Misdiagnosis Of Church

"When any species undergoes a reproduction crisis, a name is giving it: "endangered." Arguably Christianity has entered such a crisis; our inability to reproduce the faith is the number one problem facing our families and churches today. Christianity in the West has become a sterile, exhausted religion. . . .

The dominant means of addressing the church's reproduction crisis has been to devise new methodologies and strategies for how we do church. This is a misdiagnosis of the problem, however, and without the right diagnosis of the disease, I cure is difficult."

-Leonard Sweet. From Tablet To Table.

Let Strange People In

"Let all kinds of people into your life to see what loving them might do.Those who criticize how you live your life may not be against the Jesus we love and seek to follow. Don’t exalt yourself because God has given you more to see; instead, use it as a way to serve others so that they will have a chance to see it, too."

Wayne Jacobsen. Beyond Sundays

She Ruins Tea Well

“There are many ways to ruin a cup of tea, and she’s mastered all of them."

- Statement a Prince Edward Islander said. Dave Wheale -

“Tea was the great social lubricant, and a cup of tea was a cup of delight. To refuse a cup of tea was just as big an insult as not being offered one.”

You Are Welcome Here

Not being welcome is your greatest fear. It connects with your birth fear, your fear of not being welcome in this life, and your death fear, your fear of not being welcome in the life after this. It is the deep-seated fear that it would have been better if you had not lived. Here you are facing the core of the spiritual battle. Are you going to give in to the forces of darkness that say you are not welcome in this life, or can you trust the voice of the One who came not to condemn you but to set you free from fear? You have to choose life. At every moment you have to decide to trust the voice that says, “I love you. I knit you together in your mother’s womb” (Psalms 139:13). Everything Jesus is saying to you can be summarized in the words “Know that you are welcome.”

-Henri Nouwen 

YWAM Values Are Good Values!

I'm sitting here in Truro Nova Scotia getting ready to "lead" a YWAM DTS...... but after returing from Mali West Africa, my head is not on straight. I usually need 4 weeks to get back to my normal self.  Its been a week and a half, and I am here.

Honestly, I don' think I have never felt more unprepared for anything in my life. Oh I prepared, but still so un prepared as my head is so full I can't seem to organize anything to get it out. So I have to rely on him. But I determined I was not coming to "Do it for them- Do it To them". We will have a conversation about these things, and we will share.

With that vision in mind I came feeling woefully in adequate to speak.... and instead, God spoke..... to me.

It's a two way street here. I will share, and I will have things shared with me I need to hear. The first morning I am sitting here as the students worship, and yes, as I type this blog. I had too. The first thing I encountered today was YWAM's (Youth With a Mission's) core values. 
I like them, and I needed to be remined of them.

1. Know God
2. Make God Known
3. Hear God's voice
4. Practice worship and intercessory prayer.
5. Be Visionary
6. Champion Young People.
7. Be Broad-Structured and Decentralized.
8. Be International and interdenominational.
9. Have a Biblical Worldview.
10. Function in teams
11. Exhibit servant leadership.
12. Do First, Then Teach.
13. Be Relationship Oriented.
14. Value the Individual.
15. Valule Families.
16. Rely on relationship based support.
17. Practice Hospitality.
18. Communicate With Integrity.

And right now, I have nothing more to say about that.