Soul and Spirit | Ain't Complicated

Calling All Missionaries

Current.

Retired.

Aiming2B.

In the last few decades a profound yet quiet revolution has taken place in mission which is best observed from a field perspective. There are many facets of this shift, which is accelerating in speed and intensity as the timing of our Lord Jesus is coming closer.

The first change, according to The Bridge International’s RK Ulrich, is the pulling back of the Western church as torch-bearers of the Gospel to the unreached, and the merging of national churches with strong leaders who effectively are reaching their own. It is interesting to note that the Church-at-large is presently growing far more rapidly in the third world and emerging nations than in the West (Europe and North America)

Secondly, Ulrich says, “The definition of who is a missionary is changing. Traditionally, it was the person with a life-long call, trained through mission-school and sent out by a church or mission organization to one geographical field where they lived and died.”

[…]

And finally, the rapidly increasing availability and use of the internet and satellite television is changing outreach. Ulrich says, “These media are already blanketing every square inch of our globe with an unfathomable amount of information. It’s said that the paradigm shift caused by the coming of the information highway is causing as profoundly revolutionary changes in our present global community as the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press did to the world culture at the time.”

Generally speaking, I think the pulling back in the first change is unfortunate. Why pull back? If the national churches overtake us, praise God! But pull back…?

Anyway, I enjoyed this short article. Sure, I grew up in Mexico as an MK. Sure, I served in Mexico as an adult missionary. Sure, I’m chairman of a mission board. But I hope I enjoyed the article as a Christian and not just because of my involvement in foreign missions.

Tony Snow

He died this morning.

I just stared at the headline.

I knew he had cancer. I knew he’d fought it off at least once. I didn’t know he was that bad off, though.

He had a good radio show before he went to the White House as press secretary. I enjoyed listening to him. And I was glad to hear him once in a while on The Radio Factor after he retired from his WH job. But I didn’t know him personally. So why should his death matter to me?

I don’t know.

And why should it matter any more than the young man in Somalia that died at about the same time Tony did? (I assume one did.)

I don’t know that either.

In any event, I keep wondering what Mr. Snow learned after he died.

What will you learn after you die?

And I?

So…what should we learn before we die?

And when shall we try to learn it?

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

May the Snow family find the Good Shepherd’s comfort and peace and strength and courage.

I Almost Bid $2.50

Then I realized my true bid would be $3002.50!

No way!

Pastor and His Family for Sale

I’m not even going to Google it, but I wonder how many male bloggers are having a hey day with the idea of buying the family and keeping the wife and/or daughter.

And, vile being what vile is, how many other male bloggers are fantasizing about keeping the boy.

Not a wise move on Chad’s part.

Sure, he’s an unconventional pastor, but still . . . .

Mr. Savage? Yes, He Can!

Closing out his first hour this afternoon (at least here in Oregon on 750 KXL), Michael Savage said (and I quote to the best of my recollection):

I don’t know if God Himself can save this nation.

Sir, God can save this nation!

“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).

Yes, God can save America.

But will He?

Or is the cup of iniquity of the United States of America too close to full by now?

I don’t know.

And if God chooses to bring judgment on the USA, what will I do?

Would to God that I will stand strong. And shine strongly with the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Iran: Shall We Kill More?

Iranians consider mandatory execution for apostasy:

A plan is being discussed by lawmakers in Iran that would require the death penalty for anyone who leaves Islam for Christianity or someone who promotes such a conversion even on the Internet, according to a new report from Compass Direct News.

Those discussions of a penal code that was drafted earlier this year bring urgency to situations such as the two men arrested recently and under interrogation for that very crime, the report said.

The report said Iranian authorities arrested a number of converts to Christianity in the city of Shiraz about two months ago on suspicion of “apostasy.”

Arash Bandari, 44, and Mahmood Matin, 52, were arrested at the time along with 13 other Muslim converts to Christianity. But while the other 13 were told they have a court case pending and then released, Bandari and Matin have been held ever since.

The 13 who have been released have not been told of any specific charges, but they report the nature of their questioning gives them reason to think the allegations may include apostasy and political crimes.

The other two, Bandari and Matin, have been held almost incommunicado. Matin’s wife was able to see him for several minutes on June 24, when the prisoner told his wife “there had been a misunderstanding and that he could not teach Christianity any more,” Compass reported.

[…]

Compass noted that under the existing sharia laws in Iran, the death penalty is available for the crime of apostasy, but not required.

Christ, a Hostage?

Something’s weird here, in my estimation:

A student at the University of Central Florida says he’s now getting death threats after he stole and later returned a wafer representing the “Body of Christ” from a Catholic Mass in Orlando.

The student senator, Webster Cook, originally claimed he merely wanted to show the Eucharist to a friend who had questions about Catholicism before consuming the host.

Cook, who was raised Catholic, said he decided to bring the wafer home June 29 after a church leader tried to physically pry it from his hand. Cook broke Church rules by failing to consume it immediately during Communion and then removing it from his mouth once seated.

The wafer was kept in a Ziploc bag until Cook returned it days later along with an e-mail stating, “I am returning the Eucharist to you in response to the e-mails I have received from Catholics in the UCF community. I still want the community to understand that the use physical force is wrong, especially when based on assumptions. However, I feel it is unnecessary to cause pain for those who are not at fault in this situation.”

Cook has reportedly been getting death threats, prompting his friend, who wants to remain nameless, to discuss the situation with local media.

“I was kind of confused because I always thought that Jesus was a pacifist, and they’re using violence in order to get back the body of a pacifist,” he told WOFL-TV.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented on the case, stating:

“For a student to disrupt Mass by taking the Body of Christ hostage – regardless of the alleged nature of his grievance – is beyond hate speech. That is why the UCF administration needs to act swiftly and decisively in seeing that justice is done. All options should be on the table, including expulsion.”

Is this on a par with “desecrating” the Koran?

Or cartooning Mohammed?

And does The Nameless Friend have a valid point on the violence angle?

And what about Bill Donohue — does he have a good point also?

PS: I reject the doctrine of transubstantiation.

Like a Mother. (And a Father.)

Over at Life in the Shoe, Dorcas Smucker as a short-but-excellent post on Looking Like a Mom:

Obviously the implication here is that looking like a mom is a bad thing. Maybe that’s because the popular perception is that looking like a mom is all physical, and all moms are sloppy and out of shape. At least that’s the impression I get when people meet me and insist that I can’t possibly have six children, which is flattering in its way, but I think the essence of a real mom shows up on her face and I hope that’s what people can see in me.

I am proud to be a mom, and I hope people can look at me and tell right off that if they have a problem they can tell me about it, that I’ve survived enough crises to know what to get upset about and what not to, that I’ll happily dispense advice, that I believe in better things for them, that I’ll drop everything to make them a cup of hot tea, that I’ll happily mother anyone who needs mothering.

And if someone stops me in a store to ask what to buy for a ten-year-old, I’ll feel honored.

Way to go, Dorcas!

While I do not wish to look like a mother (or a grandmother), I want to “feel” likewise honored in looking like a father or even a grandfather.

After all, that’s what I am.

Whether or not I look like one, let me be the best at both that I can be.

Long ago I wished for a father’s heart like the Father’s heart. My wish was sincere. And intense. And quite ignorant.

Ignorant because I didn’t know the breaking and restructuring the granting of such a wish would require.

Ignorant because I didn’t realize the fragility of such a heart. (No, that doesn’t make God fragile!)

Do I now have a heart like the Father’s? Not even close. But I’m far closer than I was before making that request of Him.

And I think I understand His heart better than I used to.

So — again — I ask: Let me look and love and lead and live like a father should.

And like the Father does.