Apple's "Get a Mac" ad: "Broken Promises"

This is awesome!!! Enjoy!

Jim

Check it out HERE

Church Sign Fail

This cracked me up...

I saw it yesterday at Fail blog and then again today on Josh's blog. Love it!

Jim

Daily Read October 18, 2009

1 Peter 5:2-4 (New International Version)

²Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; ³not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. ⁴And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

Daily Read October 17, 2009

Romans 5:6-8 (New International Version)

⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Daily Read October 16, 2009

Psalm 32:1-2 (New International Version)

¹ "Blessed is he
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.

² Blessed is the man
whose sin the LORD does not count against him
and in whose spirit is no deceit."

PDYM Community lunch in Batavia, IL

A sweet box of FREEBIES just showed up at my office for the upcoming PDYM Community lunch!!!

Just what's in the box???

You'll have to come to the PDYM Community lunch at Fox Valley Christian Church on October 27th to find out. The lunch will begin at 12:30 and wrap up at 2 pm. This will be a great time for local youth workers to get together, meet each other (if you don't know them), chat together, share ideas and support each other. That's what the PDYM Community is all about.

The lunch is being hosted at Fox Valley Christian Church, 40w150 Main Street, Batavia, IL. We are asking each participant to bring $5 to cover the sandwiches. It's open to all youth workers... part-time, full-time, no-time, volunteer... If you would like to come, feel free to shoot me an email at jim@fvcc.com. I'd love to have you come!

Here's a link to the official info!! Scan down to Illinois...

Jim

Daily Read October 15, 2009

Romans 3:21-24 (New International Version)

Righteousness Through Faith

"²¹But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²²This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Now there's some GREAT NEWS!!! We've all messed up... but God's grace is FREE!!!!

Daily Read October 13, 2009

Romans 1:16-17, NIV

"¹⁶I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. ¹⁷For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith.""

Jim

Book Review: Renewal for Mission

Recently I finished up a short read in a book called "Renewal for Mission: A Concise History of Christian Churches and Churches of Christ." Actually I finished it up a couple of weeks ago but haven't had a chance to review it.

I had interest in this book for a couple of reasons. First, one of the authors was a professor of mine at Milligan College, Dr. Dennis Helsabeck Jr. When I saw it advertised in the Milligan alumni magazine, I had to pick up a copy of it.

Second, it claims to be a history of the "Christian Churches and Churches of Christ." They are the independent wing of the Restoration Movement alongside the Disciples of Christ and the Churches of Christ Non-instrumental. There aren't too many histories written from the Independent's perspective.

I was pleasantly surprised. (Not that I was hoping to be disappointed.) It was a very quick read (I read it in about 90 minutes) and as very concise in its details. This book would be a great read for someone who is moderately interested in the history behind the Restoration Movement, Christian Churches, or Fox Valley Christian Church.

There are several things about it that I liked:

• It was very concise and easy to read.
  
• It had pictures (which seems odd... but for someone who is unfamiliar with who Robert Milligan is (and his crazy hair, pictures are helpful. For me these weren't necessary, but I could see the helpfulness.).
• It contained information about the Independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ... something that many other books don't.
• There were questions for discussion at the end of each chapter. This little aspect makes it useful in churches were a church might provide a history class about their congregation.
  
• The authors included a "further reading" section where they recommended some potential resources... many of which were familiar to me.
  

While there were several things about this book to like, the dislikes outweighed the likes overall. Here are a couple of things that I didn't like about it:

• There was very little footnoting. That is frustrating for me, since the authors made a couple of claims that I didn't think they could support. But I was unable to check their sources, since they didn't list them. It also made it difficult for someone to study further if they so desired.
  
• The amount of information after the split with the Disciples was minimal. Part of what I was hoping was that the authors would give the basic background and then really give us some meat after the split from the Disciples. Instead we got 3 or 4 chapters of less than 50 pages of the overall 13 chapters and 150 pages. That was disappointing considering it billed itself as a history of "our" movement. Many of these pages were names and dates and occurrences without much development as to the meaning and impact of these events.
  

This book is part of a 3 book series published by ACU about each of the three branches of the movement. I would like to pick up the others, just to complete my set. And while this book was good and short, it left me wanting more. I wanted more detail about what makes us distinctly "us." And I felt the authors spent a great deal of time covering material that others have already done and done well (mostly here I refer to the details of the movement's founding with Stone and the Campbells through 1906) and left uncovered the information that would have made it stand out (1906 to the present).

I give it a C-. (Who would have ever thought that I would give one of my college professors a grade?)

If you are into Restoration Movement history, it might be worth picking up. Although much of the information can be found in other more developed volumes. If you are a church member wondering where Fox Valley Christian Church and other Christian Churches/Churches of Christ have come from, it may be a good resource for you.

Jim

Daily Read October 12, 2009

Mark 16:3-6, NIV

"³and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"

⁴But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. ⁵As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

⁶"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him."

Now there are some exciting verses!!!

Jim

Daily Read October 11, 2009

Colossians 4:5-6, NIV

"⁵Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. ⁶Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

Fat guy running club...

So I'd been toying with an idea for a while.

In high school, sports was a regular part of my life. Even in college, sports was still a regular part of my life as I continued to lift weights and play basketball regularly. But since being in ministry for the past 10 years, I haven't had a regular "sports fix."

So I had been thinking about taking up running. But I had never done it. (My sister has... she was a great cross country running in high school and continues to run and is 'way' fast!)

So I'd been seriously thinking about it for the past couple of years. But the timing was never right. Finally this summer, I thought "if it's going to happen, there's no better time than now."

So I started (August 8).

I started with a goal in mind. Last year when our students were in the Dominican Republic for our missions trip, there was a 10k happening that weekend. So I thought, "I'll get myself ready and if that 10k is that same weekend as last year, then I'll be ready to run it." So that's what I'm working toward.

But I thought that a 10k race shouldn't be my first race. So I decided to run the Naperville Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving 5k.

So I've been working on this goal for the 8 weeks. I haven't blogged out it, even though it's been showing up on my twitter feed. (Basically I didn't blog it in case it didn't work out and then I wouldn't have looked like a failure.)

But the experience has been anything but that.

Today was my final day of my initial running training cycle. I was amazed that I ran 30 minutes without stopped. (Pretty good for a guy who has been noted to 'run to the fridge, but walk back.') And actually when I looked my mileage, I ran 3 miles without stopping. That amazed me more than 30 minutes!!!!

So, next week I start on my 5k training cycle. Although I'm a couple of weeks further along than I thought I was. My 5k will be on Thanksgiving 7 weeks from now. And I'm hoping that my 10k will be on March 28th, 2010.

Where we go from there... who knows... But I am starting to enjoy it. Today, for the first time, I think that I experienced what some refer to as "runner's high." That was exciting.

If you are running and tracking your runs with Nike+, which I am, you can follow me HERE and I can follow you too.

I'm now a part of the "Fat Guy's Running Club." And if there isn't one, maybe I'll be it's first member and President. Plus, the added benefit is that I've lost 20 pounds too!

Jim

P.S.: I figured you would enjoy that picture Steve.

Daily Read October 10, 2009

Colossians 3:23-24, NIV

"23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving"

Daily Read October 9, 2009

Matthew 9:35-38 (New International Version)

³⁵Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. ³⁶When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Daily Read October 8, 2009

Colossians 2:13-15 (New International Version)

" ¹³When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."

Daily Read October 7, 2009

Philippians 4:4-9 (New International Version)

⁴Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Ping Pong Balls - Brock Gill

I love this guy!!! He's a Christian illusionist and he is hilarious. This is one of his best tricks. Enjoy!

Jim

Watch it HERE.

Daily Read October 6, 2009

Jeremiah 1:6-8 (New International Version)

⁶ "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child."

⁷ But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. ⁸ Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.

Logos scholarship for seminarians

Bible study is one of the most important things that we can do as Christians. God has given us an incredible tool in giving us the Bible. It is indeed a powerful weapon and a mighty sword when placed in the hands of those who weld it with excellence.

I have grown in my appreciation of the Bible over the years. I regularly spend time reading and studying it. One of the greatest companions that I have in my study of the Bible is the Logos Bible Software. I wasn't aware of this software until I began my MDiv work at Lincoln Christian Seminary. Now, I couldn't imagine doing Bible study research without it.

LCS believes in the importance of Bible study and therefore they are pretty upfront with their desire that we seminarians use the Logos system. Which is easy for me since I have found that I really like the software.

Then I saw this fall that Logos is giving away seminary scholarships!!! (For real: Check it out HERE (http://www.seminaryscholarship.com/) I would love to land one of these $1000 scholarships (it would almost cover a class at LCS) and would love even more to get some of the resources that come along with some of the other Logos software. So I entered.

If you are going to seminary, you need Logos. And if you are going to seminary, why not apply for a scholarship(http://www.seminaryscholarship.com/)? Watch a short video, give them some information and maybe you'll be using the most powerful tool in Bible study and saving some money in your seminary bill department!

Jim

Feed My Starving Children video

A couple of weekends ago, FVCC took 77 folks to Feed My Starving Children in Aurora. Here is a video of some of the photos from that day. Enjoy

Jim

P.S.: All these photos and videos were taken by my iPhone 3Gs... Just thought I'd throw that in there.

Check it out HERE if you need to.