Here's a great snippet of the Prayer Force United Ministry that we've been involved with since the June prayer walk in Southtown. I believe the continued prayer is responsible for opening doors there... and, I believe that it's having a major factor in the drop in crime in our city.
There's still much work to be done. Enjoy the 7-minute video- and come join us in Wylam on Saturday, October 17th.
I had the opportunity to attend the monthly planning luncheon for Prayer Force United today. That's Police Chief A.C. Roper talking- and Judah over to my right. I was playing with the video function on the iPhone and caught the beginning of Chief's comments... the volume is not very good on the recording level, so you may need to crank it up a bit.
By the way, they did unveil a new promo DVD for the prayer walks that we'll post here in the next day or so. You won't want to miss it.
The next prayer walk is in Wylam, on 10/17 (a Saturday). Details are on the Prayer Force United site.
After yesterday's more humorous post, I thought I would follow-up today with something more serious. One of the talked-about trends in churches today is the idea of "entertaining people" or "discipling" them. I don't know that it should be an either-or argument (the Bible says that "the common people heard Jesus gladly"- that crowds came to Him). But, it is interesting to me that this is not a "new" argument at all... but, a very old one. Consider what the great English preacher Spurgeon says in the voice-over video above... maybe we should all, at least, heed the warning.
Pastor Rodney just finished the following video regarding the A Day To Make a Difference bit coming on August 7/8, 2009:
Beginning Friday, August 7, at 12 noon... we'll have a 30 foot lift in 5 Points South. Two men are going to stay on the lift, camping out, etc., through August 8th (a Saturday) until we have raised 500 uniforms for the needy kids of the downtown area.
Many miss school regularly, simply because they cannot afford the required clothes. We can change that.
Contact your co-workers, Bible study class, community group, etc... Every check for $32.98 (the cost of the uniform) or an actual uniform of blue pants, white shirts (that you can bring counts). We need 500 in one 24-36 hour period!
On April 12, 2009, we moved the church service (for Easter) outside of the four walls of the building. We learn a great deal of how to do this better in the future- in terms of planning and coordinating volunteers. But, to not have known what sort of response to expect, this was a great day.
It continually amazes me that people at The Downtown Church are willing to do new things, and to work in ways that have never been tried, in order to minister to the people of our great city. That has meant moving worship services into community centers, it has meant opening the doors of our homes to the homeless and to prisoners, it has meant taking many traditions (Easter service, with nice new clothes, etc.) and changing them to better reflect what we think Jesus would do.
Here's a short recap of the day. It is an honor to work with all of you. Enjoy.
This short video will help explain what we'll be doing the week between A Day to Make a Difference and Easter Sunday. The Easter event runs from 1 pm to 5 pm on Easter Sunday (04/12/2009); the worship service will be under the pavilion at Park Place park// Marconi Park at 4 pm. (Morning services will be held, as well as The Downtown Church warehouse, 10:30 am).
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.
Here's the inside scoop on the song playing in the background of the A Day To Make a Difference video... you can watch that vide on this page- or on the home site for the event. Make note that the event has turned into eventS- plural- and will be driving much of the "hands on" mission work that we'll be doing in town throughout 2009.
We're hoping to leave house churches behind in each area that we serve (Bankhead Towers, Jessie's Place, Park Place, The Senior Center, etc.).
Enjoy the video. Through it, God is saying, "This is not the end. There's another story to be written..."
The following video comes from You Tube. I searched it after reading Philip Yancey's book, What's So Amazing About Grace. He references the events on this video in the end of it. He mentions that, on the 70th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's imprisonment, a concert was held at Wembley Stadium. The crowd had been pumped into a frenzy, after a day of Guns-N-Roses, pot-smoking, and all the alcohol they could consume.
In the end, a lone opera singer walked to the stage to sing- with on instruments and no background. The crowd, hungry for more lewdness, almost boo-ed her off stage. But, by the second stanza, something began to change... a hush came over the crowd. Almost as if grace had a pulling and uniting effect.
I've been thinking of it as we've been studying grace, landing on it, for the past few weeks during our long, long trek through the Gospel of Mark. I'm excited to share what I've been learning, of how God is teaching me and re-programming me from some of what I had "learned" before.
May grace have it's all-consuming work in each of us...
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