Twitter

I have resisted opening a twitter account for a very long time, especially after someone hacked into a family member's e-mail account. It seems counter-productive to publish everything one is doing. Thus, giving mischievous hackers easier access to one's life and info.

However, I finally gave in yesterday and opened my very own twitter account. Man, it can be addicting! Still trying to figure it out, though. I'd like to be able to link it to my phone, facebook and blog...but haven't gotten that far...yet. Gotta love technology!

Christianity is down...in America, that is

I ran across this CNN story/survey today and got to thinking: Maybe this is a good thing for followers of Jesus Christ. Talk about an open mission field...

Mark Silk, of Trinity College, reports to CNN that "the rise in evangelical Christianity is contributing to the rejection of religion altogether by some Americans." What are some of these contributing factors? I mean, we can't just generalize and say, "well, it's because of evangelical Christianity that the American people are rejecting any type of religion altogether." Or can we??

I'm interested in reading the complete survey findings to know what some of the contributing factors to the rejection of religion are. Could a factor possibly be the mass amounts of evangelical Christians who side with one political party, who consequently "turn off" those who disagree with them?

How much good does it really do for an evangelical to side with one political party and then call the other party(-ies) wrong and of the devil? Could it be a total disservice to the Mission of Jesus Christ to not dichotomize between Church and state? Where is the line drawn between Christianity and nationalism/patriotism?

The General

Today, I bumped into this video, and all I can say is, “Wow!” This was an inspiring, timely message by the General Overseer of the Church of God, Raymond Culpepper. I am so proud to serve under his leadership and am pumped to be serving at the vine.

It’s great to know that God works “on-stage” as well as behind-the-scenes, whether we know/see it or not. I am confident that he’s doing his thing, even though I can’t always see what’s going on. God’s handiwork goes beyond my wildest imagination and my biggest dream.

Interviewing a Ministerial Vet

Hope you enjoy this interview, and because it's with my dad, it'll be in Spanish. My apologies to non-Spanish speakers. By the way, 2 minutes into the interview there will be a phone ringing...sorry, my dad never turns that thing off!

Sunday Recap

We kicked off our December month long series of Advent yesterday with Hope as the first of four traditional elements of Advent. It hit home even better than I had anticipated. Used a lot of scripture and once again confirmed that one definitely cannot underestimate the power of God's far-reaching word.

Also, it felt really Christmassy yesterday...I guess the beautiful decorations (done by my wife), the lit candles, the subtle apple-cinnamon scent and the Christmas songs contributed nicely to holiday feel. We also planned our Christmas dinner yesterday and am looking forward to all the new invited guests, who we will be inviting, joining us. We will be sending out invites this week to several guests with whom we have had contact--second time guests, festival attendees, etc.
This week will also be used to brainstorm for next year's sermon series.

Well, it's up and at 'em...

Dinner @ the vine

Last night at the vine, we had a Thanksgiving meal with the regulars as well as several new people. We had a great time of community, and it proved to be a major relationship-building occasion. After dinner, we played several games of Mafia, and it totally opened up most of our new people. It was great. We finished up at 11:30pm...a little too long, maybe. Everybody was in high spirits as we ended the night, though.

Now, my wife and I are off to Central and Northern California for the Thanksgiving weekend. Probably won't be blogging till after. Peace!

Building community through food!

As the holiday season is pretty much here, beginning with Thanksgiving, there is one element throughout that we can’t do without: Food! Not sure what others will be eating here in CA, but in my family and circle throughout this season, we will be eating Turkey (Thanksgiving, of course), stuffing, arroz con gandules (rice-PR style), habichuelas (beans, PR-style), tamales, pasteles (PR-style tamales), frijoles puercos, buñuelos, flan, and who knows what else will be added to the Mexican-Puerto Rican-US mix.

As I was reading earlier today in the Bible, I ran across the early church’s custom to eat together, which some called “Love Feasts.” It’s unbelievable how much “connection” and relationship-building can occur between people at the table…having some eats. Jesus did it countless times, the early church did it as well and even today it occurs quite often. I’ve experienced this connection with people throughout my life and have noticed its beneficial effect in ministry as well as in doing life with people.

However, I have had somewhat regrettable times in my life where I did succumb to the individualistic milieu of the society and instead of contributing to something so organic as community, I contributed toward its demise. Of course, I don’t purposely do this anymore, but I have to consciously make decisions as to promote community…even through something so mundane as meals. To eat...everybody does it. Why not eat together once in a while? I mean, who doesn’t like to eat???

How much does this individualistic society influence us to the point we don’t eat together as families or as faith communities? How could we connect to unbelievers through meals? Could we be more “effective” as missional followers of Christ through…food?