Poverty

I thought this was an interesting website. click on the pictures. read the stories. be reminded that even in this country there are people who are in desperate need of our help. the church's help. these are the people Jesus came for....

hypocrisy

thought this was a great article on the hypocrisy in the sports media....

The Personality Driven Church

found and interesting article on yahoo today dealing with the wake of the Ted Haggard scandal and mega-churches. definitely helped me to be reminded that the church is just more than just one guy and that celebrity pastoring is not Biblical. I think that is one thing that appreciate about my church. We refuse to be a personality driven church. Jesus is our senior pastor. Jesus will lead our church. all efforts point to Jesus. all church structuring is done so below Jesus. He is the ultimate leader at our church and I love that for many reasons, and i was reminded again today of them. my prayer today is that Catalyst will never be a personality driven church but instead a Jesus driven church that follows His lead.

P.S. found this quote in the article interesting..."So when Haggard fell spectacularly from grace in a scandal involving drugs and allegations of gay sex, many wondered if New Life, so tied to his public persona, would crash with him." I completely understand the point the reporter is making, but it struck me odd that she chose the phrase "fell...from grace." While we realize that Haggard will never fall from God's Grace I hope too that he will not fall spectacularly from our grace as well. While he has permanently disqualified himself from leadership and made the church look horrible as well, he should still be loved and helped and shown mercy, forgiveness and grace. I will try to in my heart, i hope you do so in yours as well.

Grace

Being humbled again tonight by the fact that I deserve death and a life seperated from God but for His own Glory he saved me....and not because of any worth that I have but because He is great God.

O Praise the one who paid my debt, and raised this life up from the dead!

Interesting

Had a Great Discussion Tonight with some folks about the discipline of the christian life...afterwards this quote by Friedrich Nietzsche is still ringing in my brain...

"The essential thing in 'heaven and earth' is... that there should be a long obedience in the same direction; there results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living." - Friedrich Nietzsche in Beyond Good and Evil

(Also happens to be the title of a fantastic book that I'm reading...)

Sad

The headline of an editorial in the Kent Stater today read "have sex, but save marriage." The writer (Alison Pritchard) went on to discuss how college student shouldn't try to get married but should instead wait until later in life when they have had multiple partners and experienced life...The sad thing about this article was that it was based soley on the foundation of a very self-center view of marriage and love. Alison says, "College is a time to try relationships. Give it your all, and see what happens. If it isn't making you happy anymore, try out someone else.
We don't have to figure everything out right away anymore. There's time to change your mind. Find what makes you happiest and go with it." This is sad to me because it is exactly this kind of mentality that ruins relationships and marriages...
"Love is not self-seeking" ~Paul

Campus Focus

Went Down tonight and spent the evening with my CF peeps down in Ak-Rowdy. It was awesome. Almost 250 - 300 people packed out the Chapel Auditorium as we had a great time of worship and just hanging out. It was awesome to see that God is moving in Akron. Sometimes I'm so focused on reaching Kent and what God is doing there that I forget that he is doing some massive work on college students hearts right next store. So mad shot outs tonight to Campus Focus...You guys keep doing what your doing cause God is changing lives in Akron too....

worship

i like this video...cause i think we all need a friendly reminder that worship is just more than just sunday...and what better way to do that than with sarcasm...:-)

Ecko

So just when I was losing interest Lost hooked me again...So sad that mr. ecko is dead. i always like him. *tear* What's up with this monster......