I am posting a link to “an Evangelical Manifesto” that was released last month. I highly encourage everyone to read this. Very good!
http://www.anevangelicalmanifesto.com/index.php
Also, Pastor Brian Zahnd for Word of Life Church did a very nice blog on the Manifesto and summary for those who do not want to read the entire document… granted it is only 20 pages long, so not that long of a read.
http://www.brianzahnd.com/index.php?app=blog&p=230
Hope you enjoy.
Shalom!
Brent
Just a reminder that we will be having a night of fellowship and food at Lamar Park this Thursday, June 5th. Start time is 7pm. Lamar Park is located at the corner of Porter Ave and Byron Center Ave. Hope to see you all there.
Shalom!
Brent
Last week I finished the book, Jesus Mean and Wild, by Mark Galli – I need to say – read this book. Galli shows a side of Jesus that many of us don’t think about, a side of God that some of us like to box and confine only to the pages of the Old Testament. The type of God who burns cities, curses fig trees, flips over tables, and drives the rebellious characters out with a whip. A God who at times can seem a bit “mean and wild.” Continue reading ‘I recommend’
I once heard Brian Zahnd say that although a pastor by vocation, he is actually paid to read and not preach. For myself, I do not believe that there is a more accurate description of my own life in full-time vocational ministry. I read. I study. I think and ponder. I pray, and then pray some more. Then I start over. And then I teach (or preach if you will, but I have always thought myself more of a teacher than a preacher…). Anyways, I thought that it would be interesting to share with everyone the books that are part of my life, or those that are challenging me and ministering to me. So periodically I will be posting comments on the books that I am reading and some incite into them. I hope everyone will join in and together we can help encourage one another to turn off the TV, computer, and play-station and engage a book. Continue reading ‘Left to Right, Top to Bottom’
It’s amazing the emotions that music can arise inside of us. I am sitting here on my couch just before midnight listening to some songs in iTunes… thinking. The playlist just hit David Gray’s “Otherside,” and I find myself thinking about the life after this one. What it will be like? Will the journey be instantaneous from this world to the next? Will I know immediately that I have stepped from this life into eternity? Who will be there waiting? To all of these questions I have to confess that although I have my thoughts and opinions I truly don’t know. The afterlife is a fascinating, and at the same time, scary reality. Some day, each and everyone of us will step into eternity and stand before our creator. Standing there, completely exposed, with our life’s deeds laid out before us, what will we say? Continue reading ‘MUSIC’
The iwantaccess.org bump stickers are here! Make sure you grab some at service tonight and stick them on your car, dorm window, or a lamp pole. We want to get the word out about what God is doing here at Access and on college campuses throughout the Grand Rapids area through the students connected here. Be blessed and we’ll see you tonight.
Shalom!
Brent
The big night finally came… Blake and Sheri’s wedding. It was very nice and Blake and Sheri looked great. Everything went smoothly… at least from a spectator’s viewpoint, and everyone was in humorous mood. About 9:45pm I leaned over to my wife and said, “Look at that!” Ronzi and Mike on the dance floor; truly some things in life are priceless. Continue reading ‘Chicken Dance’
After concluding our relationships and dating series, one thing that we found to be very successful was the question box – you might remember it, it looked like a mailbox dressed in the Riddler’s outfit from a Batman comic book. Pretty amazing if you ask me. Continue reading ‘Questions Questions Questions…’
I am not much of a sleeper. Most nights I spend sitting on the couch reading a book or on the internet until 1 or 2, or even later, because frankly I just can’t sleep. Now it’s not that I don’t want to sleep, but for some reason I do not seem to possess the ability to turn off my mind long enough to fall asleep. If I go to bed, I will just lie there kicking and rolling unable to fall asleep which usually leads to my wife not being very happy since I am keeping her up, or getting bored so I get up anyways… which is why now I just stay up until I am tired. I usually run this way for a good five or six days, and then I totally crash – starting the cycle all over again. One positive side effect of being up late is that I find I write my best sermons around midnight… I don’t know why, it just seems to work out that way. Continue reading ‘Lest thee be born again’
Only in Michigan can it drop from 50 degrees to 9 degrees within hours. One minute we are running around without our coats and the next seating by the fireplace trying to stay warm. I went to bed with the driveway clear and woke up with a 3 foot drift that my car almost got stuck in. On the way to work I found myself sliding through a red-light intersection with my horn blowing, pleading that no one would run into me, because my brakes couldn’t stop my car. Sitting back in my office, thanking God that He prevented me from getting in an accident, I came to two conclusions, or thoughts… First, winter sucks. Second, how many of us are slide through red lights with God. Let me explain: Continue reading ‘Sliding thru Lights’