IGNITE 2012When…

IGNITE 2012

When: March 13 through March 15, 2012

What: Church Planting Conference

Who: 

Those who want to be a part of something big. You’ll be at the ground floor and join hands to ignite a new movement of church planting throughout Converge.

Those who want best practices from the best. You’ll have access to breakout sessions taught by some of the brightest and the best that Converge has to offer. You’ll receive real and practical ideas that work, not just theories.

If you want tested tools to move your church forward in 2012, this conference is for you.

Contact: Joy B. Rudolph

Email: joy.rudolph@convergeww.org

Spring Ahead This Weekend

I Love My Church

Join Us at TJN for Christmas Eve at 5:00, 7:00 & 11:00pm

What Are You Hungry For?

by Dee Sheveland – Prayer First Steering Team

The recent earthquake in Haiti makes us aware of our basic needs for sustenance. As human beings, our bodies survive on food, water, and shelter.

But we also have deeper spiritual needs, which can be exposed through the practice of fasting and prayer.

Jesus said to the woman seeking water at the well, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water that I give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).

Jesus had a revealing divine appointment with this woman. Her infidelity was exposed as well as her need for a Savior. Jesus also revealed himself as the Messiah to her, which compelled her to go back to Samaria and spread the good news.

Here we see a woman seeking physical water for survival, and Jesus offers her a spring of water welling up inside of her spirit. He offers her a place to lay down all of her facades, a place to be seen and completely known, a place to face her deep spiritual need that far exceeds her desire for water, that is, for Jesus himself.

Afterward, the disciples beg Jesus to eat something. He must not have eaten for some time for the disciples to urge him so. After his redemptive encounter with this woman, Jesus responded to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34).

Jesus is acknowledging his deepest need as well, which is accomplishing the Father’s will. His appetite for his Father’s will was stimulated by this meaningful interaction. His sense of purpose was clarified, to satisfy the thirst of God’s creation with living water that cleanses, purifies, and renews.

Benefits of True Fasting

Times of fasting and prayer have the potential to expose who we really are and what we really need. As we see in Isaiah 58, true fasting has many positive benefits.

• It exposes inconsistencies between our values and our lifestyles.
• It humbles us.
• It unifies us under our shared emptiness apart from our God.
• It releases power to set captives free, and to break strongholds of oppression.
• It crystallizes our sense of call and vision for God’s Kingdom to come on earth.
• It heals us, guides us, satisfies us, and strengthens us.
• And it calls us to practice a Sabbath rest, a place of peaceful submission and surrender.

Sitting at the Enemies’ Table

Ok, I confess that I am afraid of things I don’t understand.  I have prejudices and biases based ignorance.  The little bit I know about the Middle East, (Iran, Syria, Jordan, etc.) leave me feeling less than confidant.  I am can’t imagine a scenario where I would want to sit down for tea and crumpets’.  But sitting down with various leader, princes and taxi drivers through the Middle East during the summer of 2008 is exactly what Ted Dekker and Carl Medearis did.  Carl Medearis is Ted Dekker’s Middle East expert and co-author.

I found the questions engaging and the experience drew me from page to page as I read.  Here are a few questions that were asked of leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas, sheikhs, ayatollahs alike:

• What make you laugh?
• Can you share a joke?
• What makes you cry?
• What do you think of Americans?
• What do you think of Jesus’ sayings?
• Is it possible to love your enemies?

If you have even a passing interest in the Middle East this is a must read.

You can purchase this book at RandomHouse.com: Here>>>

What is the “must read” book for 2010 and why?  I’ll choose one from the notes below to send a free copy of “Tea with Hezbollah”.  Entry must include email.

(This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.)

2010 Ice Fishing Extravaganza

Great day of fishing – you won’t believe what I caught!

The Journey North Requests Saturday Nights

Special thanks to Steve Kohls for the photo

“On Thursday, Journey North church leaders and dozens of Geritol Frolics supporters filled the Brainerd School Board Facilities Committee meeting to find out how the district intends to handle potential scheduling conflicts for the auditorium. Neither party was invited to speak at the meeting.

The issue arose after Pastor Mark Bjorlo inquired whether the church could lease the auditorium on Saturday nights to begin hosting an additional worship service.”

READ THE STORY HERE>>>

I Just Read “Primal” and Loved It

Elizabeth and I spent a week in at Selah Inn at the Ranch in Texas through  Pastors Retreat Network.  While we were there we spent the bulk of our days reading, praying and taking long walks.  It really was a great extended Sabbath Rest. 

While we were there I read one book that I want to recomend you add to the must read list for 2010, “Primal” by Mark Batterson.

Mark strips away the religious attitudes and posturing that many Christians so easily slip into, and calls Christians to live a life that more accurately portrays the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.  He has an artful way of bringing the most important issues of faith to the surface and it caused me to deeply desire to press into the Lord.

When I was in Kiev, Ukraine I visited St. Sophia Cathedral and the ancient catacombs.  Mark shared in “Primal” about his visit to the Church of San Clemente in Rome.  He set the premise of the book on top of the visceral experience of traversing down into the ancient space created by our spiritual ancestors.  He writes,

I’ll never forget my descent down that flight of stairs.  The air became damp, and we could hear underground springs.  We carefully navigated each step as we lost some of our light.  And our voices echoed off the low ceiling and narrow walkway.  Almost like the wardrobe in the Chronicles of Narnia, that flight of stairs was like a portal to a different time, a different place.  It was as if those stairs took us back two thousand years in time.  With each step, a layer of history was stripped away until all that was left was Christianity in all it primal glory.

As we navigated those claustrophobic catacombs, I was overcome by the fact that I was standing in the place where my spiritual ancestors risked everything, even their lives, to worship God.  And I felt a profound mixture of gratitude and conviction.

Perhaps it was because of my time in the catacombs of Ukraine or maybe it was just a profound desire to see my faith uncluttered, real and passionate that the words of this book impacted me.  As I read they jumped off the page and called me to live my life from this primal place of conviction.  Thanks Mark.

Church in China

Five pastors were arrested without a warrant in China’s Shanxi Province as they were en route to file a complaint over the demolition of their church building and have been sentenced to prison terms of three to seven years. Fushan house-church leaders were sentenced to prison for “illegally occupying farming land” and “disturbing transportation order by gathering masses.” On Sept 13 in the early morning hours, some 400 uniformed police and civilians bearing shovels, batons, bricks, iron hooks and other weapons had beaten members of the church who were sleeping at the nearly finished factory building used as a worship site. With several Fushan County officials involved in the attack, dozens of Christians were seriously injured among the more than 100 who were hurt, one aid organization reported. According to The Epoch Times, a church member’s relative obtained a license to build the factory and was allowing the group to meet there, as the church was growing too large to meet in homes and the building could hold up to 400 people. The Beijing PSB has represented the demolition and attack on the church as a response to a “violent uprising.” Many state the case clearly demonstrated a deteriorating state of religious freedom in China and have called upon the international community, including the U.S. administration, to express concern. The pastors have led the Fushan Church, part of a 50,000-strong house church network in Linfen and the surrounding villages, for more than 30 years.

Christian Post 12/2/09