Christmas is my favorite holiday by far. I love the music!! I love spending time with family and friends and having a break from the routine. I love people thinking about Christ. I love how people are motivated to reach out at this time of year.
But how much would I love Christmas if my wife or child had died during December? If I were alone without family or…
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Added by James Nored on December 23, 2010 at 10:00pm —
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Dear Brothers and sisters,
please pray for my work in India . we are doing well by your support of prayers .
we are in many needs t continue this work and do more to His kingdom up. here I am giving you about some urgent and essential needs for my work for your…
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Added by Jayaraj.E on December 20, 2010 at 2:54am —
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Why is every one today talking about community? Because it is so rare in American culture.
America has been built around the concept of the rugged, self-sufficient, pull yourselves up by your bootstraps, individual. Immigrants came over to the US, leaving family behind--and they didn't even have a pony! (That is for the Sienfeld fans) Americans threw off oppressive governments and oppressive church leaders (kings and bishops). The Bill of Rights was added to…
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Added by James Nored on December 17, 2010 at 12:30pm —
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What do you think of when you hear the word Missions?
For most of us it brings up visions of a person or group of people taking ten days off of work and heading to a region of the earth foreign to them. People from the United States heading to Africa or South America and lending a helping hand to a children's home or providing medical care that normally is not available.
But is that all there is to missions?
In Matthew 28 we get our commission to share the…
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Added by Larry Clark on December 16, 2010 at 9:38pm —
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Today I walked into the Starbucks that I frequent most at 380 and 75 in McKinney, TX. There the Batista, Rowdy (see above picture), asked me how my weekend was.
In keeping with my sermon on being a witness from John 1, I talked about what I spoke on on Sunday. I also told Rowdy…
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Added by James Nored on December 13, 2010 at 9:30pm —
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Added by Miguel Labrador on December 7, 2010 at 8:30am —
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I
n Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church, author Kenda Creasy Dean speaks of the importance of "liminal" experiences. Liminal experiences are experiences in which we are out of our element--disorienting experiences. It is the time in the desert, in a culture out of our own, in a situation never faced before (loss of job, child,… Continue
Added by James Nored on December 3, 2010 at 5:00pm —
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Added by Miguel Labrador on December 3, 2010 at 4:32pm —
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I’ve always had this “thing” for baby feet. I pull off darling shoes, and little newborn socks, and just want to kiss each of those tiny toes! I always ponder where a baby’s precious feet will go, and about God’s destiny and purpose for each new life. But speaking as a mother, what happens when our kids grow up, and God perhaps would call our sons, or our DAUGHTERS, to dangerous places?
Read more at Harvest Ministry . . .… Continue
Added by Ann Dunagan on December 3, 2010 at 2:00pm —
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(Gainesville State players douse head coach Mark Williams in celebration.)
Many people get the mistaken idea that the only way to be missional is to plant a church in a crime ridden, poverty-stricken area. All churches should be missional, including suburban churches! I grew up in suburbia, so I know of the brokenness there--lack of community/relationships, lack of…
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Added by James Nored on December 3, 2010 at 11:00am —
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Hey, Missional Outreach Network friends: Want some ideas about how YOU can share the Good News of Jesus during the Jewish time of Hanukkah? See this article I just posted on The Christian Post's Parenting blog. ~Ann…
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Added by Ann Dunagan on December 3, 2010 at 9:15am —
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Added by Miguel Labrador on December 2, 2010 at 9:00am —
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Have you considered traveling internationally, or taking a family mission trip?
When Hudson Taylor was only five years old he said, “When I’m a man,
I mean to be a missionary and go to China.” This mission call grew,
until as a young adult Hudson Taylor exclaimed, “I feel I cannot go…
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Added by Ann Dunagan on December 1, 2010 at 2:00pm —
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As I am reading through Almost Christian, What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church, I want to share with you some thoughts on the contents. In yesterday's post, I wrote how this book seeks to interpret the data from a massive study that was done of American teenagers and their faith.
What was discovered through this study was that most teens are learning from their parents and their churches that Christianity is simply about helping people become…
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Added by James Nored on November 30, 2010 at 9:03am —
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Ministers, Christian authors, academics, and cultural observers have been noting for some time the nominal nature of Christianity in the US. Not only do far more people claim to be Christians than those who "attend church," but those who do attend often report little daily awareness of God and few spiritual practices outside of the official church times.
Few tithe. Few volunteer. Few regularly read their Bibles. Few regularly have family…
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Added by James Nored on November 29, 2010 at 5:25pm —
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As I came in the living room, my young son was sitting there with his Bible, and crying hard. I'm like, “Josh, what is going on?” And he said, “Mom, I just realized that there are people who don't know Jesus . . .
The following testimony is an excerpt from my…
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Added by Ann Dunagan on November 29, 2010 at 11:00am —
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Surpassing 4 Generations of Disciple Making Disciples in less than a year.
What does that mean? It means that disciples were made who made disciples who made other disciples who in turn made others and that all generations continue to make disciples. How did we pull it off? We didn’t,… Continue
Added by Miguel Labrador on November 28, 2010 at 8:00am —
6 Comments
Here is an article on
"Statistics about Christian Divorce Rates" by sociologist and Christian author Bradley R. E. Wright, Ph.D., that I have reposted here. I have started reading Wright's work, and I have a lot of confidence in it. I'll post a review soon of his book,…
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Added by James Nored on November 27, 2010 at 2:00pm —
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Hello all. I hope that you are having a great Thanksgiving!
Becki and I invited four different families to join us for Thanksgiving that we thought might not have a place to go. One family had a sick child, another had a sick dog, another did have family to get together with, and the last would have come except that we asked them after they had bought all of their food.
So, we did try to follow Christ's teachings about inviting people when we have a…
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Added by James Nored on November 25, 2010 at 2:00pm —
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You may recall some recent posts that I had on Tonya Fisher and Orlando (see picture above). Tonya was recently released from prison. She came through our clothes closet, and the church provided clothing and furniture for her. Orlando is a mechanic who is out of work. He recently came through our food pantry.
I could tell with both Tonya and Orlando that they had good hearts, and we prayed with them when they came…
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Added by James Nored on November 23, 2010 at 12:18pm —
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