In an effort to see whether anyone reads this blog besides myself and my wife (she doesn’t have a choice), I am throwing some bait out to see what I catch.

The bait is a $15 itunes gift card!

In order to get into the game just comment below and note how often you read this blog (be honest- I won’t discriminate- although on second thought, I might if this is your first time ever).

I will then draw randomly from the names given and the winner will receive a $15 itunes gift card!

I figure I have nothing to loose- if it’s just my wife I’ll get to enjoy the prize and if not then I’ll find out whether this thing is worth my time.

One last thing- pseudonyms, children under 10, and deceased relatives are not eligible to win.

The following was posted this week at the blog, “Creation Project“, by Jonathan Dodson.  Very helpful as we think about and pursue genuine Christian community.

Here is this last week’s material for our Equip class on vocation.  It continues to be mostly overview/foundation but as I told the class, I think we need this stuff engrained into our minds until it truly becomes a part of the way we think about work.  It is always helpful to hear the truth in a different way from a different perspective.

How Should We Then Work by Jonathan Dodson

A Biblical Understanding of Work audio sermon by John Loftness

More Total Church.

We sometimes ask people to imagine they are part of a church-planting team in a cross-cultural situation in some other part of the world:

• What criteria would you use to decide where to live?
• How would you approach your secular employment?
• What standard of living would you expect as pioneer missionaries?
• What would you spend your time doing?
• What opportunities would you be looking for?
• What would your prayers be like?
• What would you be trying to do with your new friends?
• What kind of team would you want around you?
• How would you conduct your meetings together?

We find it easier to be radical in our thinking when we transplant ourselves outside our current situation.  But we are as much missionaries here and now as we would be if we were part of a cross-cultural team in another part of the world.  Mission is central to us wherever we are.                 -p. 33

Here are some more quotes from Total Church.

This also means that Bible study and theology that do not lead to lvoe for God and a desire to do his will- worship, tears, laughter, excitement, or sorrow- have gone terribly wrong.  True theology leads to love, mission, and doxology (1 Timothy 1:5, 7, 17).                                  -p. 31

Few Christians are going to object to being gospel-centered, just as no one is against mothers or apple pie.  The problem is the gap between our rhetoric and the reality of our practice.  The continual challenge for us is to apply this principle to church life and ministry without compromise.               -p. 33

The elders and Deacons are currently reading through a book entitled Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis.  Even though we are only in the second chapter we are already finding ourselves encouraged and challenged by its contents.  I thought I’d share some quotes that were particularly thought provoking.

We often divide into word-centered and Spirit-centered churches.  For some the key event on Sunday mornings is the sermon; for others it is the “time of worship” or “ministry.”

We reject this polarization.  Our concern to be word-centered does not conflict with a concern to be Spirit-centered.  The church is the community of the Holy Spiriti.  It is a living community where things happen because God is at work. When our hearts are moved in worship, when people are changed by God’s word, when we turn to God in prayer, when we care for one another, when we act in selfless ways, and supremely when people are saved- these are all signs of the Spirit at work…

Churches can also polarize between intellectualism (what you think is what matters) or emotionalism (what you feel is what matters).  In some churches the issues of the heart and emotions have become functionally absent.  We acknowledge their importance, but they feature little in our lives.  Some of us just do not like to talk about our relationship with the Lord in emotive terms… Churches should be emotional communities- communities in which our faith is felt as well as understood.              -p. 29-30

Here’s a couple of quotes I’ve found thought provoking recently.

Josh shared this quote with me from the blog Christ is Deeper Still.  The blog post was titled, “One Another’s I Can’t Find in the New Testament.”

Humble one another, scrutinize one another, pressure one another, embarrass one another, correct one another, corner one another, interrupt one another, run one another’s lives, confess one another’s sins, disapprove of one another . . . .

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

This one is from the blog Of First Importance.

“Whatever comes in, when you go to God for acceptance, besides Christ, call it Antichrist; bid it be gone; make only Christ’s righteousness triumphant.”

- Thomas Wilcox, “Honey Out of the Rock“