Tuesday, September 25, 2007 

Apostolic Singles Network - General Conference Event

Posted by: Denelle

This showed up in my email box and I thought that maybe some of you would be interested in checking it out.

Aposotolic Singles Network (ASN) will be holding a fellowship meeting Saturday night after GC services. Food, games and a great time of fellowship will be had by all.

Pastor Wolfe has graciously opened the doors of his church to host the event. You do need to register (to give them a head count) and you can do that HERE.

Calvary Tabernacle
10930 N. US Hwy 301
Thonotosassa, FL 33592

If you get lost...call us at 1 (877) ASN-4238.

9:44 AM | |

Monday, September 24, 2007 

A Moment of Silence

Posted by: Josh


Master of mime Marcel Marceau died this weekend in Paris at the age of 84. In his remembrance I'd just like to say...

10:42 AM | |

Thursday, September 20, 2007 

UGST to Hold "Mini-Classes" at General Conference

Posted by: Denelle

The Urshan Graduate School of Theology will be holding mini-classes during this year's General Conference. The classes will meet for 30 minutes each (Pentecostal Music Association stage in the exhibit area), be taught by a member of the UGST staff, and cover a broad range of topics.

The schedule currently looks like this:

Thursday

11:00 - 11:30 Cindy Miller "Counseling in the Church - The Role of the body of Christ in the Healing/Helping Ministries"

1:00 - 1:30 James Littles "How Do I Lead in a World Full of Change"

Friday

11:00 - 11:30 Thetus Tenney "Kingdom Prayer"

1:00 - 1:30 Steven Beardsley "Paul and his ‘wives’ "

5:30 - 6:00 Cindy Miller "Counseling Couples in Crisis"

Saturday

10:00 - 10:30 Daniel Segraves "The Use of the Hebrew Scriptures in the New Testament: An Introduction to Canonical-Compositional Hermeneutics"

6:15 - 6:45 David Bernard "Interpreting God ’s Word"

You can check out UGST's website for any updates or changes.

UGST has an excellent facualty that is among the best and brightest minds in the UPCI. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase some of the staff and to help people understand what the seminary does and why it's important.

11:30 AM | |

Wednesday, September 19, 2007 

Home Missions Reveals New Plan For GC Offering

Posted by: David Bunch

In an email sent last week, the Home Missions Division of the United Pentecostal Church International revealed how it plans to receive their offering of support at General Conference this year.

As you'd expect, as part of this General Conference service, we will present an opportunity to give. We think you'll be intrigued by the manner is which we receive this offering. Media and the team receiving the offering will both educate and edify. In addition, we are making a focused effort to keep the offering short. In fact, our commitment is to an offering of 25 minutes or less. To keep your faith in our commitment, there will be a 25-minute countdown that tracks our progress.
No doubt this is an effort to present a "kinder, gentler" opportunity to give, and to add valuable minutes to the service.

Though we'll have to wait and see if this will actually work in practice, kudos to Home Missions for a creative idea on trimming down the time spent on receiving donations during General Conference services.

8:18 AM | |

Tuesday, September 18, 2007 

On Being Dumb . . .

Posted by: Jared

New Study Says . . .

No wonder it took me so long to finish my thesis! A new study proves that my conservatism actually hinders my intelligence. Aggghhh . . .I need to check my thesis for "Bushisms"!


But, seriously, the study concluded that "on average, conservatives show more structured and persistent cognitive styles, whereas liberals are more responsive to informational complexity, ambiguity and novelty."


Boy, did the press have a field day. But Will Saletan has a great response on Slate. He deconstructs the press party and pretty much the whole study. In so doing, he actually proves something else . . .

So That's What It Means to Be Smart . . .
The first part of this test was flashing a series of "Ms" and "Ws" up on a computer screen. One of the letters was a "go" and required response. This is beginning to sound a lot like a joke I heard when I was 12 about the blonde who got fired from the M&M factory for throwing out the Ws.
Anyway, the conclusion of this section of the study is "conservatives cling more inflexibly to old ways of thinking". However, NYU professor David Amodio said of this test battery: "It's too quick for you to think consciously about what you're doing." Italics should have been original, but I guess my slow conservative mind was functioning liberally enough yesterday to spot this . . .
Ah-HAH!
Is it just me or shouldn't Professor Amodio's statement amount to a tacit admission that "liberals" DON'T THINK?! Isn't that what that means? Liberals are better at reacting when there's no time to think?
Hmmm . . .I wonder if that would have made the Evening News with . . .well, whoever it is who is doing the Evening News now. Oh yeah, what's-her-name. . .Katie Current! Oh wait, that's Shark Tale! Blast my conservative mind . . .






10:45 PM | |

 

On A Lighter Note

Posted by: Josh

This is a very interesting new magazine that has just been rolled out all about media and the church. It has great ideas and resources for using media in the church, music and movie reviews, fascinating interviews, and lots of generally cool stuff. I have looked through the inagural issue and the web site, however, and I could not find where they cite us as the source of their name and tagline. Oh well...

8:55 PM | |

 

Britney Spears and the Heart of God

Posted by: Josh


OK, so last week I was one of the many making fun of Britney Spears. I was laughing inside (mostly inside) at how far this celebrity had fallen. I think there are a lot of people who love to see someone who has everything fall so completely. Sarah Silverman certainly took the opportunity to remind us all that Brittney wasn't perfect, which somehow makes us feel a little better about ourselves.

That was before I read the following quote: "Patrick Wanis, a human behavior and relationship expert, said... 'She is subconsciously sabotaging her success... Remember, this girl has been through a lot and she doesn’t have a support base. It’s not about not having a manager — it’s about not having your family and real friends beside you.'" (Fox News)

In that moment, I suddenly had a glimpse of the way God sees Brittney Spears. God is supremely confident in who He is. He doesn't need to see celebrities fail to feel better about Himself. Instead, He sees in Britney a person who is so very alone, desperate, and hurting. It's because of the pain she feels and her lack of a support base that she has been acting like she has recently. It is because of the emptiness that is inside, despite all she has, that she has been losing control.
Conviction settled in. How could I have been laughing at this daughter of God? How could I have gotten a smile out of her pain? God, I am sorry. Church, I am sorry. Britney, I am sorry. But because of your pain I have been brought closer to the heart of God.

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6:21 PM | |

Monday, September 17, 2007 

Online Buddies Do Not Equal Friends

Posted by: Denelle

Or so says a British researcher . . .


The researchers focused on Facebook and MySpace, two of the most popular sites where millions of people express themselves online with personal photographs, musings and other content while adding “friends” to their network.

In their study, Will Reader, an evolutionary psychologist at Sheffield Hallam University and his colleagues, asked people a series of questions about their attitudes toward friendships and found 90 percent of individuals said it was imperative to know somebody face-to-face to form the tightest bonds.

The key it seems is face-to-face interaction where people can interpret social clues such as laughs and smiles that help determine if others are friends to be counted on, Reader said.

Won't all those people on Everyone's Connected be disappointed?


“That weird experience of laughing together where people can find they have similar goals and experiences is necessary,” Reader said.

Aaaahhh, face to face meeting is necessary . . . bring on General Conference!

12:58 PM | |

Friday, September 14, 2007 

The Sunday Threads

Posted by: Denelle

Here is an opportunity for you to help an Apostolic band make an impact on the world.

The Sunday Threads, a group of Apostolic guys from Southern California, have been accepted into a radio contest on Star 98.7 (one of the largest radio stations in the country). Their song will be played every day for the next week and then a Top 10 will be selected to move on to the next round before a final winner is chosen on September 28.

All of the voting is done on-line by the listeners.

Here are some details from the band's leader, Terry Josephson.

The Sunday Threads has a huge opportunity to get our ministry into the spotlight . . . One of the biggest music stations in the country, Star 98.7 here in Los Angeles, accepted our song into a contest in which the public will decide the winner by online voting.

We need the church body to help. Besides the monetary prize that will be given to the winner,the winning song will also go on a major compilation CD consisting of songs from some of the biggest names in the music business. The major thing though is the live on-air performance. The winner gets a live on-air concert which will broadcast on Star 98.7 (FM) and online as well. Please spread the word and help us spread the ministry! Everyone across the country can vote. We need every Christian brother and sister in the USA voting!

Songs are listed alphabetically by song title, not by the name of the artist. The song in the contest is "Standing On The Edge Of Time." (follow the link to listen)

After you've listened to the song you can go HERE to vote. You have to select the song and enter a valid email address. The station then sends a confirmation link to your email and once you've clicked on that link your vote is counted. There is only one vote allowed per email address so be sure to get your family and friends to vote too. This is a wonderful opportunity to get Apostolic music out to a wide audience!

10:13 AM | |

 

So What Do You Do?

Posted by: David Bunch

"Oh no," you'll say (as I did), when you read the following headline from the New York Times.

Prisons Purging Books on Faith From Libraries

The chaplains were directed by the Bureau of Prisons to clear the shelves of any books, tapes, CDs and videos that are not on a list of approved resources. In some prisons, the chaplains have recently dismantled libraries that had thousands of texts collected over decades, bought by the prisons, or donated by churches and religious groups.
Can this really be going on in the United States? Yes, and here's why:

Traci Billingsley, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons, said the agency was acting in response to a 2004 report by the Office of the Inspector General in the Justice Department. The report recommended steps that prisons should take, in light of the Sept. 11 attacks, to avoid becoming recruiting grounds for militant Islamic and other religious groups. The bureau, an agency of the Justice Department, defended its effort, which it calls the Standardized Chapel Library Project, as a way of barring access to materials that could, in its words, “discriminate, disparage, advocate violence or radicalize.”
Ahhh....now that places things in a different light. But what do we really want to go down a path in which we block access to all religious titles just because there are a few "bad apples"?

To work out a compromise, the Bureau had done the following:

The Bureau of Prisons said it relied on experts to produce lists of up to 150 book titles and 150 multimedia resources for each of 20 religions or religious categories — everything from Bahaism to Yoruba. The lists will be expanded in October, and there will be occasional updates, Ms. Billingsley said. Prayer books and other worship materials are not affected by this process.
The article goes on to point out that the problem with this approach is that the lists reflect author bias and do not seem very representative. So what to do?

Hmmmm......

8:27 AM | |

Thursday, September 13, 2007 

New Research Substantiates Biblical Account of Flood

Posted by: David Bunch

A dedicated team of marine researchers from Tel Aviv University and a non profit outfit called EcoOcean have found evidence of a world wide flood.


EcoOcean and an international team believe they have found evidence to substantiate what is written in the Bible.

Says Weil, "We found that indeed a flood happened around that time. From core samples, we see that a flood broke through the natural barrier separating the Mediterranean Sea and the freshwater Black Sea, bringing with it seashells that only grow in a marine environment. There was no doubt that it was a fast flood -- one that covered an expanse four times the size of Israel.
So the Bible is true after all! Who knew?

12:48 PM | |

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 

Quick Record Review

Posted by: David Bunch


Now that I have absorbed the new Caedmon's Call record, titled Overdressed, I want to post a quick review for those of you who may be considering buying the album.


Overall, I'd give it an A +. It is Caedmon's at their finest, with Theological statements at every turn, great percussion overlays, well written tunes, and fantastic vocals. I don't know that I would say it is their best album ever, but it certainly adds to their already impressive canon of work and in no way disappoints. I guess what I'm saying is, with so many good records to their credit, it's hard to say that this one is any better than the rest.


I find it interesting to see how the band has "grown up" and how they've allowed me to grow up with them. I remember discovering their debut record when they, like me, were just college students singing about stuff that college students sing about. Now they are 30 somethings, like me, and sing about (among other things) marriage, family, raising kids....and even missionary work (the band did extensive missionary work in India and Guatemala several years ago).


If you like accessible music that covers life experiences and spirituality, you'll love this record.

Of interest and on another note, band member Andrew Osenga has an interesting blog regarding a theologian who took him to task on the band's first radio single from the new album called "There is A Reason". Some great stuff in there on why Calvanism doesn't work and a quote from Chesterton.

11:19 PM | |

 

Poetry Editor on Speaking in Tongues

Posted by: David Bunch

Christian Wiman (editor of Poetry magazine) had this to say about his religious roots in a recent interview.

CW: Snyder, yes. It’s a little town in far west Texas, about an hour and a half south of Lubbock. We were Baptists, you know—"charismatic evangelicals" is how we defined ourselves.
P&W: That sounds Pentecostal.
CW: Yeah. It wasn’t snake-handling, or anything like that, but it was very visceral, very emotional.
P&W: Speaking in tongues?
CW: I never saw anyone do it, but it was certainly believed in. My childhood was just saturated in religion. We went to church three times a week—twice on Sunday, and Wednesday nights. We prayed before every meal. We used to have to memorize Bible verses and say them before the meals. It was the context in which we understood every aspect of our lives, and still is for my family.
P&W: You believed in God, Jesus, and so on?
CW: It never occurred to me to doubt it until I went to college. I never met a single person who wasn’t a true believer until I was eighteen years old, at Washington and Lee University in Virginia.
Wiman has an incurable disease and goes on to discuss his return to his religious roots.

11:09 PM | |

Thursday, September 06, 2007 

Fred Thompson - It's Official!

Posted by: Denelle

Yes, it is now official. Fred Thompson, former Tennessee Senator and television actor, is running for the Republican nomination for President. I know very little about him other than:

1. He's more conservative than Rudy Gulianni.

2. I loved him on Law & Order.

But I'm extremely intrigued and can't wait to learn more about him and hear what he has to say. And I have no problem with his credentials. After all, the "Terminator" has been a great Governor for California and one of the best Presidents we've ever had spent a large part of his life in Hollywood.

On the Flip Side

The big news in the Democratic camp this morning is that Oprah has endorsed a Presidential candidate for the first time. And who is the lucky winner?? None other than Barack Obama. Really, who didn't see that coming? In fact, she's throwing a private fund raising party for him this weekend at her California estate, "Promiseland," that is expected to raise at least $3M.

I don't know. Somewhere along the line I fell off of the Oprah bandwagon. I feel like she's calculating and manipulative and I just generally dislike her. So it really doesn't matter to me who she endorses. It will be interesting to see, however, exactly how much of an impact this has on Hilary Clinton's campaign.

9:51 AM | |

 

Your Spiritual Walk

Posted by: David Bunch

Toot toot chug chug
Big red car
We travel near
And we travel far

Oh....hi...sorry, I just had a Wiggles song stuck in my head. Seems to be the way it goes these days. I think my 19 month old is going to become an honorary Wiggle.

90&9 has launced a new blog so be sure to check it out. Jared's comments are so right on, and I am looking forward to trying the Spiritual growth exercise he proposed. I look at it as kind of a virtual participation in his class.

The spiritual side of my New Year's resolutions has never gotten much past, "I'd like to pray more," or "Maybe I should fast once a week." That's not a goal-that's a wish! Wanting to pray more is great-but when? where? why? My life's already proceeding at a breakneck pace-how can I add one more thing to the to-do list? Can I get a witness?

So here's a simple project I've decided to embark on: a "Spiritual Growth and Development Plan". Just an easy 4 steps:1) Create a list of 5 characteristics of a truly "spiritual" person2) Create a series of goals related to development of those five characteristics; strive for attainability and measurability-give yourself a set amount of time.3) Find a mentor who will hold you accountable to accomplish your goals and tell you when they see you slipping up4) At the end of a set time, evaluate your progress, note your areas of continued weakness, adjust your goals, and do it all over again!

8:46 AM | |

Tuesday, September 04, 2007 

Help the Poor Sick Children of the Western World!

Posted by: Jared


I knew it! I'm not "overweight", "calorically challenged", or "vertically impaired". I'm sick. The illness came on gradually in my sophomore year of college, and its effects have been growing (literally) ever since!
But new research is being done that proves that being "fat" is actually linked to a virus. Adult stem cells, when exposed to virus Ad-36 (which, mysteriously, is the number of pounds I have gained since getting married), have a greater tendency to develop into fat cells. Furthermore, fat cells created by exposure to Ad-36 carry up to 30% more fat than the average fat cell. So, these poor sick people that populate American beaches during the summer have more and fatter fat cells than the people who stay home from the beach 'cause the "fatties" are already there.
Now Here's the Great News . . . and the Not-So-Great News
Yes, it's a virus. And you know what that means, don't you? Vaccination! Jonas Salk and Louis Pasteur not only cure rabies and polio but contribute to the cure of common fatness. But wait! What's this? They will only give the vaccine to skinny people to prevent them from becoming fat. (No joke! I saw this on a CNN news report as I was eating lunch the other day . . .at McDonald's.)
Life in These United States
Ok, so poking fun at fat people is not funny. Well, I'm not trying to do that. Obesity is literally killing America. But when will we ever accept the fact that our actions have consequences and stop looking for a pill or a shot to offset a lifetime of poor health choices? Or poor sexual choices? Or depression brought about by a lack of obedience to God's word and will?
Obesity is simply the most obvious sign of the deepest problem of the American culture-a complete lack of self-discipline. I say it like this: any culture that smiles at a T-shirt that says, "Life is basketball. The rest is just details," is in obvious decline.
So, let's fight the spirit of the age. Don't take the fat vaccine! Eat more veggies! Jog in place as you read this blog! Strike a blow for true freedom-the freedom to do what's right, not what's easiest!

9:45 PM | |

 

What's Legal, What's Right?

Posted by: Josh

A couple of weeks ago I read this story about an illegal immigrant who sought refuge in a church for a full year to keep from being separated from her son. I was struck with conflicting emotions. On the one hand, I believe in following the law of the land. Obeying the law is both biblical and necessary for a civilised society. There is an immigration process for a reason. People who are in the country without having gone through that process are, in all honesty breaking the law. Should they not be treated like other law breakers? And is it the church's place to assist in the breaking of the law?

On the other hand, if this woman had shown up at my church fearing being separated from her son how would I have reacted? As followers of Christ can we really turn our backs on a person like this in the interest of obeying the law? Does preserving a family trump obeying the law? God's laws are higher than man's laws, but does this situation qualify? As I said... I was conflicted.

The conclusion I finally came to for myself was that if I were that pastor, and I had the ability to help this family, I would. Is that supporting anarchy? I don't know... maybe. But it just feels wrong to turn away someone in this kind of need and proclaim Christ's love to them at the same time. Seems like it would water down the message. Any thoughts?

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5:54 PM | |

Monday, September 03, 2007 

Labor Day

Posted by: Denelle

Labor Day is nearly over. I hope that everyone pulled out the last of your white clothes and wore them all weekend before packing them away to await arrival of next Easter. Unless of course you live in Southern California where people wear white year-round.

The down side of Labor Day is having to go back to school tomorrow. This was a disappointment I thought I'd gotten over years ago but it turns out that even in my late 20s I can still be saddened by the thought of summer ending and school beginning.

I think Calvin manages to sum it all up very nicely for me:













Sigh. Guess we all know where I'll be tomorrow from 6:30 - 9:10.

7:14 PM | |