Quotes & Sayings


We, and creation itself, actualize the possibilities of the God who sustains the world, towards becoming in the world in a fuller, more deeper way. - R.E. Slater

There is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have [consequential effects upon] the world around us. - Process Metaphysician Alfred North Whitehead

Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem says (i) all closed systems are unprovable within themselves and, that (ii) all open systems are rightly understood as incomplete. - R.E. Slater

The most true thing about you is what God has said to you in Christ, "You are My Beloved." - Tripp Fuller

The God among us is the God who refuses to be God without us, so great is God's Love. - Tripp Fuller

According to some Christian outlooks we were made for another world. Perhaps, rather, we were made for this world to recreate, reclaim, redeem, and renew unto God's future aspiration by the power of His Spirit. - R.E. Slater

Our eschatological ethos is to love. To stand with those who are oppressed. To stand against those who are oppressing. It is that simple. Love is our only calling and Christian Hope. - R.E. Slater

Secularization theory has been massively falsified. We don't live in an age of secularity. We live in an age of explosive, pervasive religiosity... an age of religious pluralism. - Peter L. Berger

Exploring the edge of life and faith in a post-everything world. - Todd Littleton

I don't need another reason to believe, your love is all around for me to see. – Anon

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all. - Khalil Gibran, Prayer XXIII

Be careful what you pretend to be. You become what you pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut

Religious beliefs, far from being primary, are often shaped and adjusted by our social goals. - Jim Forest

We become who we are by what we believe and can justify. - R.E. Slater

People, even more than things, need to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. – Anon

Certainly, God's love has made fools of us all. - R.E. Slater

An apocalyptic Christian faith doesn't wait for Jesus to come, but for Jesus to become in our midst. - R.E. Slater

Christian belief in God begins with the cross and resurrection of Jesus, not with rational apologetics. - Eberhard Jüngel, Jürgen Moltmann

Our knowledge of God is through the 'I-Thou' encounter, not in finding God at the end of a syllogism or argument. There is a grave danger in any Christian treatment of God as an object. The God of Jesus Christ and Scripture is irreducibly subject and never made as an object, a force, a power, or a principle that can be manipulated. - Emil Brunner

“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” means "I will be that who I have yet to become." - God (Ex 3.14) or, conversely, “I AM who I AM Becoming.”

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. - Thomas Merton

The church is God's world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the Eucharist/Communion table to share life with one another as a new kind of family. When this happens, we show to the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be. The church is God's show-and-tell for the world to see how God wants us to live as a blended, global, polypluralistic family united with one will, by one Lord, and baptized by one Spirit. – Anon

The cross that is planted at the heart of the history of the world cannot be uprooted. - Jacques Ellul

The Unity in whose loving presence the universe unfolds is inside each person as a call to welcome the stranger, protect animals and the earth, respect the dignity of each person, think new thoughts, and help bring about ecological civilizations. - John Cobb & Farhan A. Shah

If you board the wrong train it is of no use running along the corridors of the train in the other direction. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God's justice is restorative rather than punitive; His discipline is merciful rather than punishing; His power is made perfect in weakness; and His grace is sufficient for all. – Anon

Our little [biblical] systems have their day; they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O God art more than they. - Alfred Lord Tennyson

We can’t control God; God is uncontrollable. God can’t control us; God’s love is uncontrolling! - Thomas Jay Oord

Life in perspective but always in process... as we are relational beings in process to one another, so life events are in process in relation to each event... as God is to Self, is to world, is to us... like Father, like sons and daughters, like events... life in process yet always in perspective. - R.E. Slater

To promote societal transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework which includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. - The Earth Charter Mission Statement

Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles. - Scott Postma

It is never wise to have a self-appointed religious institution determine a nation's moral code. The opportunities for moral compromise and failure are high; the moral codes and creeds assuredly racist, discriminatory, or subjectively and religiously defined; and the pronouncement of inhumanitarian political objectives quite predictable. - R.E. Slater

God's love must both center and define the Christian faith and all religious or human faiths seeking human and ecological balance in worlds of subtraction, harm, tragedy, and evil. - R.E. Slater

In Whitehead’s process ontology, we can think of the experiential ground of reality as an eternal pulse whereby what is objectively public in one moment becomes subjectively prehended in the next, and whereby the subject that emerges from its feelings then perishes into public expression as an object (or “superject”) aiming for novelty. There is a rhythm of Being between object and subject, not an ontological division. This rhythm powers the creative growth of the universe from one occasion of experience to the next. This is the Whiteheadian mantra: “The many become one and are increased by one.” - Matthew Segall

Without Love there is no Truth. And True Truth is always Loving. There is no dichotomy between these terms but only seamless integration. This is the premier centering focus of a Processual Theology of Love. - R.E. Slater

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Note: Generally I do not respond to commentary. I may read the comments but wish to reserve my time to write (or write from the comments I read). Instead, I'd like to see our community help one another and in the helping encourage and exhort each of us towards Christian love in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. - re slater

Showing posts with label Missional Living and Calling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Missional Living and Calling. Show all posts

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Renewing God's World: The Redemptive Renewal of Creation

Structure and Direction: A Better Paradigm for Cultural Engagement
http://vanguardchurch.blogspot.com/2011/09/structure-and-direction-better-paradigm.html

by Bob Robinson
September 16, 2011

There is a superior way to deal with culture rather than the pietistic path of arbitrarily deciding what in the culture is bad and then shunning those things.

structure-directionAlbert Wolters suggests that if we think in terms of the biblical storyline of “Creation, Fall, Redemption,” we will have a better paradigm by which to engage culture. “Creation” is the way things were originally created, “very good” in God’s eyes. It is the “structure” that God originally intended, not just for the primordial creation, but also the latent potential embedded in the creation from the beginning which enables humanity to create new technologies and art.

“Fall” and “Redemption” are then the two opposing “directions” that humanity is now engaged in exercising upon this God-ordained structure. Thus, if we think in the paradigm of “Structure and Direction” we will be called not just to shun the things of the Fall, but rather to actively engage in changing the trajectory of those things toward Redemption. In Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview, Albert Wolters writes,

“This twin emphasis makes a radical difference in the way Christian believers approach reality. Because they believe that creational structure underlies all of reality, they seek and find evidence of lawful constancy in the flux of experience, and of invariant principles amidst a variety of historical events and institutions. Because they confess that a spiritual direction underlies their experience, they see abnormality where others see normality, and possibilities of renewal where others see inevitable distortion. In every situation, they explicitly look for and recognize the presence of creational structure, distinguishing this sharply from the human abuse to which it is subject.” (pp. 88-89)

This paradigm then moves the Christian toward redemptive action. It is not enough to identify that which is good, true and beautiful as opposed to that which is evil, lies and distortion. It is the Christian vocation to intentionally turn that which is in the latter categories toward God’s good intentions.

In Matthew 13:33, Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

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Wolters writes,

“We learn for this that the gospel is a leavening influence in human life wherever it is lived, and influence that slowly but steadily brings change from within. The gospel affects government in a specifically political manner, art in a peculiarly aesthetic manner, scholarship in a uniquely theoretical manner, and churches in a distinctly ecclesiological manner. It makes possible renewal of each creational area from within, not without…

Everything in principle can be sanctified and internally renewed—our personal life, our societal relationships, our cultural activities…

What was formed in creation has been historically deformed by sin and must be reformed in Christ.” (p. 90. 91)

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A “Missional” attitude for artists and for those who patronize the arts, then, is to be actively reformational: Intentionally seeking to be change agents, changing the direction of God’s good creational structure away from the depravity of the Fall and toward the re-creation of all things in Christ.


 

Friday, September 2, 2011

Sojourneys Update: Isaan, Thailand!



this is My Father's world...




Isaan! 




God's Country
http://davevoetberg.blogspot.com/2011/08/gods-country.html

by Dave Voetberg
Monday, August 22, 2011

This past weekend I got to take a trip out to Northeast Thailand (Isaan) w/ a Pastor friend of mine from Chiang Mai. He had some teaching/preaching lined up in a town called Galasin, & I got to go along for the ride. And more specifically, we've been talking about the possibility of me moving out there in 2 months; so I got to gauge a bit of what that might look like. Honestly, I think it's safe to say I'm sold & would love to labor down there for Christ & the people of Galasin. Heartbreakingly, only .01% of the 1,000,000 people in this area are said to be Christians. As one friend mentioned to me recently, it's "virtually unreached." That's all the motivation a Christian needs.

One open door of ministry down there (& and a means of supporting myself) would be thru teaching English (though I have no college degree) at one of the schools in the area. So right now, I'm looking into/praying about that, hoping God will fight that battle for me. Other than that, I know starting home churches would also be what I'd get to be apart of down there. Really, pretty much starting fresh in an area that Paul would be excited about. He said it was his "ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named." Galasin is just that. A foundation hasn't been laid, with many people never even having heard the name "Jesus" before, much less the gospel. What a beautiful opportunity! Laboring among a people who are nearly untouched with the gospel & watching God do God-sized things for His glory, as He "gather(s) into one the children of God who are scattered abroad."

Your prayers are appreciated more than you know.

All for Jesus & thailand,

Dave



be careful!

the open road.

129 more steps to go.

worth the hike.

this is My Father's world.




Friday, June 17, 2011

Sojourneys - Eggs & Rice

I wanted to share my friend's story of ministry to the street kids exploited for sex on the streets of Chiang Mai, Thailand, to remind us to pray for missionaries serving the Lord. Davey had toured with KKSM for five years beginning his sophmore year in high school, then served as a youth pastoral intern at Village Bible Church under Matt Chandler, before hearing God's call to come to ABBA House's ministries in Chiang Mai a half a world away from Dallas, Texas. You may follow his ministries under "Mission Sites" found on this blog ("ABBA House") as well as his personal blog listed below. Please keep all of God's servants in prayer who serve in these very difficult and dangerous markets of sex, money, addictions and exploitation.

skinhead

**********

Sojourneys by Davey Voetberg

http://davevoetberg.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, June 14, 2011

eggs & rice






Serving God in "another life" in KKSM ministries



Abba House Foundation Vimeo video link
http://www.abbahousefoundation.org/
sour patch kids

by Davey Voetberg
Monday, June 6, 2011

If we're being real, I think we would all agree that sometimes life just gets hard. I mean, really hard. Now the term "hard" is somewhat subjective, being that the definition of difficulty differs from person to person. But life gets hard for you, whoever you are. And life gets hard for me. And sometimes the struggle & strain become so wearisome that we feel as though we may not be able to endure another day. We have those points in our lives where our hearts feel ready to break & we, like king david, wish that we "had wings like a dove" so we could "fly away & be at rest". And those laments from the 55th psalm are in good company with many others that were uttered out of the mouth of the man who ferociously went after the heart of God. I think mourning is almost seen sometimes as unspiritual & to acknowledge pain/difficulty as being a sign of weakness. I would say it's more a sign of being alive & not living under a rock. Even Jesus, our Savior, was a "man of sorrows" who, even though he was fully divine, "offered up prayers & supplications with loud cries & tears".

So I'm not even speaking right now about those outside the body of Christ. I'm talking about blood-bought disciples. It's not as though when you become a christian you take up residence on a cloud high above this fractured world. What happened is that you were, by the grace of God, broken & contrite enough to fall at the feet of The Hero. Not being one yourself, rather, you're simply a recipient of His heroism. With that being true, it's only pride in us that would try to give off the notion that upon trading our sin for Jesus' righteousness, we gave him our tear ducts as well. The day will come when He will wipe away all our tears (and I imagine that when it does, the hands of God will be very pruney!) but we're not there yet. The temptation many times can be to act as though the weight of the world has not penetrated our souls. To put on a face & appear unaffected by it all seems to be the more mature, godly route to go. Some might even think the one crying the hardest at the funeral has the least amount of trust in God's good purposes.

But just because someone weeps doesn't mean that they're not trusting God. It's not that the children of God have dry eyes from the moment of conversion, we just don't "grieve as others do who have no hope." We're told in Acts that the early church "made great lamentation" over Stephen after his death. There is a way to mourn that is available to the family of God & even more so, encouraged when necessary as the Bible calls us to "weep with those who weep."

So we still feel pain and, I would argue, even more so now that everything has been infused with meaning for us, but the tears of the saints contain elements of hope that the unbeliever's tears don't possess. That's the difference. Our tears don't have the same make-up as they did before our adoption. Every tear that falls into God's bottle from the eyes of His elect are laced with His Romans 8:28 designs. This is what makes it possible to be "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing", even when the darkness will not lift.

The rainbow of God's providence is overarching every storm the christian goes through. And when the clouds are dark & pouring, that doesn't mean God will necessarily give you an umbrella, but He will most definitely stand with you in the rain. The rock solid assurance of His sovereignty & loyalty doesn't make pain painless by any means, but it does infuse our pain with meaning as God is, as John Piper says, "plotting the course & managing the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good & for the glory of Jesus Christ."

And The Lord, in his mercy, has given His people books like Revelation & Isaiah, giving us glimpses of how the story will end. It isn't with sorrow & sighing triumphing victoriously over us. It isn't in despair with weeping & death eternally permeating & plaguing our existence. Just the opposite is true, actually. The victory has been secured by the blood of Jesus & one day he will return with fire blazing in his eyes & tear away the "covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations." "And the ransomed of the Lord shall return & come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness & joy, and sorrow & sighing shall flee away."

 

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

KKSM Elijah Moore


You can donate by mailing check or card number to:
KKSM International
4920 South Gilbert Road, Suite 1-511
Chandler, AZ   85249

Please call us at 480-772-2999 or email us at:
www.info@kksm.org  if you have any questions.

All money donated to KKSM is tax deductible and a receipt will be mailed to you.
**********
When did you meet at the time King of Kings skateboard co founder Darren Wells?
Around 2002 at the ASR show in San Diego.

You, Shawn Plimmer, Luke Braddock, Zac Archuleta were on the very first KKSM tour… How has being on tour for many years changed your life?
Well, it’s made me appreciate traveling and the excitement of being around new people and places God created.


You guys lived in a Van for years how was that?
It was crazy, cramped, smelly and dangerous! It was a miracle Luke never blew the van up but he did run it out of gas in the middle of the highway because he was on the phone with his wife during his shift.

Was it amazing seeing so many skateboarders give there life to the Lord at the demos you were apart of?

Absolutely amazing! Years later I still have older kids and teens and young adults approach me telling of how our team impacted their lives.



What is the worst thing about tours?
I have to say not being grateful for every moment and not collecting lots of pics and clips of all the action.

What is the best thing about tours?
Traveling the world with the team family skating, preaching and hanging out! All the laughs and great moments!


You and Luke Braddock were the first Reliance Pros back in 03 how was that?It’s been a great experience. It was an amazing experience then and still is. Pretty much every skaters dream is to be pro and that happened for us. Having our own boards made us push ourselves and the brand fully.



What was your first pro model?
My first pro model was a graphic of a light house and angels in different shades of blue.

How was being in the first Burl Factor tour dvd?
That was an epic tour! I skated more, got injured more and enjoyed putting myself into making the video like no other tour! Bwall’s such an on point movie maker that everyone felt comfortable skating in front of the camera. The younger guys like Kight, Deezel and Dave were inspiring to ride with.




What was some of your nick names while on tour?
Gloss Richardson, Satin Black, Elder Skate.

Funny story from a KKSM tour?
Luke driving away from the gas pump with the pump still in the tour van! Luke’s the man!

Did you meet your wife on tour?
Yep. I met my wife Joy in Christchurch New Zealand on the NZ tour.


Where is your favorite place to travel?
New Zealand for sure! It’s a small place with everything. Skate, snowboard and surf all in a day. Not to mention tasty food and gorgeous land. Jurassic Park and Lord of the Rings were filmed there.

Did you recently almost lose your life?
Yep. I got really sick with pancreatitus over night and was in a coma for about 10 days and lived to tell by God’s grace and mercy.

Are you skating without kidney function?
Yep. Well they function at less than 30%.

Things going on in the future for skateboarding?
I’m always stacking clips! Just got another VX and an HD. I have a few pro models that I’m working on so go get one! I’m in the process of moving to AZ so my wife and I hope to be involved in a lot more KKSM demos.



What is God doing in your life right now?
Keeping me alive! Showing me just how much I need Him. We all do.

Advice to young skaters coming up in skateboard ministry?
Focus on Jesus. “The world and it’s desires fade away but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:17

shout outs
God
Parents
My wife Joy
Darren “Pops” Wells
RIck “Chief” Weigele
KKSM Family
Reliance & Siren Crew
Dameon Rowe at Index
Teammates, friends & family


If you would like to Donate or find out more about helping Elijah continue to do skateboard ministry throughout the world visit his site

CHECK OUT A FEW OF ELIJAH’S VIDEOS








SIREN & RELIANCE SKATEBOARDS
GET INVOLVED


Monday, May 16, 2011

Missional Communities

Yes, it really is that easy to start missional living right where you're at. Here are some testimonies that will inspire you and show how missional communities for Jesus are created by God through ordinary people. People who have a heart for others, who wish to disciple and proclaim Jesus as Savior and Lord, who are burdened to plant living fellowships and multiply workers to reap and harvest for the Kingdom of God. These may be as simple as creating new fellowships within your own church's outreach or as bright and new as starting a completely new fellowship where none exists.

Secondly, know that within your local community may be other emergent and evangelic Christian fellowships which might be helpful to your burden of raising and multiplying disciples for Christ - for you are not alone in this task of discipling. Moreover, you might share your burden to those sister fellowships who you have found to be like-minded with you in this same task of church growth and expansion; who may be able to offer mature Christian guidance and counsel while welcoming an infusion of "new blood" and "missionary energy" they may have lost many years ago.

Finally, pray for discernment in this task of being true teachers of the Word of God as you testify of Jesus with a broken heart for those of his sheep lost without a shepherd. The Internet has given God's people a powerful tool to help in searching and knowing the Scriptures, of discerning Christian groups and fellowships, of discovering who is a wolf and who is truly sent from God. Be wise and do the hard work of discernment.

Thus follows below missional links illustrating missional communities seeking Jesus in the very neighborhoods that they live and work. May these links prove inspirational and helpful to those gifted "missionairies" among us who are called to seek the lost, called to begin new fellowships where they are none, called to seek those who have been forgotten in the mainstreams of life. Bless you. Our prayers go with you. And to the rest of us, be mindful to know your spiritual gift and to use it for God's glory, whether of evangelising, pastoring/teaching, serving with hands and feet, encouraging, giving guidance, counseling, or the service of helps, seek to glorify God in all that he calls us to do. For each one of us are called to make disciples... and to this task will we commit ourselves to do.

- skinhead

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Missional Community:
Soma Communities | FILMS
Posted May 9th, 2011
 

Jeff Vanderstelt and his Missional Community at Soma Communities share their heart
for wanting to see Jesus glorified in their neighborhood and all of Tacoma.
 
 
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Alan Hirsch and Verge Network  summarize some of the things that they think makes the church missional in the video below. In essence, this will require newer missional communities where none now exist. Newer fellowships, newer church plants, into forgotten segments and streams of humanity living among us in our cities and suburbs, rural areas and towns.
 

 March 3, 2011
 
 
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Missional Community: Renovation Church | FILMS
Posted May 2nd, 2011
 

Leonce Crump and his Missional Community at Renovation Church talk about
the joys and challenges of planting a church in a diverse neighborhood in Atlanta.
 
 
 * * * * * * * * * *
 
 
7 Questions Series | RECAP
Posted April 29th, 2011
 
We spent the last few months with leading thinkers and practitioners to answer 7
of the most frequently asked questions about missional communities. All of the
folks we heard from were featured speakers at Exponential 2011: On The Verge.
 
 
 

Click the links below to join the conversation going on about Missional Community!
__________________________________________
 
 
 
Contributors: Neil Cole, Hugh Halter, Mike Breen, Alan Hirsch,
Felicity Dale, JR Woodward, & Jeff Vanderstelt
 
 
 
 
Contributors: Jeff Vanderstelt, Caesar Kalinowski, Hugh Halter, JR Woodward, & Matt Carter
 
 
 

 Contributors: Dave Ferguson & Hugh Halter
 
 
 
Question 4: How do you transition your small group to missional community?

 Contributors: Matt Smay, Dave Ferguson, & Hugh Halter
 
 
 
Question 5: How do you train missional community leaders?

 Contributors: JR Woodward, Jason Dukes, Dave Ferguson, Matt Carter, Reggie McNeal, Hugh Halter,  Lance Ford, & Rob Wegner
 
 
 
 
 Contributors: Rob Wegner, Hugh Halter, & Matt Carter
 
 
 
 
 Contributors: Rob Wegner, Hugh Halter, & Jo Saxton