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Monday, August 4th, 2008
by Justin
(CNN) — The Rev. Paul Earl Sheppard had recently become the senior pastor of a suburban church in California when a group of parishioners came to him with a disturbing personal question.
They were worried because the racial makeup of their small church was changing. They warned Sheppard that the church’s newest members would try to seize control because members of their race were inherently aggressive. What was he was going to do if more of “them” tried to join their church?
“One man asked me if I was prepared for a hostile takeover,” says Sheppard, pastor of Abundant Life Christian Fellowship in Mountain View, California.
The nervous parishioners were African-American, and the church’s newcomers were white. Sheppard says the experience demonstrated why racially integrated churches are difficult to create and even harder to sustain. Some blacks as well as whites prefer segregated Sundays, religious scholars and members of interracial churches say.
Americans may be poised to nominate a black man to run for president, but it’s segregation as usual in U.S. churches, according to the scholars. Only about 5 percent of the nation’s churches are racially integrated, and half of them are in the process of becoming all-black or all-white, says Curtiss Paul DeYoung, co-author of “United by Faith,” a book that examines interracial churches in the United States.
DeYoung’s numbers are backed by other scholars who’ve done similar research. They say integrated churches are rare because attending one is like tiptoeing through a racial minefield. Just like in society, racial tensions in the church can erupt over everything from sharing power to interracial dating.
DeYoung, who is also an ordained minister, once led an interracial congregation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that eventually went all-black. He defines an interracial church as one in which at least 20 percent its membership belongs to a racial group other than that church’s largest racial group.
“I left after five years,” DeYoung says. “I was worn out from the battles.”
The men and women who remain and lead interracial churches often operate like presidential candidates. They say they live with the constant anxiety of knowing that an innocuous comment or gesture can easily mushroom into a crisis that threatens their support. [more...]
Are you kidding me? Keep reading the rest of the article and post your thoughts.
Friday, June 13th, 2008
by Justin
Welcome, friends of Acts 29.
Crossway is delighted to offer you a special preorder discount on the new ESV Study Bible!
In addition to offering you a 35% preorder discount, we will also donate 5% of your order back to Acts 29. This offer is good through July 31, 2008.*
This is just one way we can express our appreciation for your interest in the ESV Study Bible and support Acts 29 in their efforts to extend the gospel of Jesus Christ.
*valid for Study Bible purchases only
The ESV Study Bible was created to help people understand the Bible in a deeper way—to understand the timeless truth of God’s Word as a powerful, compelling, life-changing reality. To accomplish this, the ESV Study Bible combines the best and most recent evangelical Christian scholarship with the highly regarded ESV Bible text. The result is the most comprehensive study Bible ever published—with more than 2,750 pages of extensive, accessible Bible resources.
With completely new notes, maps, illustrations, charts, timelines, and articles, the ESV Study Bible was created by an outstanding team of 95 evangelical Christian scholars and teachers. In addition to the 757,000 words of the ESV Bible itself, the notes and resources of the ESV Study Bible comprise an additional 1.3 million words of insightful explanation, teaching, and reference material.
Primary Features
- 2,752 pages—equivalent to a 20-volume Bible resource library all in one volume.
- 1.3 million words—written by 95 leading evangelical scholars and teachers.
- 20,000 notes—focusing especially on understanding the Bible text and providing answers to frequently raised issues.
- Over 50 articles—including articles on the Bible’s authority, reliability, and interpretation; on biblical archaeology, theology, worship, prayer, and personal application.
- Over 200 full-color maps—created with the latest digital technology, satellite images, and archaeological research; printed in full color, throughout the Bible.
- 200-plus charts—offering key insights and in-depth analysis in clear, concise outline form; located throughout the Bible.
- 80,000 cross-references—to encourage easy location of important words, passages, and biblical themes.
- More than 40 new full-color illustrations—including historically accurate reconstructions of the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, Solomon’s temple, Herod’s temple, the city of Jerusalem in Jesus’ time and throughout the history of Israel, and many more.
Goal, Vision, and Publication
The goal and vision of the ESV Study Bible is, first and foremost, to honor the Lord—in terms of the excellence, beauty, and accuracy of its content and design; and in terms of helping people come to a deeper understanding of the Bible, of the Gospel, and of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Crossway is a not-for-profit publishing ministry and all receipts from the ESV Study Bible go directly toward the support of this ministry goal around the world.
The publication date for the ESV Study Bible is Wednesday, October 15, 2008.
For more information on the ESV Study Bible go to esvstudybible.org.
Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
by Justin
Ok I have been getting harassed by my wife and my mother in law to get these pictures online from Christmas. I apologize for being a bad husband and horrible son-in-law. Please find it in your hearts to forgive me for my negligence. 
Click here to see the pictures. These aren’t all of them. I need to pull the ones off of my phone.
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
by Justin
We just back from South Carolina last night. This marks the end of our traveling time. February and March seems to be the time that we travel. Terase carries over days every year that she has to use before March 15th so we use those days to head to Florida. This year I got fried…and I mean bad! I was feeling it 1 week after we got back.
This last weekend we went to South Carolina to see the Clark’s. It is always fun to stay with them. They have 3 kids now; Thomas (6 years), Chandler (2 years), and Adi (8 weeks). The last time we were out there Chandler was just getting a personality so some days he liked you and every morning he wondered why you were still there. This year was different. He still wondered why you were there in the morning but within a couple of hours he warmed back up and wanted me to tickle him and allow him to “touch” anything that was taller than me. It was great!
Thomas was awesome as well. It is always good to see him and have him remember us since we only see him once a year. A surprise for him this year came from his cousin Judd and his wife Karen who drove from Des Moines Saturday and Sunday (oh I remember those days). They brought Thomas an X-Box and oh was he impressed. I hooked it up for him and we were off playing “Madagascar” and “Tak & Lok”. For a kids game “Tak & Lok” is pretty difficult, especially with a 6 year old that would rather swim in the water of the game than win the game. That was a learning experience for me. I repeatedly was trying to hold back my frustration because the point of video games is to beat it. Not for Thomas! Oh well!
Well if you want to see pictures, click here.
Thursday, March 13th, 2008
by Justin
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) — At least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease, or more than 3 million teens, according to the first study of its kind in this age group.
A virus that causes cervical cancer is by far the most common sexually transmitted infection in teen girls aged 14 to 19, while the highest overall prevalence is among black girls — nearly half the blacks studied had at least one STD. That rate compared with 20 percent among both whites and Mexican-American teens, the study from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.
About half of the girls acknowledged having sex; among them, the rate was 40 percent. While some teens define sex as only intercourse, other types of intimate behavior including oral sex can spread some infections.
For many, the numbers most likely seem “overwhelming because you’re talking about nearly half of the sexually experienced teens at any one time having evidence of an STD,” said Dr. Margaret Blythe, an adolescent medicine specialist at Indiana University School of Medicine and head of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on adolescence.
But the study highlights what many doctors who treat teens see every day, Blythe said. [more]
Friday, September 21st, 2007
by Justin
Pastor Provocateur | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction
Driscoll can’t stand in front of a crowd for long without stirring things up. That’s what you get from a pastor who learned how to preach by watching comedian Chris Rock. Before long, he has the audience going. “If you’re going to be a fundamentalist or moralist … pick things like bathing with your wife to be legalistic about,” Driscoll says in his distinct, gravelly voice. “Don’t pick something stupid like, ‘Don’t listen to rock music.’ I don’t know who’s choosing all the legalisms, but they picked the worst ones. Eat meat, bathe together, and nap—those would be my legalisms. Those are things I can do.”
Driscoll “comes off as a smart-aleck former frat boy,” according to The Seattle Times. Guilty as charged. If he hasn’t offended you, you’ve never read his books or listened to his sermons. On any given Sunday at Mars Hill, it’s possible that a visiting fire marshal will get saved. But it’s just as likely that a guest will flip him off before walking out.
The spectrum of response speaks to his sharp tongue—his greatest strength and his glaring weakness. But Driscoll also disturbs many fellow evangelicals because he straddles the borders that divide us. His unflinching Reformed theology grates on the church-growth crowd. His plan to grow a large church strikes postmoderns as arrogant. His roots in the emerging church worry Calvinists. No one group can claim him. Maybe that’s why they all turn their guns on him.
Check out this article on Mark Driscoll. And if it’s any consolation…I haven’t turned my guns on him.
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