Wow….
During President Obama’s highly controversial speech at Notre Dame yesterday, someone shouted, “Stop killing our children!”
Amazingly, the graduates actually responded by chanting: “Yes we can!”
How sick is that?!?
Excuse Me… No, Excuse Me
I just read in TIME magazine that a couple weeks ago two European nuclear submarines collided “deep in the Atlantic Ocean.” One was the British H.M.S. Vanguard, the other was the French Le Triomphant.
Aside from all the other questions and concerns this raises, two questions stand out:
(1) How the heck can you collide “deep in the Atlantic Ocean”? I mean, is it really not big enough or deep enough? I can understand two people in a narrow hallway who do the back-and-forth thing followed by the obligatory awkward laugh, but colliding in the middle of the ocean?
(2) The article reports that the French navy believed at first that they had struck a shipping container. Who in the world is steering these things? Do they need a better windshield? Can they actually see where they are going?
You just never know what you’ll hear of next.
Principles & Principals
This afternoon I was part of a pretty exciting meeting. Several pastors and church leaders from our community met with the top education administrators in north Worcester County. It started out great because lunch was provided, but then it got even better. The churches’ agenda was simple: we wanted to find out how we can help and support our local public schools.
After Pastor Daryl McCready from SonRise Church and Pastor Gary Baer from Buckingham Presbyterian Church opened the meeting, one of the principals who was there observed that kids who are in church tend to be more successful in school than those who are not involved in a church. So he said the best thing we can do is work to connect unchurched families to our churches–which, of course, is already foundational to our mission!
Several of the pastors commented afterward that they were surprised by the meeting. The school administrators, rather than coming prepared with a long list of unfunded projects, had one simple request: Mentors. One heartbreaking story after another was shared about kids who don’t have a caring adult in their lives. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room! Rarely have I been to a meeting with so much passion, drive, and commitment to action.
I admire the way they were so focused on the one need which can have the greatest impact; and which, incidentally, the Church is most equipped to meet.
So now the church leaders will meet again to discuss practical ways we can plug our congregants and ourselves into the mentoring programs that the schools already have in place. I’m so excited about the potential! I’ve already talked with the principal of one of the elementary schools in our community, and we’ll be meeting soon to discuss how CrossWay can begin serving and partnering with them.
God is as much at work as He’s ever been!
CrossWay: Celebrating 25 Years
Church was awesome yesterday at CrossWay! We celebrated our 25th anniversary as a church. It was the biggest crowd we’ve had since I’ve been pastor here, even bigger than Easter. Two of our former pastors were here, as well as some of the interim pastors and a number of former members and other people who have been connected with our church over the years.
We started off with the music, and Josh, our worship pastor, had a great selection which included a medley of some older songs.
Several people had worked to put together a video collage of pictures from the past 25 years, which was set to music. There weren’t a lot of dry eyes in the place by the time it was over!
A number of people served in different roles during the service. Steve had the tough job of following the video, which he handled beautifully. He was followed by Chuck Hostetter, the founding pastor, who shared an inspiring message from Psalm 105 about how God has been at work, is at work, and will continue to be at work in our church.
Bob Miller, who was Chuck’s successor as pastor, was unable to be with us but sent a message by video. We prayed for his dad, who had surgery the day before, and then heard from Joe Kolb. Joe was the pastor here for a couple years after Bob.
After I talked for a few minutes about 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 and how Jesus Christ is the permanent–eternal–foundation for our church, we heard from several other people before we wrapped up the worship service with “How Great Is Our God.”
Kristen took a group photo of everyone right after the service, which will be available on Flickr in a day or so.
Then we ate for about three hours, a totally delicious meal from Famous Dave’s.
A great, memorable, special day at CrossWay. I look forward to doing it again in another 25 years!
On the Obama Victory
Sometimes you just gotta give the spotlight to people who can say things better than you. So on this first morning with our new President-elect, I’m turning the mic over to Darren Plummer, a church planter friend in the D.C. area.
Click here to read his thoughtful and well-expressed reaction to the Obama victory.
And My Vote For President Goes To…
… Merv Stoltzfus!
I believe Merv is the man who can reach across the aisle and bring this country back together. As we look ahead to the future, President Stoltzfus can lead this nation through our current troubles with his wise and discerning leadership.
Plus, he’s a good friend and our Conference Minister.
Here’s a picture of my vote for Merv on the screen of the voting machine. It’s a little blurry, but what can you expect with a cell phone camera snapping a shot of a computer screen?
Here I am campaigning for the candidate. If the sign looks a little cheap and poorly made, that’s because the campaign budget was only 53 cents.
A Third Way
With the big national election tomorrow, we talked yesterday at CrossWay about the political scene and how we should respond.
Conclusion: rather than placing our faith in McCain and the Republicans or Obama and the Democrats, we should choose a Leader who really is the answer for the messes we’ve created. His name is Jesus, and He offers a third way.
Government is important, of course, and it’s our civic duty to vote. But our primary allegiance must be to Jesus Christ, and He has entrusted us–not the government–with the responsibility of changing the world.
The podcast of “A Third Way” is now available in iTunes or at this site.
An Important Day
Today is the anniversary of the day centuries ago when Martin Luther famously banged on the door of the church at Wittenburg and demanded they give him 95 pieces of candy.
Or something like that. I get it mixed up.
