Thursday - It's Been A Good Week

It's been a full, fruitful and fascinating week so far.  Here's some random thoughts on the passing scene:

Sunday - The Team Arrives

We had a quiet morning - shopping for supplies, worship at the Grove, pick up the 15-passenger van - all in the midst of deluge.  White-out conditions at times from the rain.

Just before our team began arriving.  Thirteen people at one time from the Richmond Airport.  A few hours later, Becky - coming by way of Detroit - and Joyce, Dee and Anna flying in from Baltimore.  By six o-clock, everyone has arrived and is ready to eat.

Had our first orientation with Sandy Brown - Kevin's wife and the director of volunteer.  She's our key contact for this entire week.  It's encouraging how prepared they seem to be, how glad they are to have us, and how excited our group seems to be about connecting with the neighborhood and ministry here.  Lots of chores to divide up.

We're sharing the week with the student ministry from First EPC of Aurora, IL.  They had a 2 day drive and arrived pretty road weary

First Day Back

Mary Lynn and I arrived in NOLA Saturday afternoon after a good drive through LOTS of rain.  We'll be staying in the TCC Mission House tonight - it was the home of Bill and Mary Lou Brown 34 years ago when we spent our first summer in NOLA with Trinity.  LOTS and LOTS of memories.

We enjoyed getting time with Dwayne and Anthonica - the husband/wife team who are residents of the house as summer mission teams come and go.  He's a student at NOLA Baptist Seminary and pastoring TCC's neighborhood church The Grove.  She teaches in the KIP Charter Academy in NOLA.

LOTS of rain.

The Church in China

For years, I've been watching, waiting and wondering about China.  I would read amazing things about the growth of the church in China - especially the underground "house churches."  It seemed reasonable to me that if the number of Christ-followers was growing so dramatically, there should begin to be some discernible impact on the communist system and culture of China.

The Wall Street Journal recently ran an informative article on Rev. Bob Fu of ChinaAid.  He's the "pastor behind the scenes" in the recent confrontation between China and the US regarding Chen Guangcheng, the blind, human-rights lawyer who escaped house arrest and fled to the American embassy in Bejing.  Mary Kissel writes The news out of China these days is gripping, and there's no one more qualified to read the tea leaves than Bob Fu—who from a town in West Texas coordinates the most influential network of human-rights activists, underground Christians and freedom fighters in China.

Mr. Fu is adamant that Christianity is changing China for the better. "In 1949, according to the official figures, there were about 870,000 Christians in China," he says. "But today, even the conservative number by the government academic survey . . . has risen to 60 million." Mr. Fu thinks the true figure may be 80 million to 100 million. That's not a lot in a country of 1.3 billion, but it's growing fast. Christians "fill the gap" in civil society. "They were the first group driving the tractors and buses after the earthquake in Sichuan [in 2008]. They were the majority of the volunteers." 

It's an article well worth reading in full.  Click Here to do that.

For the data behind the graphic in this post, read "Was It Worth It?."  Found on p. 37 of Issue 52 of Christian History Magazine.  Click Here for a downloadable .pdf

 

More Than Dreams: Muslims Coming to Christ Through Dreams and Visions

This past Sunday, I mentioned the phenomenon of Muslims coming to trust Jesus as Savior through dream encounters.  I promised to blog some of the details from that illustration, so here goes.

First, from a January 2007 article from the Lausanne Movement magazine,

A Band of Natural Enemies. . . .

There are some broken and tense relationships in my life that I've been working hard to bring to reconciliation lately.  And sadly, with little apparent success.  As a result, I've been looking for encouragement and guidance, and while re-reading an article on forgiveness and reconciliation in the life of the church, I came across this extraordinary statement:

The reason there are so many exhortations in the New Testament for Christians to love other Christians is because . . . the church itself is not made up of natural “friends.” It is made up of natural enemies.

Learning to "Pray The Scriptures"

Have you ever heard someone use the expression "praying the Scriptures?"  It's easy to wonder just what they are referring to.  Is it using a Bible text as a special chant?  Is it reading the Bible and calling it prayer?

People at Christ Covenant have heard me mention how my own prayer life has been revitalized and deepened by using Scotty Smith's Heavenward website as part of my regular devotional time.  His April 17th prayer - A Prayer for Measuring the Measureless Riches of Grace - is a great example of "praying the Scripture," in this case Psalm103.  I include the entire post below: