Our churches are filled with Christians who are idling in intellectual neutral. As Christians, their minds are going to waste. One result of this is an immature, superficial faith. People who simply ride the roller coaster of emotional experience are cheating themselves out of a deeper and richer Christian faith by neglecting the intellectual side of that faith. (William Lane Craig)

At the same time, I suspect there is another number of Christians who are idling in emotional neutral. Their hearts are beginning to harden. They rarely feel; they always reason. Pangs of sadness for the hurting are absent, only a dim satisfaction with the current status quo.

If only our hearts and minds were in gear!

He commanded the tax collectors not to over—reach and collect more  than they ought.

He commanded the soldiers to be content with their wages and resist the temptation to extort the poor.

He commanded all men to share their possessions with those in need.

All people were instructed to show evidence of their penitent hearts based on their stewardship. Stewardship reveals values. Values reveal hearts. Where your treasure is, Jesus said, there your heart will be also.

Would John the Baptist see fruit of repentance in my check register? How about yours?

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Here are their ten stupid mistakes:

• Leaders do it all
• Establishing Wrong role for the pastor’s family
• Second rate worship experiences
• Low quality children’s ministry
• Promoting talent over integrity
• Clinging to bad location
• Copying another Successful Church
• Favor discipline over Reconciliation
• Mixing ministry and Business
• Letting committees steer the ship

Just at first blush, it seems like most of these are common sense biblical directives, aren’t they?

Here’s my take on the first five on the list: it’s pretty well done.

Biblical ministry is equipping the entire church to minister. It is helping, leading, training, teaching, and of course, ministering with the goal of producing more folks who are truly serving God and neighbor. It doesn’t fit the Bible or life to have a leader-do-all mentality.

Churches do tend to elevate “lead ministers” to an unrealistic standard. Rather than serving as an example for members to emulate, the projected ideal becomes an unattainable standard. Distinguishing a special place for leaders is probably unavoidable because of perception, but it is certainly not the right way to do things.

I’m not entirely sure what “second-rate worship experiences” means in practicality. Second rate to whom? The preacher? The Lord? The visitor? The member? Paul seemed to think that the outsider should be able to discern that something special and wonderful happens in worship (1 Corinthians 14:34-35) — both intellectually and emotionally. Biblical worship is the harmony of many tensions: approaching the unapproachable God; reverence and wonder; the humility of a servant and the pride of the heir. As a moment of training, evangelism, and recharging–worship can’t be second-rate to anything!

Low quality children’s ministry. In a lot of ways, this has been one of our strengths. Deuteronomy 6 taught that training our children in practical, applied faith is a (the?) key goal of God’s community.

The Bible is also clear–integrity comes first. There is no room for performers as leaders in Christ’s church. One preacher said, “You can’t both present yourself as clever and Christ as the ultimate treasure at the same time.” Remember Simon who wanted to buy his way into Holy Spirit giftedness? It wasn’t received very well…

The next five next time!

I may call this Matthew’s Paper Theorem, hereafter MPT. (Maybe Matthew’s Procrastination Theorem…or Matthew’s Prioritization Theorem…)

For example: in college, how many times did the room get thoroughly cleaned, my music get cataloged, dinner get cooked, and workouts get worked when there was a paper on the brink of being overdue? Shucks–I even finished my taxes before my last major paper!

For example: how much homework have I been able to get done in the past few nights avoiding painting the guest bedroom before we have more guests than rooms?

For example: how many hours have we spent planning, training, discussing, ordering, re-ordering, re-planning, arguing, and debating about the kitchen for the campaign? Don’t get me wrong…food is important, but my conservative estimate is that our food committee and those involved readying the building have spent nearly 250 man-hours in preparation across at least three meetings, plus individual consultations, etc… I don’t think we’ve hit 50 man-hours on the second place priority. We’ve got probably 25+ folks who are helping to feed the campaigners, but only 5 folks signed up to campaign from our congregation.

Interesting!

I hope this is beneficial!

Christian Counseling by Gary Collins (4/5)
This work covers the gamut of counseling-related issues that we face in ministry. It writes on topics ranging from alcoholism to aging and it engages the topics from a biblical perspective and brings along great psychological insights to help as well. All considered, this book was a great resource for ministry.

Personality Type and Religious Leadership by Oswald and Kroeger (4/5)
Oswald and Kroeger used the Myers-Briggs personality type indicator as a basis for examining inter-personal interactions in ministry. I enjoyed looking at how our personalities interact and how that interaction affects our perception of others. I’d recommend this book as an interesting starting place in studies on conflict management.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey (5/5)
I imagine almost everyone has heard of the 7 habits books. I assumed they were over-hyped, but after reading I saw that Covey did his homework. Reading over “success” literature from across American history, he revealed truths that are easily confirmed by scripture. His treatment of priorities in time management (moving from the urgent to the important) and his emphasis on listening to understand seem especially useful for ministry.

Missing the Mark by Mark Biddle (3.5/5)
How cut and dry is your doctrine of sin? How would you define it? Traditionally sin has been equated with law-breaking. Biddle argues that this legal/judicial understanding is biblical, but too narrow. Sin isn’t always just arrogant rebellion; it is mistrust, imbalance, harm, and hurt. Biddle asks some difficult questions, but does well to broadedn our thoughts on sin. Sometimes the “legal” issue of sin is the least of our concerns!

Yet I Loved Jacob by Joel Kaminsky (2/5)
Election is a difficult theological concept. Does God play favorites? It sure looks like it! Kaminsky overviews doctrines of the elect, non-elect, and the anti-elect. While Kaminsky assumes more direct and individual fore-ordination than I, his work is still a good thought excercize in understanding the Old Testament election texts.

Biblical Theology by James Mead (2/5)
This book should probably be rated higher, but I just couldn’t do it. Mead did a good job overviewing the issues, themes, and people in the discipline of Biblical Theology. To me, that’s sort of like saying the dentist did a good job on your root canal. You’re thankful that it wasn’t bad, but it still wasn’t the most enjoyable experience in the world… Mead’s work is good for setting a foundation for Biblical Theology and introducing you to the important people. Just not quite my cup of tea.

The Shack by William Young (4/5)
This is a polarizing book–you will really enjoy it or be really annoyed by it. I expected to hate it, seeing it as a novel founded on impossibility with a disrespectful chumminess with God. I was very pleasantly surprised. The Shack is a great conversation starter. It’s theology isn’t perfect at all, but it challenges the reader and lets you wrestle with your unstated assumptions about God. I highly recommend it for a good group study. As an aside, this was the first audio book that I have tried from Christian Audio. It was a great experience.

Pastoral Ministry According to Paul (3/5) by James Thompson
Thompson attempts to look at all of Paul’s writings to build a cohesive theology of ministry. Instead of considering any of the popular emphases in ministry, Thompson basically provides a miniature high-level commentary of all of Paul’s works in order to paint the big picture of Paul’s thoughts on ministry.

Elements of Style by Strunk and White (4/5)
A good reminder of the rules of writing.

On Writing Well by William Zinsser (5/5)
A positive example of how to actually write well once you’ve got a handle on the rules of writing.

Theological Introduction to the Old Testament by Birch, Brueggemann, Fretheim, and Petersen (3/5)
Interesting theological view of the Old Testament. Tedious, but thought-provoking.

God and World in the Old Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation by Terence Fretheim (3/5)
As Fretheim was an contributor for Theological Introduction to the Old Testament, there is a lot of shared ground. Expect to see Fretheim’s views about relationship as the primary aspect of God presented further in this work.

Sabbath and Jubilee (Understanding Biblical Themes) By R. H. Lowery (2/5)
Lowery advertises himself as a scholar-pastor who wants to reclaim Sabbath and Jubilee as themes that apply today. Very little of the book pursued this goal; he spent more time tracing the historical development of these holy days. Writing style was slow at best.

Things Unseen: Churches of Christ in (and After) The Modern Age by C. Leonard Allen (4/5)
I had grown so accustomed to hearing the dangers of post modernism that reading this book was in many ways a wakeup call. Modernity is just a different worldview; no better, no worse. It has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, and Allen does a great job of showing some of our dependence on modernity to this day. It’s controversial; you will think.

Desiring God by John Piper (5/5)
Piper’s thesis is that the chief end of man is to glorify God *by* enjoying him forever. He presents some great thoughts about finding joy and meaning in service, worship, and Christianity.

Darwin’s Black Box by Michael Behe (4/5)
Behe has great material about the extreme difficulty of ascribing the origin of man to macroevolution on the biochemical level. He addresses the common misconceptions of evolution (conceptual evolution rather than developmental evolution) and presents great information on irreducible complexity. One of this book’s best features is its honesty with being technical. Behe by necessity is writing a technical work, but he brackets the paragraphs that are extremely technical and gives a summary before and after to make this book more accessible to people who hated chemistry as much as I did.

Participating in God’s Life by C. Leonard Allen (3/5)
Allen presents the view that a restoration of the doctrine of the Trinity is necessary for revival and revitalization in the church. Very interesting read.

In Search of Wonder: A call to worship renewal by Lynn Anderson (4/5)
This was a vacation book. There’s some theology that’s a bit shaky. When you read the list of contributors, you’ll understand where your disagreements may fall, but regardless of that, these men do an excellent job helping us to recapture the wonder of worship, redeeming it from the routine.

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankyl (3/5)
This was a vacation book; that was a bad idea. Something about concentration camps mixed with psychoanalytical techniques just seems wrong on the beach. Even though I read it at the wrong time, the book was very interesting. Man certainly does search for meaning, and that meaning is sustaining and necessary. I rate it 3 stars because the last half of the book was overly engrossed in psychology that I didn’t follow. Maybe you will.

The Cruciform Church by C. Leonard Allen (4/5)
The church needs to be cross-shaped. seems like a pretty good premise, doesn’t it?

In His Steps by Charles Sheldon (5/5)
This is a classic Christian work. If you’ve worn a WWJD bracelet, you’re leaning back on this work. Sheldon’s fiction is based on the question, “What would our lives look like if we really surrendered everything to Christ?” It’s fascinating and inspiring. I would love to read a 21st Century edition of this book to translate his conclusions into modern life.

For Men Only: A Straightforward Guide to the Inner Lives of Women by Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn (4/5)
This is not generally my favorite genre, but as far as relationship books go, this was pretty decent. It discussed many of our common weaknesses as men and how we can learn to be better husbands and fathers.

Experiential Storytelling: (Re) Discovering Narrative to Communicate God’s Message by Mark Miller (1/5)
I had high hopes for this book. It turned out to be ramblings of a youth minister who couldn’t quite figure out who he was or what he wanted to do. He had some good emphases on the power of story, though.

Then Sings My Soul (1 and 2) by Robert J. Morgan (5/5)
These books are short and simple, with each hymn receiving a page. This would be a great devotional book. You get a little bit of hymn story, a little bit of Bible teaching, and a little bit of devotional all in one. Very well done.

Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck (3/5)
Osbeck should have read Morgan’s books. The writing style is not as clean and the stories aren’t as clear. Osbeck spends more time preaching and though he gives you devotional suggestions, they just aren’t quite as good as Morgan’s.

A Song is Born by R. J. Taylor (4/5)
Taylor is not the writer that Morgan is; nor is he that Osbeck is. It is remarkable that I give a book so full of typos this high of a rating, but he has some stories about southern hymns, both new and old, that I haven’t been able to find anywhere else. I give him much credit for that. After all, he spent his vacations researching the stories of hymns–there’s a neat personal tone to the book. Just try to turn off the red underlines in your brain as you read.

The Daily Bible arranged by F. LaGard Smith (5/5)
The NIV is not my favorite translation, nor is LaGard Smith my favorite author, but they come together in this Bible for a winning combination. Lagard arranges scripture chronologically and adds just enough commentary and helps to really help Bible study. We used this at Burns for a year as a Wednesday-night curriculum. I’ll do it again soon. If you’ve never succesfully completed reading through the Bible, give this one a start.

Sing With Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Hymnology by Harry Eskew and Hugh Mcelrath (3/5)
Expect this to be a textbook; that was its intention. I picked up the 1980s edition used at a bookstore and really enjoyed it. It is heavily technical in music in some places. It richly traces different styles and genre of hymns and music and gives you a good insight into the history and development of hymns in the church.

Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians by D A Carson (5/5)
Short and sweet. Carson makes excellent application of Philippians. A quick read when you’re working through the epistle.

Hearts on Fire: A Strategy for Dynamic Evangelism by Don Humphrey (4/5)
Everyone knows that the church has an evangelism crisis–that is, we’re not doing it. Humphrey attacks our weakness and gives us some tools to do better. Would make a good class study.

Secrets of Staying Power (Leadership Library, No 14) by Kevin Miller (4/5)
This was an encouraging book read at the right time. I recommend it to my co-workers in ministry, especially those who are relatively new. Miller will tell you not to quit and what to expect when you want to! :-)

unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity…and Why It Matters by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons (4/5)
I wish this book were wrong, but it is not. I know that the world is not our compass–the Word is. This book serves as a mirror to show us how we’re perceived. You don’t want to ask this mirror on the wall if we are the fairest of them all…

I’ll do a catch-up post soon to give you the start of 2009 as well…

I’ve added a section at the top of the site "Church Technology." I’m working on putting together some of the more useful tips, tricks, and websites that I’ve come across that have something to do with ministry.

I get asked on a pretty regular basis for software recommendations to keep home PCs safe. I’ve put together a list of a semi-comprehensive package of tools you can use to protect your computer on a subpage of my Church Technology Section. I hope you’ll check it out! :)

Here’s some interesting material by Dr. Flavil Yeakley of research done for the group of Christian College Presidents. You can view both the video of his presentation and his PowerPoint file.

They rate America’s cities on the Seven Deadly Sins. Congratulations, Memphis, for being number one in three out of seven. Maybe next year, you can win wrath…

I’m not sure how this one is going to turn out, but it should be interesting, no mater what. Enjoy this trailer for Ben Stein’s “Expelled.”

Here’s what you contributed:

The Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Group will need help on Friday in Nashville at 10 am loading boxes to send supplies. The Red Cross and other organizations are announcing their plans for collections. Dickson’s banks are collecting supplies (toiletries, clothes, non-perishable food items, etc) to send that way. Leave a comment if you have another disaster relief organization you’d like to list…

We’re really looking forward to hearing from our friends in Zambia. We went to the Market one last time on Thursday morning. Aaron announced that he had some good news for us, right before we left. He wanted to tell us that he had told the good news to his sister, a roman catholic, and that she was considering being baptized, but she wanted a day to make up her mind. He was excited because she might want to be baptized that night as soon as he knocked off at the market. Her name is Denya, and he asked that we keep her in our prayers.

We studied some of the verses that explain how leadership works in the church–and how you don’t have to have any special position or title to baptize someone. He was really excited about the chance of getting to baptize his sister.

Bennett also chipped in with a question. He told us that he is really looking forward to studying with his old friends. He was worried, though, and asked us what he should do. He said that they knew that he used to smoke marijuana and drink–and how could he help them to change, too. We studied passages like Romans 6 and Colossians 2 and 3 so he could help them with repentance.

Things are great–I can’t wait to hear more updates!

Matthew

Hi everyone!! It seems every time I come into town to send an email, the power is out!! The power is not reliable here at all, but it works out ok. Normally if the power is out there are more people in the streets to talk to. The rest of the group left this morning. We have our work cut out for us. We have a very long list of people to continue studying with. Especially a couple of new Christians whom we want to strengthen before we leave. There have been seven baptisms so far! God has done great things. I love studying with so many people who just want to open their Bible with us and read God’s word. Saturday, Matthew and I went to a ladies house to study with her. On the way to her house we ran into a couple who I had talked and studied with earlier. The husband had not been to church in years but went last Sunday after some encouragement and study. So we stopped and talked to them and then talked with their neighbors. They all followed us to Jennifers house to join in on her study. When Jennifer was not home, we all went to the ladies house and studied on her porch. We found out that they too were Christians and the guy who had not been to church in a while could not read. So we studied with them a little from Acts 2 and about walking in the light, finishing the race ect. and showed him how he has been blessed with a neighbor who can read. They are now planning on studying together every lunchtime. They seemed really excited and we wrote a list of scriptures to help them as they study together. It is moments like that which make all the hard work and the good it does evident. To see people like Bennet who was Baptized last week who just seems to get it and can not wait to learn more, to seeing Christians really beginning to understand the importance of encouraging one another to walk daily in Christ. I love seeing that and I love the people. I wish it were as easy to set up Bible studies in America! I wish it were this easy to talk about Jesus! We starting studying with the cook this morning. We studied creation, the godhead and the existance of satan. All of this was new to him! He just wants as much of God’s word as we can give him.

I know I miss worshipping in English only and it will get tougher now with the rest of the group gone and our nightly devos in English no longer. We are planning on continuing studying with the ladies at the front desk and they love learning english songs, so at least we will sing a little! :) They are really wonderful people!

Well, I just wanted to tell you all I love you and can’t wait to talk to you again!!

Love,
Les 

Today is our last day in Livingstone.  We leave for the airport today at 12:45 to fly out at 3:10.  Last night the Riverside members came and gave us a ‘farewell party’ which means they sang alot for us and the children quoted memory verses.

Words can’t describe how amazing this trip has been.  On Friday night we had another baptism.  I never imagined having this big of an impact on the people here.  One of the members last night told me that Christians throughout Livingstone have been encouraged and want to make a change to start doorknocking more on their own, because they see the impact we have made in the areas around here.

I want to give you another reason to be proud of the people you know on this trip. Every member on this team sacrificed the money they were going to spend on a boat ride on the Queen Victoria which takes you to see the sunset on the Zambezi River. Everyone wants to put their money to better use.  After seeing the need for Bibles, they decided that they want to take that money and use it to buy Bibles and have the church distribute them.  The Zambians were amazed that a group of young people were willing to do that.  We will take the money and probably buy Bibles in the states and mail them back here.  I was so pround when the suggestion came up.  We will also use the money to for other needs that the churches in Livingstone have.

Pray for us as we leave today.  Leslie, Happy, and Angie will stay behind for a longer period of time.  They will do followups on those we have already studied with.

We are looking forward to being back in America but will miss it so much here.  Thank you for putting up with my lack of grammar knowledge and poor spelling habits.  When time is money here, that was the last thing on my mind.

We will see you in a few days.
In HIm,
Aarek

So we had one baptism last week.

We went to Mukuni VIllage the last few days and had a gospel meeting and we baptized 4 there after we drove for ever to find enough water to do it.  Then our prayers were answered today for a young man, Bennett from the Market that we have been studying with since we have been here was baptized only minutes ago.  Today has been a great day.  We are all wore out…but it was great to hear that Kevin made it back so thank you for your prayers  We have two more full days here.  We will leave for the airport on Monday and be back on Tuesday.  Kevin had delays coming back or hopefully we wont’ have that problem.

Each night we have had reflection devotionals and we have all learned so much on this trip. Be proud of the friends and family that you know on this trip.  They have truely been a pleasure to work with.  Thank you for what you have done to help them along the way up to this point.  We came here expecting to encourage and we have baptized 6 already and the trip is not over.

Kevin we love you and miss you.  Thank you for all you did while you were here.  This computer is terrible sorry for the errors and the errors in all my eamils time is money on this thing, hope you understand.  Today was the first day that I believe that everyone is truely looking forward to coming back to the states so that we can make changes in our own lives when it comes to talking to those that we love that have not been baptized.

We love you.  Well see you on Tuesday or soon after.
in Him,
Aarek

Things are going well here as usual.  Kevin left today.  He went to the airport packed and ready yesterday and then we realized he was a day early.  He should be in the air on his way to Johanesburg as I write.  We finished up the VBS today at Sunset Academy School. We had two days of it during the morning.  (Just Heard Jud and LeAnn have a new Baby….congrats.)  Tomorrow we have a Gospel Meeting at Mukuni Village.  It will last through Friday.  We have been doorknocking today again.  We split up into groups.  You should be proud of the people you know on this trip.  Whenever we have free time they want to door knock.  Today Jess and I had a Bible study with a lady from the gas station.  People are so willing here.  I know I have stated that before but it is true.

We have alot to be thankful for….as we have mentioned before the purpose of this trip will not be measured in baptisms but all of the seeds that we God has allowed us to plant.  Hopefully when we leave the Christians here will be able to take over.  We have been told many times how encouraged the churches are here and that is a big relief.

Continue to pray for us, pray for Kevin as he flies home and pray for the souls that we come in contact with here.  We love you all.

Things are going well.

In Him,
Aarek

The gospel meeting is over…..today we were going to go to the village to do another gospel meeting but there was a funeral in the village so we had to postpone.  Everyday we have doorknocked and had personal bible studies. It has been amazing.  Yesterday we went on a safari in the afternoon. We saw elephants, zebras, giraffs, warthogs, but no rhinos.  The sunset was amazing. I bet our team has about 3 million pictures total.  Kevin leaves tomorrow for home to attend his sisters wedding, be sure to pray for him as he leaves.  He leaves Tuesday at 1:00 ish.  Thank you so much for your prayers, the rest of the week we will be invovled in more doorknockng, a vbs, and a gospel meeting hopefully.  On Sunday all of us guys will go to a different congregation to preach.  We are all looking forward to that.  Things are still good…no one is sick and all is well. We will see you in a week. 

In Him,
Aarek

     Hello!! I wanted to let you all know we safely arrived in Zambia Monday morning. It has been an incredible experience so far. They are so much more receptive than in New Zealand or in the states. I think I have only been turned away from three or four homes. Every door we go to, they run and get benches or random objects for us to sit down. Then they simply say tell me why you are here and about the word. Some have no knowledge of Christ or how to get to heaven. It feels incredible to talk and teach about the salvation that we truly are blessed with. One woman was baptized yesterday before the Gospel meeting. Matthew’s group is working with a woman who is as the refer to her, “good soil with miracle grow mixed in!”.
     It is incredible and God has blessed our work so far. I am really learning every day.
     We saw Victoria falls the first day we were here. Loved it! Think Niagra times 5 or 10! Beautiful. If ever a way to begin a campiagn… with such wonders of His creation. Mom- you would love bartering!! You get to talk them down on their prices! It is fun!!! Overwhelming at times because they all take you and lead you to their stuff, working against each other for our time and money. But still fun!
     We have a ladies day tomorrow and the last day of the Gospel meeting as well. VBS is next week.
     Well, I wanted to say hello! I am at an internet cafe and I don’t know when the next time I may get the chance to come again. Matthew says hello and is at a Bible study right now so he could not say so himself, but rather sends a cheerful hello. His group is coming to the gospel meeting a little later.
     Well, I hope all is going well in the states!
I love you all!!
Leslie

Sorry I was unable to write to you yesterday.  It was a crazy day but it was amazing.  We started the Gospel meeting yesterday because they had double booked us for the town hall we were meeting in so yesterday was the first day for it.  We had tons of people there.  Gavin and Happy spoke after a Zambian Preacher…but before that was even more amazing.  The door knocking and bible studies here have been out of this world. People here are thirsting for the Word so much.  They invite you in and study for 30 minutes to an hour reguardless of the denomination they are from.  They are so open and receptive.  Boo, Tarah, and I studyied with a lady yesterday and she was baptized yesterday afternoon.  Many more are on the verge of Baptism.  We haven’t scheduled this many studies but our group just wants to keep on doing them.  There is a group out now studying this afternoon and another will take place tonight.  It is amazing.  Tomorrow the girls are going to an all womens retreat and I believe Leslie and Amanda will be speaking.  The guys will be door knocking again.  Tonight, Brazier and Boo are speaking.  Tomorrow Kevin and Tristan.  Sunday I will preach at Riverside and then we will see what God has in store for us next week.  Things are going amazing here.  The churches are united.  They work togethere.  There is no contention.  Can you imagine a place were every church works together without the petty disputes that we have in America?  Don’t get me wrong, America is amazing, but we have alot to learn from these people.  Today I studied with a ladiy with AIDS who thought she was being punished from God.  The study was great.  She had never even heard of Jesus or Baptism until today and she said she was pentacostal.  These people don’t have Bibles so that is very discouraging.  Continue to pray for us.

   For you parents, you will be happy to know that everyone is alive.  Kevin, Gavin, Braizer, Jessica and myself bungi jumped off the 2nd highest bungi in the world on the bridge between Zimbabwe and Zambia.  It was about 11 stories tall. Words dont’ describe it but we got it all on video.  That should be the last crazy thing we do while we are here unless we happen to come across elephant rides in the Zambezi.  Thank you for all your support.  We love you very much and will see you soon.

   In Him,
   Aarek

Yesterday we spend the day at Vicotoria falls, getting use to the culture, and experiencing our first vehicle breakdown.  It went great though.  Our team is so flexible that it seemed like no big deal.  We just ate lunch early.  This morning and afternoon we spend the day door knocking in the area behind where we are staying.  We had some great Bible studies and we look for a large crowd tonight at the first night of our Gospel meeting.  It starts in a couple of hours and goes for 3 nights.  Two of us are speaking each night along with another Local person preaching.  Tomor we will coninute door knocking in another area of town.  We weren’t going to go out again and door knock this afternoon but our group wanted to which really impressed the people here that we have a team that is so willing to work.  The food is great…at least I think so…others might say otherwise.  No one has malria or any other kind of stomach or bowel problems yet, which is awesome.  Kevin and I came into town today to exchange a little more money…that side of things is going well.  We have nothing to complain about only thanksgivng for allowing us to come.  This trip has been amazing.  The people here are so encouraged by our coming.  The churches are really uniting here and we hope to have a large Crowd….everyone says high, and Mrs. Faires…Julie wants you to look at the itinerary again to know for sure when we will be back.  It is the 30th I believe I can’t remember.  Thank you all for your prayers and support.  We love you.
In Him,
Aarek

This is going to be the most amazing trip ever.  There were no problems at all getting here.  The travel arrangements this time round were amazing…no long waits in airports, no long drives, it was awesome.  We arrived at 2:00pm and the family welcomed us at the airport.  We got through customs, got our bags, (only one didn’t show up—it was a backpack with socks and underwear—so no problems there.  Many of the church ladies welcomed us as we arrived to the lodge and sang for us for about 30 mintues.  There were already tears in peoples eyes.  Tomor we are going to learn about the customs and our schedule for the week.  They seemed very prepared for our arrival which was a big relief.   They are getting food in town now to cook for us.  We will start the Gospel Meeting on Wed.  Thank you so much for your prayers.  We will do our best to keep in touch.  Spread the word that we made it here safely with no problems, we have beds, food, a tub and awesome host family that will take good care of us.  Keep us in your prayers, and definately pray for those people that we come in contact with here.
   We love you all.

   In Him,
   Aarek

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!

Tennessee State Constitution

ARTICLE IX 

Disqualifications. 

Section 1. Whereas ministers of the Gospel are by their profession, dedicated 

to God and the care of souls, and ought not to be diverted from the great 

duties of their functions; therefore, no minister of the Gospel, or priest of any 

denomination whatever, shall be eligible to a seat in either House of the Legislature. 

Section 2. No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards 

and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this 

state. 

Section 3. Any person who shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, 

fight a duel, or knowingly be the bearer of a challenge to fight a duel, or send or 

accept a challenge for that purpose, or be an aider or abettor in fighting a duel, 

shall be deprived of the right to hold any office of honor or profit in this state, 

and shall be punished otherwise, in such manner as the Legislature may prescribe. 

I’ll leave the commentary up to you. Quite a difference in the perception of the value of ministry and the importance of a belief in the Lord and His plan on ethics and decision-making, isn’t it?

Her response: “Why thank you! That was a very political answer. You’ll make a fine preacher someday!”

I didn’t exactly know how to respond to her comment. I believe she meant it as a sincere compliment. I wasn’t aware that passing the credit for a good photograph from the instrument to the candidate was a political process, and I really wasn’t aware that politics make or break preachers.

Now, this is not intended to bash preaching, religion, etc. etc. These same problems exist in all arenas of life. Shucks, I’m not even going to complain about this attitude. (The lady’s husband is a preacher, by the way). My question, and the only reason I’m posting this, is what will I do to fix this problem?

Now whichever anti-Christian group uses this as ammunition on the war on Christmas…

…at least communist China and other athiestic countries still like Christmas…

…but at least America isn’t guilty of this explicit abuse of Christmas!

Have a great week!

All things considered, the trip really did go well. We all made it back…no plane crashes or any nasty little tricks like that…and we get to sleep in our own beds. Now if somebody could just do something about the heat out here…

See you in a couple of days!

Group picture from Paratutu our first Saturday here.

Friday was a bit slower of a day. The group I was with had no positive responses, basically. The best conversation that I had all day was with a Jehovah’s Witness who shared some great revelations with me, including, but not limited to:

on the day of Christ’s appearing, He will be invisible. I asked, “So you’re telling me that He won’t appear on the day of His appearing?”

I asked why she uses the JW New World Translation. She explained to me that the god of the present age infiltrated the other translations. So I asked why I shouldn’t believe the same thing happened to hers. She explained that God has (and this is a direct quote) special slaves whom He tells His word to that make sure their translation is accurate. Interesting, since the NWT has not been around for their entire history. Sometime, read what they’ve done with John 8 and Christ’s claim of being “I am” over the years.

Our afternoon Bible study cancelled on us to finish off the day. So, we’re all glad that Saturday is here and we have a day to regroup before going out for our last two days of doorknocking. We’ve put out nearly 20,000 free book offers and 4,000 Gospel Minutes articles now, along with various other studies. Every day when we check the mail we have several of those book offers returned, so it has been neat to watch that work.

For the day off: dinner with our host family and maybe horseback riding or dam dropping.

Nothing much interesting happened today. We letterboxed quite a bit and got several more responses back in the mail. Our total of free book offers is somewhere above 15,000 distributed. We’ve sent out 4,000ish Gospel Minutes and door knocked more than 1,500 doors. So, I’m tired.

Talked with an athiest fellow for about 20 minutes who had four children. His main reason for athiesm was suffering of mankind. To his credit, he sends his kids to Sunday School because He wants them to grow up and have a choice when it comes to spirituality.

Was yelled at through a window by a person screaming “Go away! God is dead!”

Talked to an 18 year-old mother who wants to know for sure if there is a God so she can raise her daughter.

Today, we talked to a guy for about an hour who describes himself as still having a small spark of spiritual interest, believing that there is probably a God. He feels distant from him; as he put it, when he prays, it is like talking to Santa Claus. He likes a lot of Christianity’s ideals, but knows how hard they are to implement in life as we know it. He also doesn’t understand how Christians can eat meat, because of the cruelty of how animals are slaughtered. He knows that scripture teaches it, but said, “I just can’t see Jesus eating meat.”

Another fellow wasn’t very interested in Bible study because his family was into translating Bibles. In the mid 1800s, that is.

Well, I think that’s all the fun for now. Tomorrow’s Wednesday–Kevin Moore and family are coming, and we’ve got class to teach.

Off to another full day of door knocking!

It is quite different to be at a camp with a very significant portion of the Christians in an entire nation, and still not even come close to the size of Camp Kalos. Friday night we enjoyed getting to know each other and a devotional. Saturday morning was letterboxing Wanganui, which didn’t take too long since we had probably 70 people working. The afternoon was filled with injury-prone rugby games, hikes at the beach with waterfalls running into the ocean, and a trip to town to souveneir shop. We had worship and Bible study together at camp this morning, as well.

This week is five full days of door knocking, our last full week in New Zealand. Rachel and I have a Bible study with a family we met set up for Tuesday evening, and there are two more planned from other teams on Monday. We’ve had a great response to the book offer we’ve been distributing, and things really are going well. We just have to survive the rest of the door slams, now! :) We’ve managed so far…it will be a good and productive week, I’m sure.

Have a great Sunday!

We leave tomorrow for camp in Whanganui (sp?). It’s a youth camp for all the churches of Christ in New Zealand, basically. We’ll be there until Sunday. The weekend will be filled with food & fun, of course, but will also have several hours of outreach in the town there, since no teams are stationed there for this trip.

So, this is my last post until Sunday evening, our time. Have a great one!

Yeah.

Our group set two more Bible studies today and a correspondence course, with several other follow up opportunities generated and quite a few people interested in the book offer. It was a good day.

Tomorrow begins the doorknocking. I’ll let you know how that goes. In the meantime, I need sleep.

Sunday we had our worship services. Chris did a great job preaching. Paavo and I survived teaching 6-10 yeard olds. The fellowship meal had all sorts of interesting and good food. We played 9ish holes of golf in the afternoon and then had a men’s meeting in the evening.

On Monday morning, we went ocean kayaking in the winter. I think we must all be getting dumber–but it was a lot of fun. The water wasn’t that cold… it was great! After that, we went to a free zoo and park and enjoyed some good hiking, while Paavo performed some acrobatics for us. Back to Rod’s house for a pick-up game of touch Rugby, supper, and then fireworks downtown for the day.

Tomorrow will be chock full of letterboxing and doorknocking–as will the rest of the week, even on the way to the youth camp on Friday. It’ll be great. Talk to you later!

Our group met together at Rod’s house for fish and chips for lunch. Probably am going to die a day or two younger now, but that’s okay. Then we left to go to a local rugby game. I think I am a little more understanding of Roman Gladiator battles now…but it sure was an interesting game. At the end of the first lower-level local game, Paavo ran out onto the field and got at the end of the “good game” line. He managed to get handshakes, slaps, and hugs from most of the opposition! He thinks most of them thought he was a trainer or something.

We went on to the next game, a more important game…and watched most of it. It really was an interesting game, and only one person got pulled off on a stretcher. There was a local couple that was rather…amorous…during the game, sitting on the sidelines on a hill. The girl was facing the man, a bit distracted, when she was hit square in the backside by an out of bounds kick. Now that was funny.

After the games, we drove down to the beach. [Come to find out, the house I'm staying in is only a few hundred yards away from a beach! Who knows what that is in metric...] We took pictures on a gorgeous scenic overlook, and then hiked down towards the black sand beach. A few of the guys braved running/skidding/sliding down the sand dune to the ocean. The rest of us took the stairs…

The beach was gorgeous, waves breaking against the rocks and cliffs. There was a tiny waterfall and neat inlets in the rock sea wall. You could see parts of large mountains all around and there were a few little islands in the water that were gorgeous. Of course, we all had fun daring the sea to see how close we could get to it without getting wet. You already know how that game turned out.

The climb back up the steps was something else-even Paavo and Leslie slowed down on the way up them. Something [unholy] inspired the “men” of the group to go climb the little hill/mountain Paratutu. It was a very steep climb with a steel cable as a hand hold for parts of it. Some parts were an easy walk, some were stairs, and some were near-vertical rock climbs. The climb left me feeling like my heart was going to explode-but the view was worth it. We could see Mt. Teranaki (i think), a huge snow-capped mountain on the horizon, as the clouds had lifted. I think that it is an 8,000 foot mountain. It was gorgeous. You could see most of New Plymouth from there as well as the ocean to the horizon. Absolutely breathtaking.

The climb back down was harrowing. Didn’t know whether to climb it backwards like a ladder, or slide down on my rear and pray for some sort of traction and hand-eye coordination. Somehow, we all survived. My legs still hurt.

After the climb, we enjoyed supper ["tea"] at the Jensen’s house, where Chris and Todd are staying. Fish and chips again. I’m going to die very soon, but it was worth it. Paavo and I got our first taste of New Zealand’s wonderful ice cream. It might be the death of us, but we’re okay with that…

After dinner we gathered at another home for watching Rugby on TV. I guess we’re hooked now. We watched the national British Lions barely edge out a divisonal NZ team. Quite entertaining. Only one got taken out on the golf cart, that time!

All in all, it was a great day, and our group had a great time getting some relaxation and taking in the sights. Rod said it was good for us to have our day off at this time during the trip, because today and tomorrow are when jet lag begins to nail us. We’ve all been waking up very early in the morning and getting tired pretty early, too. He described a lot of the work that is still ahead of us as “soul destroying” because of the response we will get. Even in letterboxing, we’ve begin to get a taste of it. I walked past a fellow on the street, we exchanged greetings, and I asked him if he’d like a flyer that I was handing out. His response was, “It better not be Jesus Christ!”

We’re certainly not in the Bible belt anymore. The friendly wave is met with a stare a lot of the time…and you can tell people want to know what’s wrong with these crazy Americans. All in all, people have been good to us, and there’s great work ahead. Tomorrow, Chris is preaching and we’re teaching the classes before we enjoy a fellowship meal with the entire congregation.

All for now–have a great night!

Yesterday was a very good day. We spent most all of the very cold day outside letterboxing. I think our grand total of literature distributed is already close to 7,000. Yesterday, as we worked, we got caught in two or three hail storms with hail stones just over pea size. Those things stung pretty badly in a nice, driving wind. It is amazing that it will hail hard enough to turn the ground pretty close to white for about 5 minutes…then just quit and be beautiful and sunny, with a sky full of rainbows. I saw probably 3 different rainbows across yesterday, one that was complete and even had a rainbow “shadow” next to it. Gorgeous!

Today is our “day off.” We’re using it to catch up a little on sleep, as we’re told this is when jet lag is supposed to kick in. We’re getting ready to teach the kid’s classes tomorrow. Paavo and I have the 6-10 year olds. That will be interesting…. I get to preach on Sunday, June 19…so I’m very excited about that.

All in all, we’re having a great time. No injuries or major problems thus far. Today we get to take in some sights and have a great time. Maybe even eat some more kiwis (the fruit, not the bird or the people….)

Have a great day!
Matthew

We’re in New Zealand, alive and well. You probably heard that our flights were messed up. Our first flight from Memphis to Phoenix was delayed, causing us to miss our connecting flight to LA, and thus, potentially missing our 9:30 flight to Auckland, NZ. Fortunately, we all fit on a later flight to LA and there was virtually no one on a later 11:30 flight to NZ. That meant we had lots of room to sleep and move around. The flights were all a bit on the bumpy side, but our luggage pretty much all arrived on time and everything went well. Angie was delayed because of some problems with her visa, but is in the country now, we think. After arriving in Wellington, our final air destination, we had probably 6 more hours on the road to drive to New Plymouth.

By the way, it is 7:15 here. Compare that with whatever the post clock says central time. We began our first day of work this morning after a good night’s sleep in our host family. I’m staying with the Blackman family, along with Paavo. They have been absolutely wonderful, and the New Zealand food isn’t half bad.

We began this morning, as we will every morning, with a devotional. We are working with evangelist Rod Kyle. After devotion, he leads us in a personal work class, detailing what to expect here in NZ and how to react to situations we have been faced with. We spent most of today letterboxing (leaving flyers in mailboxes–yes, it’s legal here).

The country is beautiful–even when the weather is not. The plus side of the on and off rain during sunshine is the beautiful rainbow that we see so often. It is a gorgeous place, just a little cool, but not too bad. You should
see it. And there are lots and lots of sheep. Our host family has one…as a pet! Haven’t eaten any yet….

We’re starting to understand a little bit more of what people are saying, and most of us don’t flinch…as much…when we’re driving on the other side of the road. We’ve also picked up a renewed appreciation for mind-numbing puzzles you find in newspapers. We’re all addicted, and very bad.

Thanks for everything–our trip is going great. We’ve certainly been blessed.

Take it easy, I’ll write when I can….. see you in a month!

(By the way, go to the annoying game’s website…)

Here’s the itenerary:

• America West Airlines 30 May Memphis Intl -> Phoenix [Sky Harbor Int] 2:20 P 3:43 PM (Local time). HP 6443 Economy. 3:23 Duration. Canadair regional jet 900.
• America West Airlines 30 May Phoenix AZ -> Los Angeles CA 4:19 P 5:42 P HP32 1:23 Duration. Airbus Industrie A319
• Air New Zealand 30 May Los Angeles -> Auckland, NZ 9:30 P 5:15A 01 June. NZ 1. 12:45 duration. Boeing 747-400
• Air New Zealand 01 June Auckland -> Wellington 7:00 AM 8:00 AM NZ405 1:00 duration. Boeing 737-30
• Return- Air New Zealand 22 June Wellington -> Auckland 5:30P 6:30PM 1:00 Duratoin. NZ464 Boeing 737-300
• Air New Zealand 22 June Auckland-> LA NZ6 7:45PM 12:40PM 11:55 duration. Boeing 747-400
• America West 22 June LA->Phoenix 3:50PM 5:10PM HP30 1:20 Duration. Airbus Industrie A319
• America West 22 June Phoenix->Memphis 6:00PM-10:57PM HP6398 2:57 Duration Canadair Regional Jet 900

And I go to New Zealand in a little over a week. Yeee-haw!

The bonfire also was wonderful. Our crew showed up in force and we had a great time cooking hot dogs and marshmallows. The message from Brother Brown was excellent as was the singing. Thanks for your prayers and concerns.

This week: Open Bible Study nights. Tuesday-Thursday 7:00-8:30 PM.

Check out the accompanying graphic. Note especially the numbers about conflict between science and religion.

Roby campaign update: Tonight- paint the baptistry. Hopefully we won’t be killed by noxious fumes. Saturday: door knocking time!!