Remembering Knox

Today we remembered & celebrated the life of Knox Anderson, the son of our dear friends, Jon & Rachel. At the park today with some friends, we released some balloons in rememberance of him.

My friend, Joshua, wrote this poem.

Wonders wander through our minds,
As we think of where you are;
Do you think of us often?
In our thoughts, you’re never far.

Do you talk and sing with Jesus?
What do you learn every day?
We wish that you could speak with us,
And walk with us along the way.

Are you watching us from heaven?
Do you see how much we’ve grown?
We think of you every single day,
We wish that we too were home.

Today we celebrate your birth,
With others who love you too,
So many love both you and us,
Some you never even knew.

To know that you’ve been gone,
As long as you were here,
Is hard for us to comprehend,
Even harder this time of year.

We know that you are joyful,
And that brings joy to us too,
We know the love of Jesus,
Is the greatest love for you.

But still the days are hard,
While we stay here and wait
For the day we’ll be together,
Safe beyond Zion’s gate.

We pray the Lord will keep us,
As He keeps you even now,
In His love and watch-care,
In His true and solemn vow.

His love has never failed us,
And it will not cease to be,
Unto you and unto us,
The eyes by which we see.

Check out Joshua's blog here.

Update: Check out my wife's blog about the balloon release.

Review of "The Shack"

Some folks have asked me about The Shack, a wildly popular book that I haven't read b/c I've been living in Peru, and now that I'm back in the States, I have a bunch of books to catch up on so I'm not likely to read it any time soon.

Having said that, here is a review of the book by Doug Wilson that many have mentioned as fair and spot-on.

I am going to say some hard things about the book in a moment, so I want to begin with this. The book is filled with numerous insights into what makes people tick, and those insights are wise, shrewd, pastoral, tender, and they deal with sins at the root. But the strength here is largely diagnostic, and unfortunately gets confused when it comes to the remedy, as will become apparent in a moment. William Young, the author, knows with profound clarity that fatherlessness is the rot that is eating away at the modern soul. The clear appeal of the book is because of the ache created by fatherlessness which, when coupled with the metaphoric solutions offered, provides us with a full explanation for the popularity of the book.

Read the whole review here.

Thinking it's no big deal?

Here's a good short video put out by CatholicVote.com that highlights the fact that some issues are more important than others.



[HT: Twax]

Piper: Bad Times are Good for Missions

Filed under: I Never Thought About It From That Perspective
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This was encouraging to me as we seek to raise funds for the New City Church Project-Calgary during these tough economic times when folks are nervous about the economy.

John Piper proposes the thesis that the worst of all times is the best of all times for missions.

Thinking & praying on Lamentations 3, he says his thesis needs to be tested:

1. During an economic downturn we are more dependent on God. That is the most fertile soil for creating missionaries.
2. During an economic downturn unreached people around the world do not expect you to come, but to look out for yourself. So they may more likely see your risk as love rather than exploitation.
3. During an economic downturn those who need Christ around the world may be less secure in earthly things and more ready to hear about eternal life.
4. During an economic downturn people at home may be wakened to the brevity of life and the fragility of material things, and so may become more generous not less. And when they give under these circumstances, it will make Christ look all the more like the all-satisfying Treasure that he is.

As we look at the amount of money we need to raise to do church planting in the most expensive city in which to live in Canada, it seems like a daunting task.

All the more glory for God when He provides during these times. Join us in praying to this end.

Moore: Jesus didn't die for a campus ministry

Filed under: "I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself"
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Russell Moore has a great article titled: "Jesus Didn't Die for a Campus Ministry: The Dangers of an Unchurched Spirituality."

The reason many college students identify primarily with a campus ministry rather than with a church is not because of any flaw in most campus ministry organizations. It is because, too often, we evangelical Christians have a deficient view of the church. We assume that it is any gathering of people who believe in Jesus and who do churchly things. Many Christians assume the church exists simply to help us learn more about Christ and pool our resources for missions. If that's the case, a campus ministry can do all those things, and more. But the Scriptures tell us the church is much more than that.

And he adds:

Saying "I love Jesus" but hating the church is as irrational as saying to your best friend, "I like you--I just can't stand being around you." Your attitude toward the church tells you--simply--your attitude toward Jesus.

Re: campus ministry, of course, we highly recommend Reformed University Fellowship.

Signs of the Kingdom without the Message of the Kingdom?

Zach Nielsen @ Take Your Vitamin Z finds a great quote:

There is a tendency in some quarters today to promote a kind of evangelism without proclamation. Acts of service are done or people are invited to experience Christian worship. But without words of explanation these are like signposts pointing nowhere or, worse still, signposts pointing to our good works. The gospel is good news - a message to be proclaimed, a truth to be taught, a word to be spoken, and a story to be told.

- Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church, p. 54

Peru Mission's New Logo

Hey Folks,

Check out the new Logo from Peru Mission, the coolest mission work in the world, IMHO.


Say the Bradfords,

We are so excited to unveil our new logo! This is the culmination of many months of thinking through and praying about what would represent who we are and what we are seeking to do in Peru. The logo’s geometrical shapes and colors reflect consistent patterns in Peruvian art, thus capturing our desire to present an authentic witness within Peruvian culture. The cross, set off by white and occupying center-stage within the other shapes, expresses our commitment to the centrality of the Gospel in all our interconnected ministries and our conviction that only the Gospel can truly transform culture.

And the Smith's say,

We are excited to share with you our new Peru Mission logo! After much thought and prayer, we believe this new logo better reflects our Peruvian context and our Christ centered emphasis as we minister the Gospel.

Obamavotive

Addendum to this post.



Update: My friend, Grace, left these great thoughts in the comments section:

Whether you are a Democrat or Republican or love or hate Obama, it's scary when a mere human is viewed as a savior. The biggest problem in the world today is our sin, and seeking a human savior will always bring disappointment, no matter what good they can do on this earth. What reassurance that we serve the King of Kings and that no matter what happens politically, we have nothing to fear for He is our Savior and the Lord of this universe.

James 3: A Story

"Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts."



HT: [Between Two Worlds]

Washington Post interviews Tim Keller

Filed under: I 'heart' Tim Keller
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Check out this interview with Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Pres, NY, & author of "The Reason for God."


[HT: Between Two Worlds]

If you haven't picked up his book yet, do so and devour it. It's simply good stuff.

Veith: Church Growth Amish Style

Gene Edward Veith has an interesting article: "Church Growth Amish Style." I ask you, does this surprise you?

The number of Amish has grown 84% since 1992, to a total of some 231,000. To deal with that growth–and also to escape the suburbanization that has encroached on some of their traditional rural settlements in the Midwest–Amish are migrating, buying land, and establishing settlements in seven new states: Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, Washington and West Virginia.

What do the Amish know that the rest of Christianity has been slow to embrace?

Why the church growth? With their rejection of automobiles, electricity, computers, and other conveniences of modern life, they aren’t winning many converts. But they have, on the average, five children per family. And though the children have a choice of whether or not to stay with the church when they grow up–getting to spend their late teen or early adult years sampling the outside world–a larger number of them, 85%, are staying with the church.

Interesting. Depending on which stats you look at, the rest of the Christian world are losing their youth at a rate of 60-80%.

Says Veith, "We need to admit that what I have called the stupid youth group tricks have failed and that we need to give our teenagers and young adults a Christianity that stands up to their lives."

What do you think?

Where do we set our eyes?

George Mueller, 1805-1898, once said,

"No my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the Living God who controls every circumstance of my life."

Mueller had an amazing story as he trusted God to provide for him and for the orphanages that he started and maintained.

[Thanks Heather!]

I "heart" Apple

Sigh.

Check out the new Macbook.

Sigh.

Bratz & the Pornification of a Generation

Filed under: "Things that make you go, 'hmmm'"
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Here's an interesting article in Newsweek.

A new book traces the migration of porn culture from adult theaters to the mainstream—and asks what that means for kids.

The idea for a book about porn culture came to Kevin Scott the day his daughter decided she absolutely had to have a Bratz-doll pony. For months, the 5-year-old had begged him for a Bratz doll—clad in spike heels, fishnets and miniskirt, enormous puppy-dog eyes protruding from her oversized head. Her sexy look seemed a little too sexy for a preschooler, so he and his wife bought her a different doll, which she was happy with. Except that a few months later, Bratz came out with Bratz Babyz. "If Bratz had looked like Barbie hookers, these looked like baby hookers," Scott says. Again, he convinced his daughter that My Little Pony was just as cool—and for a moment, the conversation ended. Until, of course, the Bratz came out with Bratz Ponyz. And then, says Scott, an English professor at a small college in Georgia, "I realized porn culture and I were in a death match for my daughter's soul."

Did you hear? We screwed it up!

Filed under: "Wow, I Had No Idea"
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I knew it.

According to this report on the Times Online, human evolution is over.

Human evolution is grinding to a halt because of a shortage of older fathers in the West, according to a leading genetics expert.

Fathers over the age of 35 are more likely to pass on mutations, according to Professor Steve Jones, of University College London.

Speaking today at a UCL lecture entitled “Human evolution is over” Professor Jones will argue that there were three components to evolution – natural selection, mutation and random change. “Quite unexpectedly, we have dropped the human mutation rate because of a change in reproductive patterns,” Professor Jones told The Times.

Well, I was kinda wondering why we haven't seen any anything lately....

Incarnational Living

Waiting for the World to Change

Here's an interesting "fleshing out" of what is means to be missional: a video set to John Mayer's "Waiting for the World to Change."


[HT: Missional Church Network]

Back in the Saddle...

Hey folks,

We're back from our trip to Calgary, and are settling down again in Aggieland. We were thrilled to get back and have our internet up and working, so we should be having regular posts again. Thanks for your patience.

No internet means no new posts....

My faithful readers (yes, all 5 of you)...

We probably won't have internet at our house for another week or so due to the high number of requests for internet with all the Aggies moving to town. Consequently, I probably won't have any new posts for another week or so.

Sorry. I feel your pain.

On Eliminating the Foster Care System...

Filed under: "Because it needs to be said..."
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The Resurgence Blog has a blog entitled, "Orphans vs. American Dream." In it, Anthony Bradley asks, "Why are there 115,000 orphans in a country that has over 224 million Christians...? Let's break this down further. The Washington Times reports that there are about 65 million evangelicals in America. So, again, why are there 115,000 orphans in America's foster care system?"

He lays down the challenge...

Some wonder how this is possible in a country with Christian families. Surely, there are 115,000 missional families in America, right? Missional families, for example, embrace the redemptive mission of God and practice "true religion" in their local communities (James 1:27). Missional Christians in America could eliminate the foster care system tomorrow if we would stop "shootin' up" with the American Dream (heroine) in order to get high on a lame life lived for the sake of comfort and ease.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world," writes James (1:27). As a matter of fact, the Bible has over 40 verses mandating God's people to look after orphans and the fatherless for various reasons.

According to the American Religious Identity Survey, conducted by the City University of New York, there are over 224 million Christians in the United States. So, why are there 115,000 orphans in a country that has over 224 million Christians...?

...If your church is not cultivating an ethos that practices "true religion" it may not be missional at all. It may be dying or sinking into a consumeristic, entertainment quicksand where people come to have their "felt needs" stroked. Your pastor might wear "cool" clothes, have a "cool" blog, or be in the process of trying to make God and Jesus androgynous but God seems to care that his people are being led by capable men who lead the rest of God's people in bringing the Kingdom to their local neighborhood in all its forms.

While not all Christians are gifted or equipped for taking in orphans it's pretty convicting that 65 million American evangelicals can't rescue 115,000 kids from an unstable hell.

'Nuff said. Time to step up to the plate.

[HT]