Extreme Home Makeover

Green Ridge Assembly of God Style

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Here is some great news out of northeast PennDel.
From the Times Tribune:

DUNMORE - Minutes before the Murray family pulled up after being sequestered in an area hotel for three days, their house was still a beehive of activity, swarmed by volunteers engaged in a last-minute frenzy of finishing touches.

"Ten minutes!" yelled the Rev. David Twiss, Assembly of God's lead pastor and coordinator of the Green Ridge church's project, a sort of local version of the hit television show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."

Bill Yeisley, of Old Forge and an employee for C.A. Sileo Construction in Dunmore, volunteers his time to renovate a bathroom at the Murray home at 135 East Grove St. in Dunmore on Thursday, June 5, 2008. The home makeover was organized by the Green Ridge Assembly of God.

A human conveyor belt formed in the yard as kids and parents alike passed boxes of debris to be hauled away. Karen Liples adjusted the sash above a window in the master bedroom upstairs, and William McDonald was still smoothing the grout between new slate tiles on the kitchen floor while another man ran a sponge across the floor behind him.

What began as a simple bathroom renovation and ceiling repair for a family in need, morphed into a massive community undertaking as more and more people - many from outside the church - heard about the project and donated time, money and supplies, which, according to the Rev. Twiss, probably exceeded $20,000.

"People just kept coming," said Charles Sileo, a local contractor who had been working on the site with his two sons since 7 the previous morning.

A "before" shot of the home would have panned the ceiling above the front entrance, which was a gaping hole for several years after a leak in the upstairs bathroom, a broken twin bed shared by the two boys and wicker chairs around the dining room table with many of the seats smashed through.

The "after" version would showcase a new swirl-textured ceiling, a bunk bed in the boys' room, new carpet, new couches, reupholstered chairs, a refurbished kitchen, paint inside and out and a landscaped yard replete with a crimson maple sapling, geraniums and purple salvia in front and a "Serenity Garden" with lavender and a birdbath in back.

The volunteers, about 70 of them, gathered along the curb outside the Murray family's home at 135 E. Grove St., eager to see the family's reaction.

When Joseph and Lynn Murray and their five children pulled up and got out of the car, the crowd clapped and hollered and the family stood quietly. Courtney, 14, in her basketball jersey, brushed tears from her cheeks and one of her brothers, Matthew, 11 let out a "Yee-haw!" of approval.

"It's just overwhelming," Joseph Murray said. "All the people who helped, I just can't say thank you to everyone," he said.

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Kudos to Pastor Dave Twiss and the congregation and community of Greenridge! What a great way to spend a weekend!

For All of Us, May This Be Our Prayer for Our City

Youth Ministry Resources

It's been many, many years since I was a youth pastor, but I came across this list of youth ministry web sites on Christianity Today's blog site, sites recommended by Mark Oestreicher, president of Youth Specialties.

I trust it's of help to someone.

Catalyst Groups Make a Difference!

Belonging Before Believing?

This is a phrase I've heard quite often in the past five years, and I'd like to take a moment to challenge it, because so much is at stake. And since this blog is all about ecclesiology...

The phrase, "belonging before believing," suggests that unbelievers should feel included in the Body of Christ so as to cause them to be more open to believing. One writer in my own denomination has even suggested that every church board should have an unbeliever on the board. Now, I'm certainly not one to suggest that we should not be extra-nice to unbelievers who come to our worship services, but I would suggest that they should understand that it actually means something to be a Christian, and that passing from death to life is not a line that should be easily blurred.

Now, I don't think I'm a pure contrarian (I'm actually rather committed to non-traditionalism), but I do think it is always fair to question the questioners. I'm afraid there is an attitude out there that some can question everything Christianity has ever held sacred, but they themselves cannot be questioned. Is that arrogance or just immaturity or something else? I don't know, but for some, being positive means questioning everything except those who are questioning everything.

Anyhow, here are some of my questions regarding "belonging before believing":
1. Where is the New Testament biblical support for such an idea? Is the Church not the communion/community of the saints? Did I miss a memo canceling out New Testament ecclesiology?
2. What is the compelling reason for overturning 2000 years of ecclesiology? For example, did Jonathan Edwards get canned in Northampton for no good reason? Were the catechetical schools of the Early Church for nothing?
3. How is this different than liberal Protestant churches who wish to include all regardless of their faith or lifestyle? How effective a strategy has that been for them?
4. If you can't draw the line at ministry, or membership, or 'lay' leadership, where do you draw the line? Ordination? And why?
5. If Willowcreek has now discovered that their "seeker sensitive" strategy has caused a lack of maturation of the saints, how does this strategy not "seeker sensitive" on steroids, and thus doomed to fail even faster?
6. Why do you see corporate gatherings as the primary means of evangelism, when in the New Testament and Early Churches, it was interpersonal and outside the corporate gatherings?
7. If communion is banned from those who fail to "discern the Body of Christ," how does an unbeliever meet the requirement of 1 Corinthians 11?
8. What are the major success stories of this strategy that you would share, particularly in non-urban settings (in major urban settings you can get a group of people together who worship shoelaces).

Just wondering. My questions are 100% sincere. Can anyone help me here?

"An Evangelical Manifesto"

Many in the evangelical world has been abuzz about the newly released collaborative statement, "An Evangelical Manifesto."

Here is the main site, and a PDF file of the actual (long) statement. I count 9 Assemblies of God leaders/scholars among the 77 original signatories.

Any thoughts?

Beauty

Wow!

This is a powerful video from Mosaic Church.

I plan on using it this weekend in my Mother's Day message.
It communicates God's grace and how He adds color to our lives.