The Journey: blog

Many of you have called, emailed, and texted about the shooting yesterday...

The staff member at The Village who was shot yesterday will make join us at The Dream Center on Thursday evening, during the 6:45 p.m. worship service. In fact... Rob Malcom actually returned to work today, which consisted of going to Home Depot to gather materials for some current construction jobs (he runs one of the not-for-profit businesses here).

Rob's biggest concerns right now are:

• Getting in touch with the people who prayed for his healing to thank them (we aren't passing out names and numbers, because so many of you prayed- so don't wait for a phone call).

• Praying for the man who shot him.

• Sharing the goodness of God and His protection over him yesterday.

To that end, Rob will share a few minutes during the teaching time at the weekly Thursday Night Dream Center service... as always, the food line opens at 5:30 p.m. (come hungry), and the worship starts at 6:45 p.m.

Location: 5705 1st Avenue North, in the former Fire Station, across from Woodlawn High School.

In the next few minutes, Rob Malcom (staff member at The Village who was shot this morning) will walk out of the hospital. The doctors are astounded at his progress- all of our prayer warriors expected it and are astounded yet not surprised.

God is gracious. We all have much more work to do together.

Thank you for your prayers. Will keep updating.

Sometimes healing never comes, but people can walk in wholeness. Interesting... I've never really seen it before.

Pastor Steve Blair shared this video last week in a pastoral care class... 

A group from Middlebury College has been picking up Butch Varno for football and basketball games, now, for 50 years... Though they can't heal the situation for Butch, they can walk him towards wholeness and purpose, through the context of deep relationships. It's a concept I've missed for far too long- and this clip is an incredible illustration of that truth.

Ran into a... well... would he be a second-cousin, third... cousin by marriage... ? Anyway, a young man, an incredible musician, and a gracious teen who is humbly fighting cancer... the son of my wife's cousin, whatever that makes us. Incredible story on al.com about him this weekend.

Praying for your healing, Carson!

A Place of Healing?

Today is Tuesday. Reminds me of the meetings that we had just about every other week or so for two months straight for A Day to Make a Difference, back when we were planning the first one for 04-04 (by the way, the next one is 06-06 and the meetings will start again, soon).

One of those Tuesdays... I believe it was the final Tuesday meeting we had, two women came knocking on the office door about 5:30 pm...

"I need prayer," one of them mentioned. It was clear the friend had encouraged her to come. Then, "I heard I could find healing here..."

We welcome the women in, assured them that God must have something in mind for them because 1) it was after-hours and so there are usually not people there at that exact time (though we are open 24 hours a day, now), and 2) that we had just spoken the previous Sunday on the exact issue needing to be addressed for her...

Anyway. Not a long story here. Just a point. I want us to be a place of healing downtown. I do want their to be a reputation of hope, such that those who do not even "attend" our church are reached by the ministries and reputation and depth of it.

May God grant it and do it through us.

The Healing Project

This short film recounts the testimonies of three women from our church- all women that received healing for physical illnesses, as well as other emotional and spiritual hurts. In this video, they discuss the situation prior to the healing, what happened that brought about the deliverance and new-found freedom, and how life has been since then.

It is our hope that this post will help you ponder the goodness and grace of God, particularly as we trek through some of the healing passages in the Book of Mark over the next few weeks. Note that on Sunday, March 15, we will set aside time to pray for healing in the morning worship service for anyone who desires to receive such healing. You don't need to sign up beforehand; simply show up.