For any of you who know Pastor David Burge of New Zealand, he has just taken a turn for the worse and the chemotherapy is no longer working. They estimate two weeks. Please pray for him. This is the last update from his wife, Tarnya.
We saw the consultant yesterday. The chemo is no longer working. He estimates that Dave has about 2 weeks left.
We have been blessed by many comments on the blog; by the assurance of your prayers and thoughts; and by some very thoughtful and practical gifts. Thank you.
Thank you to those who have written beautiful letters of tribute. Dave has appreciated these.
Only visits from immediate family from now on please.
So maybe you have been hearing and seeing of the news now 2 weeks after the earthquake in Haiti and you’ve thought “I should do something. I should send money. I should donate something.” Maybe you have spoken about it with someone close to you about the best way you could help. But then maybe life got busy again for you. Maybe your desire to think-through the best way to help has led you to do nothing because you’re just not sure if it will do any good. Afterall, you can’t give enough to make the pain all go away - so then why do anything at all?
In New England, we battle the hard hearts of skeptics while enjoy the open-mindedness of those searching. Engaging our neighbors and communities is important - and there is a way to do it right. Forget the marketing strategies or membership drives, get into conversations with the people you’re around. I think that the challenge facing New England in regards to evangelism and outreach is not in the people who need the gospel, its found in the people who supposedly don’t.
Best line of the article - “That means outreach must be deliberate and personal.” And those reaching out need to move out of the comfort of our church building’s four walls and away from the safety have having our pastors teach those who don’t know the gospel.
I recently received a link to a video (see it here) in which a “Reverend” spouted off about how evil President Obama is, and saying that “white folks are going to rise up” the way black folks did in reaction to the Rodney King incident - and this was from a black minister. Moreover, this man practically foamed at the mouth with his hatred for Obama, repeatedly calling him a “long-legged Mac-daddy” (whatever that means) and worse. No matter what you may think of the president’s politics and policies, we are told to honor and pray for our governmental leaders, not spout off such strife-gendering rhetoric.
The student body at Notre Dame has written and will demonstrate against the choice of the University to have President Obama speak at their commencement. They are doing this out of fidelity to the Church and her position on abortion. It is incredibly well written:
STUDENT COALITION STATEMENT ON THE 2009 UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME COMMENCEMENT CEREMONIES
In defense of the unborn, we wish to express our deepest opposition to Reverend John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.’s invitation of President Barack Obama to be the University of Notre Dame’s principal commencement speaker and the recipient of an honorary degree. Our objection is not a matter of political partisanship, but of President Obama’s hostility to the Catholic Church’s teachings on the sanctity of human life at its earliest stages. His recent dedication of federal funds to overseas abortions and to embryonic stem cell research will directly result in the deaths of thousands of innocent human beings.
I thought the following article was very thought provoking and sobering. I have bolded a few key points below. What do you think?
ONEIDA, KY. - We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West.Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.) In the “Protestant” 20th century, Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century.
This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.
Well, Plasma Productions is looking and sounding better and better as their cinematography and production skills increase with each video. Check out their latest one regarding the American financial crisis:
Christopher Hitchens, who is by far the most vitriolic atheist debater, is scheduled to debate William Lane Craig, who is one of the most capable Christian debaters on God’s existence of our time.
Saturday, April 4
7:30 pm
Chase Gymnasium
Biola University
Witness one of the great debates of the new millennium. Devoted atheist, Christopher Hitchens, author of the bestselling God is Not Great, squares off with one of the most formidable debaters in the Christian world, Dr. William Lane Craig, on the topic: Does God Exist?
Moderated by Hugh Hewitt and hosted by Craig Hazen
Cosponsored with Biola Associated Students
Book signing to follow
That’s the slogan of a new ad campaign in Britain sponsored by the British Humanist Association and everyone’s favorite atheist Richard Dawkins. Here’s a short video about their campaign:
Wow! How do you feel about that? Do you think something like this would go over in the United States? Do you have any concern about this news?Here are a couple of recent news stories regarding this campaignBBC Article
Going off some numbers given here there have been fifty million abortions since 1973. It is hard to understand just how big that number is. So they give you another statistic. Fifty million is the population of these states combined:
