1st Love

Trying to attribute this. I'm pretty sure he wrote it.

The Church of Ephesus was a powerhouse for God in Asia Minor at one time. The Apostle Paul founded the church and soon it was pastored by the young man Paul had discipled, named Timothy. Later on it became the residence of the last living Apostle, John. The church was a mighty weapon for God as it invaded the gates of hell and set many captives free from sin and idolatry. Paul wrote an Epistle to this church in about 61 AD and the book of Ephesians remains to this day as one of the most complete books ever written on the Christian life.

But over time things changed. Thirty years later the Church in Ephesus was not even close to what it was in the beginning. Why was it so different now? The Apostle John said that the issue was that of “love.” Love? That seemed strange. Ephesian believers were hard working, served faithfully, and hated evil. They were even commended for their persistence in the midst of difficult times of testing in which they had remained strong. Jesus revealed to the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation that their love for Him had grown cold. Three decades before, they were known for their passionate love for Christ. Their intensity had turned to indifference. It was a tragic end to the Church in Ephesus.

Friday Eschatology

I don't dive into eschatology much. But when I read this today, it tripped my trigger.

What he fears is the next strategic genius; the next Hitler; the next Lenin allied to the opportunities of the 21st century. Many readers of this site will notice that we have touched — touched — on these themes only briefly because they seemed too outlandish to consider. But here's Ikle, a former undersecretary of defense, giving the theme his best shot.

The greatest threat to the world order in this century will be the next Hitler or Lenin, a charismatic leader who combines utter ruthlessness with a brilliant strategic sense, cunning, and boundless ambition—and who gains control over just a few weapons of mass destruction.

This new threat, still offstage, now awaits us. Any such evil but charismatic leader will be able to attack a major nation from within even if that nation possesses enormous military strength and capable police forces. If this new tyrant turns out to be strategically intelligent, he could prepare to launch a couple of mass destruction weapons against carefully chosen targets—without training camps in another nation, without help from a foreign terrorist organization, without a military campaign across the nation's borders. He would thus offer no targets for retaliation and render useless a nation's most powerful deterrent forces. By contrast, an expanding caliphate—the utopia that jihadists dream about—would offer the leading democracies plenty of easy targets for retaliation.

The purpose of this new tyrant would not be to destroy landmark buildings, highjack airplanes, attack railroad stations and religious shrines. His aim would be to paralyze the national leadership and spread nationwide panic, to ensure that the center could not hold. He would be well prepared to exploit this chaos by seizing complete control of the nation's government and imposing his dictatorship.

Driscoll Dress Up

Driscoll on church dress.

My favorite.

Sudan Video

Video of Sudan. Hat tip to GR for the song.

Sudan Church-planting Campaign

Mekindya Baptist Church, noted below.

I love David Kaya's attitude and determination. When the U.S. team fell through this month, he didn't fold his tents. He recruited more local believers and led an all-national church planting campaign. Now God is blessing. They've been working for several days now. Today, he sent me these photos and this email.

Greetings from Kajo-Keji,

Glory be to God for all what He has done through his children in Kajo-Keji.

1. Mekindya Baptist Church, 40 Came to christ, Pastor Simon Sokiri, he is assisted by Onya Simon
2. Wogoru Baptist Church, 53 Came to the Lord, Kauda patrick Pastoring.
3. Saregoro Baptist Church, 61 Came to Christ, Chandiga Moses Pastoring that church.
4. More still to go.

A new church, meeting under this tree.

In case you missed them, here are his previous emails and notes from calls to me.

First Update: I just heard from David Kaya. Thanks for praying because the Lord as established one church already with 40 new believers. They are continuing to work until next Sunday with the goal of planting four more churches. Please continue to pray for David and his all-Sudanese team. (Who needs the token white guys?) This week, they anticipate persecution from a few existing churches in the area. That’s a sad statement, and I think a terrifying one for those churches, but it’s true.

Second Update:I spoke with David this morning. He thanks you all for praying and gave me this quick report. We talk via a satellite phone so the discussions are quick and to the point to save money.

Seventeen families came to Christ yesterday. He asked that we specifically pray for a female witch doctor in the village where they worked yesterday. Several of her family members accepted Christ as their savior, but she rejected him.

Please pray for these families and their pastor as they now form the beginnings of a new church.

David and the 28 local believers and pastors he recruited move to a third village today to work. Please take a minute to lift them up.

Stuff I'm Reading

Bob Robert's latest post

Alan Hirsch and I have been hanging out this weekend and have talked, debated, evaluated and had a blast the past 3 days. Last night, we were talking about movements. Why did movements in the early church grow like they did? Why has China, and now parts of India, exploded like it has? This isn’t meant to be comprehensive at all, but, as we talked, three things really stand out in my mind. ... More

From Out of Ur
A big pet peeve of mine: The Christian Imagination, or lack thereof (fear).

On Good Friday we helped people enter the biblical narrative with their imaginations by adapting the traditional stations of the cross into an experiential journey with Jesus from Gethsemane to the grave. While holding a bag of silver coins people contemplated what they valued more than Christ. Children, using a stool if they were too short, lifted a cross suspended from the ceiling while considering if they would have helped Jesus carry his burden. Newcomers jumped as someone nailed a spike into a beam while Isaiah 53 was softly read. Some adults who have known the story since childhood were brought to tears as their imaginations, perhaps for the first time, traveled with Jesus through the suffering.

The whole thing.

Guy Muse
Theory meets real world. That's my phrase, not Guy's.

The student clarified, "they are teaching and leading churches..."

"Yes", I replied, "and not only that, they are winning new people to the Lord, discipling them and starting new churches. They consider themselves 'ministers of the Gospel' just like you and me..."

Women church planters.

Lots of Church Planting Information

Guy Muse, and IMB missionary in Ecuador has posted a bunch of great posts on church planting. It's rubber-meets-the-road material. Just keep scrolling down and reading.

Read all of it here.

Mars Hill Jesus

Mark Driscoll's church focuses on Christ.

round the age of thirty, Jesus began a public ministry that included preaching, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and befriending people who were marginalized because they were perverts, drunks, thieves, and such. Jesus’ ministry spanned only three short years before He was put to death for declaring Himself to be God. He died by shameful crucifixion like tens of thousands of people had before Him.

© 1999 Churches Advertising Network

Curiously, His résumé is rather simple. He never traveled more than a few hundred miles from His home. He never held a political office, never wrote a book, never married, never attended college, and never visited a big city. He died homeless and poor.

Yet He is the most famous person in all of human history. More songs have been sung about Him, artwork painted of Him, and books written about Him than anyone who has ever lived. Furthermore, billions of people from the nations of the earth worship Him as God.

Glocal Trekker Blog

From Bob Robert's Blog
Thought provoking to me ...

I was visiting one of my Jewish friends that always makes me think. I deeply respect and love him. He’s a thinker/doer. Thinker/writer’s are nice. They sell books and speak, but thinker/doers live and change things for the better. He challenged me not long ago to be more open if not an universalist. We both love the world and people and God. He told me I’ve yet to cross that line. He’s right. I have and continue to ponder deeply over our conversation. Here are some conclusions. He told me I understood the Great Commission as a literal thing that causes me to evangelize and that short circuits all I do and all I say. Here are some of my thoughts.

First, fifteen years ago I did start with the Great Commission. It was the command--not any more. Today, I start with the Great Sermon--Matthew 5-7, and focus on the disciple. Then, Matthew 25--the way we touch the world. To me, the Great Commission is the culmination and result of reading all the rest of Matthew. I believe our global work is short-circuited often because we start at the end of Matthew instead of the first.