They explained it to me, and I understand it on the surface, but it still doesn’t seem that good.

Think about it. This would be the worst day ever in the life of Jesus. He was put through a sham trial, beaten beyond recognition, and had nails driven through his hands and feet. He lived for awhile hanging on the cross, but eventually died. Read Matthew 27 to find out more.

So for Jesus it was not a good day. The ultimate reason of why he went through all of it is good news for us. I guess that’s where we get the Good Friday.

I saw in Scandinavia they call it Long Friday. I think that’s probably a better description. So while you’re hunting Easter eggs, eating jelly beans, peeps, and the Easter Ham, remember the reason for this long holiday weekend. Hopefully it is a good one for you.

Persecuted Christians

Muslim Radicals Attack During Church Service Murder, Amputate Christians [Update]

The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has investigated an attack on Christians that we first reported on March 7, 2008 (“Muslim Radicals Kill Three Christians and Wound Dozens in Southern Ethiopia”). Upon further investigation, we have learned that the attack occurred on March 2, 2008, during a Sunday morning church service, and resulted in the death of only one Christian, while 17 more were injured.

Christians in this remote village had seen three people lying in pools of blood after the attack and assumed that they had all died. Our sources contacted us before verifying that all three of the seriously wounded had died. The name of one murdered victim was Tulu Mosessa, who was a father of eight children.

Christians from the area told ICC that Muslim radicals simultaneously attacked Kale Hiwot church in Chebbi Nensebo village and Birhane Kirstos church in the nearby Tirsu Nensebo village.

The Kale Hiwot Church was the scene of most of the violence on the day of the attack. There were about 200 people attending the service, when a group of Muslim radicals surrounded the church and barricaded the doors shut. They then proceeded to break in through the windows and started hacking at the churchgoers with machetes. It is clear that these attacks were well planned and carefully executed to cause as much bloodshed as possible.

Muslim radicals had attacked the church before and burned it down, which the Christians in the village rebuilt. During the most recent attack, someone was able to raise the alarm and the local police quickly arrived at the scene, averting further bloodshed. One policeman who was wounded while trying to quell the violence was taken to a hospital in Addis Ababa. Eight of the seriously wounded Christians were taken to a hospital in Awassa. ICC was able to speak to one of the eight who had been wounded, Ahmed Jamal [not his real name], who is a Muslim convert to Christianity. The Muslim radicals cut off his left hand with their machetes during the attack. When ICC asked him if he knew his attackers, he said, “Our attackers are our neighbors, with whom we ate and drank.”

Asked what motivated the Muslims to attack, he said, “They were taught [about] Jihad.” Though he is lying on a hospital bed, Ahmed Jamal is worried about further attacks by Muslim radicals. He said, “We fear for our families [who remain in the village].”

Others with wounds from the machete attack who are currently in the hospital in Awassa include (names intentionally withheld) a 28-year-old man who lost his left hand, a 32-year-old man whose head was slashed, a 20-year-old man whose right and left hands were slashed, a 31-year-old man whose lung was pierced, an 18-year-old man whose backbone was slashed, a 19-year-old man whose backbone was also injured, and a 5-year-old girl whose right hand was badly injured.

Another eight Christians with minor injuries are currently receiving medical treatment in the town of Worka, which is near the villages where the attacks took place.

ICC has also learned that nine of the attackers have been imprisoned by Ethiopian authorities. One of the imprisoned is a local government official, Hussein Berriso. ICC sources said that 150 machetes were discovered in his house after the attacks.

In related development, on March 10, 2008, radical Muslims burned down the house of a local evangelist. The radicals were enraged because the evangelist had helped to transport the eight wounded Christians to Awassa hospital.

ICC’s president in a statement said, This is not an isolated incident in Ethiopia but rather part of a trend of radical Muslims attacking Christians. Ethiopian officials must get serious about protecting Christians. They must target radical Muslim leaders and centers or the Ethiopia could be in danger of becoming another Nigeria with an intractable religious split.

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ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC delivers humanitarian aid, trains and supports persecuted pastors, raises awareness in the US regarding the problem of persecution, and is an advocate for the persecuted on Capitol Hill and the State Department. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.

Virus Update 2

Back on March 6th and 8th I made a post about a virus that had infiltrated my computer. It was creating numerous popups and causing my computer to run very slow. I received a custom cleaner from my anti-virus people, and it cleaned a lot of stuff off. But then some of it would return almost immediately.

I ran my Yahoo anti-spy program, and it would find a lot of stuff including a trojan called “Tesllar A.” It would quarantine it, but it would be back almost immediately causing problems. I suspected it was the main cause of all my problems.

I contacted Yahoo and asked why it wouldn’t clean it, and they told me to run the anti-spy program in safe mode. I did and it cleaned it off! A simple solution that I wish I would have tried two weeks ago.

I’m glad I’ve got my computer back.  It’s put me behind on some things, but now I can get back in the groove.

Evacuate!

My family and I once had the experience of evacuating because of an impending hurricane. My brother and his family were in a mandatory evacuation zone and were coming to our house to camp out. We needed extra supplies so I headed to Wal-Mart. I knew a hurricane was coming, but I didn’t think much about it until I arrived at the store.

The bread was gone (and I’m talking all bread items from loaves to bagels), the bottled water was gone, the eggs were gone, the milk was gone, and toilet paper was running low. Not a good situation. I imagine it looked like a store does here in Iowa when a blizzard is headed in. I saw this and went home empty handed. We watched the news and saw what was happening all over town, saw the projected path of Rita, and we decided we should evacuate.

It was an odd experience because I went through the house wondering what we should pack up and take, and what we should leave behind. The family videos and photo albums were definitely loaded up, the computers were taken, some office stuff and important papers were saved, and most everything else was left behind not knowing if we would ever see it again or if it would be damaged. I was proud by how much we left behind. We then drove to Emma’s parent’s which usually took 2 hours but on this trip the traffic made the trip an enjoyable 5 hours.

The whole experience really helped put things into perspective. What is important in life, and what is not? We let things rule our lives sometimes. What part of your life do you need to put back into perspective?

By the way, we took our two dogs … we left the cat behind.

Things Are A-Changin’

My youngest daughter turns 13 today. I don’t feel old enough or mature enough to have two teenagers in the house. And my oldest daughter is taking her test in a couple weeks to get her learner’s permit. I can still picture her singing along with Barney the dinosaur, and now she is going to be driving. Good grief.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I have this green t-shirt that says “Ireland” on it as well as an Irish flag. I went to my closet today to put it on in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, but I couldn’t find it. It must be in a box in the basement.

What do you think of when you think of St. Patrick’s Day? Parades … wearing green … pinching people who don’t wear green … eating corned beef and cabbage … going to the pub and drinking a pint? What do you think of?

Did you know that St. Patrick is not from Ireland, he is actually from England? When he was a youngster, he was taken captive as a slave and was sold in Ireland. He eventually escaped back to England, but really felt God’s calling in his life to return to Ireland and minister to the Irish people. He did return to Ireland, not as a slave, but as a missionary, bringing the good news of Jesus Christ.

Kinda puts a whole new meaning on Jesus’ words, “But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)

Who does God want YOU to reach out to?  Think about it.

Spring Is Coming

I saw my first Robin today. That is a definite sign that Spring is on its way!

Persecuted Christians

There are many Jesus-followers around the world who share our faith, but not our freedom. As a result, they suffer persecution. From time to time, I will include news about certain events here on my blog. And I encourage you to pray for them.

Muslim Radicals Kill Three Christians and Wound Dozens in Southern Ethiopia [Developing]
Group Vows to Eradicate Christians from the Province

Find our more at www.persecution.org.

The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org learned that Muslim radicals killed three Christians and wounded dozens more on March 3, 2008, in the province of Nensebo in Southern Ethiopia.

To date, eight of the wounded have been taken to the town of Awassa in a neighboring province for hospitalization, while those who were seriously wounded were taken to Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa. Among the wounded are a police officer and a Christian whose hand was cut off by the radical Muslims.

According to ICC sources, Muslim radicals recently made a covenant to wipe out Christians from the Muslim-dominated province of Nensebo. As part of their agreement, they vowed to destroy churches in the area and threatened to attack any Christian group that does missionary work.

Christians and Muslims in Ethiopia had been living peacefully together until the arrival of Wahhabi Islam from Saudi Arabia. The spread of Wahhabism, fueled by financial support from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States, is radicalizing Muslims who are in turn increasingly hostile towards Christians.

Previous attacks by Muslim radicals have taken place further west in Ethiopia. This most recent attack occurred in the South, showing an increasing spread of Muslim radicalization throughout the country.

ICC would like to ask concerned parties to contact Ethiopian Embassies in their respective countries and call for the protection of Christians in Nensebo and other Muslim-dominated areas of the country, who are facing increased attacks from radical Muslims.

Ethiopian Embassies:

USA: (202) 364-1200
Canada: (613) 235-6637
UK: (020) 7838 3897

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ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC delivers humanitarian aid, trains and supports persecuted pastors, raises awareness in the US regarding the problem of persecution, and is an advocate for the persecuted on Capitol Hill and the State Department. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.

He Said It

I found this picture on a friend’s blog.

An Effective Reminder

I was driving down the highway today minding my own business and listening to the radio. A car entered the highway from an entrance ramp and began to slowly lose speed so that I caught up with it. I slid over into the left lane, and as I began to pass this car I glanced over at the other driver. I assumed he was daydreaming or talking on the phone or just trying to make me mad, but as I looked over I noticed he was extremely preoccupied with something. He had his finger in his nose digging for gold. It wasn’t an “I got an itch” kinda dig, but it was in there up to the knuckle.

Now I know nasal cleansing is a fact of life, but I can guarantee you that this guy would not be doing it if he knew I was going to see him. I’m sure he would be embarrassed.

Someone once said that our reputation is what people think about us, and our character is who we are when no one else is around. We are usually more worried about our reputation than we are about our character.

So ask yourself, “Who am I when no one else is around?”  What can you do to improve your character? Work on your character, and the reputation will follow.

Out Of Shape

I’m so out of shape. You remember the treadmill I brought back from Houston? Well, I got on it and did a quick mile, and it about killed me. You can’t tell it by looking at me, but before we moved I regularly went to the gym and lifted some weights and did the treadmill at home. There for awhile, I was doing about 20 miles a week on the treadmill. That’s a goal I want to work towards again.

Anyway, as I was huffing and puffing and thinking that a heart attack was coming any second, it occurred to me how easy it is to get out of shape. The same thing is true spiritually. If you’re not careful and don’t keep it up, your spiritual life can get flabby. That reminds me, I need to go read my Bible.

How’s your spiritual life? What can you do to strengthen it?

The Big 4-Uh-Oh

Today I am turning 40, if you can believe it. When I turned 30 it was kinda hard as I saw my youth fleeting away from me and I was no longer in my 20’s. Now I’m turning 40 and it is no big deal. It looks weird to actually type out the number 40, but age is a state of mind, right? You’re only as old as you feel, and I’m feeling pretty good.

By the way, Carlos Ray Norris, also know as Chuck Norris, turns 68 today. Happy Birthday, Chuck.

A First

We got up today and headed out towards a church here in town that we haven’t checked out yet.  I looked at their website last night and thought it said they started at 10, and we were leaving the house at 9:50.  For the first time that I can ever remember, I was going to be late to church.  I blame our tardiness on the time change, and the fact that I live with 3 other women and only one bathroom.

We got to the church building and there were still people walking around in the lobby, so I thought “Great.  Everyone else is running late so we are on time!”  We were greeted, I looked at the bulletin, and it said church started at 10:30.  So we were actually 25 minutes early.  Apparently at 10 they have a fellowship time with drinks and donuts in the gym, then the service actually started at 10:30.  Now that I look at their website I can see that.

They were the friendliest group of people we have met yet.  Several made it a point to meet us, and visit a little bit.  Nice people.

During the service, a lady over my left shoulder was snoring.  It’s not because the service was bad; I’m sure she was trying to catch up on that hour of sleep that she lost.

All around it was a good day.

Freedom Ridge Dinner Thoughts

1. It was well attended. Everyone who said they would be there was there.

2. The food was good. I picked the main course up from the Hy-Vee deli. I told them I would pick it up at 6:15, and when I showed up they said they thought I was going to be there at 11 a.m. They put it back in the cooler and had to warm it back up. It put me behind schedule a little bit, but everything worked out OK.

3. The kids were awesome. They seem to have some musical ability.

4. Thanks to CCF for letting us use their space.

5. A couple families who want to be part of Freedom Ridge weren’t able to make it to this dinner. Maybe next time.

6. It was great to meet everyone and learn more about them!

7. Thank you, G, for bringing the dessert!

8. I’m excited about the possibility of working with and alongside everyone who is a part of Freedom Ridge. God has some great things in store for us!

Virus Update

The virus is getting the best of me.  My anti-virus software people gave me a plan of action, which I tried to do.  Part of it was running the scanner again, and I did.  It scanned for 15 hours (yes, hours) and was 53% done when it mysteriously shut down.  I’m gonna have to contact them again and possibly get a custom cleaner created.

It was probably some 13 year old kid out there with too much time on his hands that created this thing I’ve got.  I wish he would use his powers for good instead of evil.

I’m fightin’ a virus

I’m feeling OK; it is my computer I’m talking about.  I have a laptop that I use for work stuff, and yesterday evening it began acting kinda weird.  It was running slooooowwww, popups began shootin’ up like crazy, and it was nearly impossible to do anything on it.  I stayed up until 1:30 AM trying to run my virus scan, which went very slow, and it would shut down before it was finished.  I ran my yahoo anti-spy and it found a lot of stuff.  I would delete it, run the anti-spy again, and everything would be right back where it was.  I downloaded another adware program and it did the same thing … find stuff, delete it, but it was still there.

I contacted my virus scan people, and they said I have a rogue application on my computer and there were some special steps I had to go through to get rid of the problem.  I am in the middle of it right now, so I’m hoping it takes care of it.   There’s plenty of stuff I need to be doing right now, and messing with a computer is not one of them.

I don’t have anyone to blame but myself.  The moral of the story: make sure your anti-virus software is up to date.   Come to find out, mine wasn’t.  It’s usually those common sense things that get past you.  I think I’ll go kick myself.

Coffee

I have never been a big fan of coffee. I like the smell of it, but the taste of it is not so great. I’ve tried it with half a cup of sugar and cream, but still can’t do it. Since moving to Iowa, I’ve been to Starbucks 3 times, Cafe Milo once, and I’ve stopped by the local convenience store 3 times to get a hot drink. Maybe the cold weather has triggered a survival instinct inside of me. I’ve had more in the last 8 weeks than I’ve had in my entire life.

But to be fair, I’m not getting plain old coffee. I’m getting stuff that has chocolate in it, which I love. Chocolate is one of my downfalls.

Freedom Ridge Dinner

I can’t wait for Friday. We’re having a bunch of people together who are interested in hearing about Freedom Ridge. We’re going to feed them a free supper, and then I’m going to talk for just a few minutes about the vision and mission of Freedom Ridge and what we’re going to be doing as a church. We have a pretty good group signed up for our inaugural dinner, and I can’t wait to get them all in one place! It’s gonna be great. The weather is cold and snowy today, but so far Friday looks good. I can’t wait!

If you want to come, there’s still time. You can find out more info at our website.

A Prayer

There are two things, Lord, I want you to do for me before I die: Make me absolutely honest and don’t let me be too poor or too rich. Give me just what I need. If I have too much to eat, I might forget about you; if I don’t have enough, I might steal and disgrace your name.

- Proverbs 30:7-9

Simple Things

My whole family went over to my daughter’s school tonight, because the school was putting on their first-ever PTA carnival. My wife had signed us up to man one of the games. The game we were in charge of was the bucket toss, which is where the kids stand behind the line and try to throw a ping pong ball in a small bucket. If they make it in the first one, then they try for the second one. If they make it in the second one, then they try for the third one … all the way up to the sixth bucket.

There were probably 30 different games and tons of kids there ranging from preschool up to 8th or 9th grade. It was neat watching them, because they were having so much fun with something as simple as throwing a ping pong ball into a bucket. It was a great reminder for me to enjoy the simpler things of life. It’s too easy a lot of times to get caught up in the stress and all the junk that life throws at you, and you forget what it is all about.

So next time you begin to worry, or the stress starts to pile on, or life gets chaotic, just take a deep breath and remember what is really important in life.

Fight Quest

Have you ever seen the show Fight Quest on the Discovery Channel? These two guys go around to different parts of the world and for 5 days they learn different fighting techniques and moves, then they take on some people from that country that have been using those fighting techniques since they were in diapers. It’s really a neat show. Tonight they’re in the good ole USA learning the fine art of street fighting.

One of the guys is Jimmy, and he seems like he is one of the nicest guys that could kick the snot out of you. I wouldn’t ever want to get on his bad side.

Happy Leap Day!

Happy Leap Day. Make the most of it; you only get one every 4 years!

You Don’t Love Me

I was shoveling the snow off our sidewalk today, and I heard this little kid crying saying “You don’t looove meeee.” I looked up and saw this crying kid getting into a van with his mom. “You don’t looove meeee.” And the mom said, “I do love you, but when I’m on the phone you are to be quiet.”

Obviously this kid had gotten into trouble, and because of this thought that his mom didn’t care about him. Sometimes I act the same way. I don’t mean that I cry and whine, but if someone offers constructive criticism or tries to correct me, I tend to get defensive. I’ve gotten a lot better, but still have to make the conscious choice to react the right way.

How about you?

Rearranging

We have this treadmill that I brought back on my recent trip to Houston. We got it down into the basement, but we have boxes everywhere (and I mean everywhere) down there. This is a temporary situation until we can get a house, so we left a lot of stuff in boxes. Anyway, there wasn’t a spot to put the treadmill. So I spent some time yesterday rearranging and restacking boxes to make some room for the treadmill. Now I have no excuse to get my lazy rear exercising again. As I was moving boxes I opened a few up and found some shirts I forgot about, my “treadmill walking shoes”, and a calculator.

Sometimes its good to rearrange things.

Indianola Church

Today I got to go down to the Indianola Church and preach and share with them what will be going on here in Ames. Their preacher, Tony Brandt, is a good guy and he wanted to give me the chance to share with the people of his church about what we’ll be doing. I have never attended there on a Sunday, but they seem to have a lot of good stuff going on there. The place was full with a lot of young families. It was a lot of fun!

Good Times

My family and I went to a program tonight that was put on by Campus Christian Fellowship. It was held at North Grand Church, and they were doing it as a fund raiser for a mission trip they have coming up to Mexico and one to Russia. They fed everyone supper as they put on the program that consisted of some skits, some singing, some music, some dancing, and other stuff. It was really enjoyable. It was neat to see these young people who are all trying to live for Jesus serve and take part in this. You guys did a great job!

Lunch With A Friend

I had lunch yesterday with a young man that I haven’t seen in at least 3 1/2 years. He’s taking classes at DMACC now and is a really sharp guy. It was good to catch up and I look forward to hanging out with him more in the future. And to top things off, he has the same name as me, so it is easy to remember. It was good to see you Nate!

Snow Men

My youngest daughter and I had some fun yesterday. We went outside and made a couple snowmen. The snow was perfect and we had a great time. She even threw a snowball at me and hit me in the neck and some of the snow went down my shirt. That meant war and I had to put her in her place, but we were able to make peace long enough to finish our snowmen.

I’m Back

I’m back from my bus trip. It was an experience, and wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. But I don’t want to do it again anytime soon. Although I think everyone should have the experience of riding a greyhound at least once in their lifetime.

I was supposed to leave Ames at 1:10 a.m., but the bus was coming from Minnesota and there was quite a bit of snow, so it was late. I left at 3:10 a.m., but I still made it to Houston by 12:15 a.m. There was one guy on the bus who was coming from somewhere in South Dakota, and he had been on the bus since 3 p.m. and still had a few hours left by the time I got off in Houston. I thought I had it bad.

But I’m back safely and glad to be home.

New Experience

I’m gonna be doing something I have never done before. I actually tried avoiding it, but to no avail. I have to make a quick trip to Houston to pick up our other vehicle (my Jeep, which I can’t wait to get), and do some things to the house we have on the market. I’m not flying, but I am actually taking a bus. 24 hours on a bus … not looking forward to it. I’ve downloaded a bunch of sermons to listen to, and have a couple books to read, so it won’t be a total waste. But I’ll be glad to get there.

Adrenaline Rush

These guys are nuts. Can you imagine the rush they get from doing this kind of stuff? Don’t try this without supervision!

Passion

OK. So I met this guy today who is a preacher at an area church. We had never met before today, but we have a mutual friend who wanted us to meet. I walked into his church building, but before I told him who I was, I told him I needed gas money. He said, “Sure. Let’s step in the foyer and talk about it.” Once we got to the foyer, I told him who I was.

Anyway, after talking with him for just a few minutes, his passion for seeing people come to Jesus was obvious. He exuded it. I wish I had half of it. How do we keep our passion for Jesus and leading people to him on fire?

I have a confession

I have a confession to make. It’s kinda hard for me to admit this, but they always say it is good to get things out in the open. So here it goes … My name is Nate, and I like reality TV. I like Survivor. The new season “Fans vs Favorites” premiered tonight. I’m glad Johnny Fairplay was the first to go. Not sure if I could have handled watching him for very long.

My wife and I have never missed an episode of this crazy show. It’s because it’s like a train wreck and it is hard not to watch.

My all time favorite reality show is The Amazing Race. I think it would be neat to go on that show and travel the world.

Snow

We’ve been living in Ames for just over a month now. We’ve had snow pretty consistently, too, which I don’t really mind right now. Yesterday and last night we got about 8 inches or so, so school was canceled and the girls got to stay home.

One thing I’ve noticed that really amazes me is that a lot of people still ride their bikes in the middle of winter time. I’ll see several people all bundled up riding their bicycle down the street through several inches of snow. I like riding my bike, but I’ve never tried the winter version of it. And I don’t plan on doing so anytime soon. It’s crazy.

An Observation

Since we haven’t officially started our church yet, I get the opportunity to visit other churches and see what they are doing. My family and I have been visiting some churches in the area. I love going to church with my family. Usually I’m at the church building by the time they get there to get their duties ready, and afterwards I meet them at the house or a nearby restaurant. So to be able to drive up, get out of the car, and walk in and sit together has been a neat experience.

Anyway, I’ve made an observation. A lot of these guys who have been doing the preaching have been good, and some of them don’t know the fine art of brevity. Now, I am in no way perfect (just ask my wife!), but today we visited a place and I wanted to rip my hair out. The guy spoke for 50 minutes when it should have only taken 15 minutes max. It’s one thing to figure out what to say; but it is a totally different thing to figure out what NOT to say.