Sunday Reflections (on Monday) and Sermon Link
It was fun to be back at Intl Church of Bangkok on Sunday. There were tons of highlights. But first the sermon link.
(1) Sermon from 26 April.
(2) Rob Bell's Kickball DVD was outstanding and we had a good crowd! Next week (3 May) we are going to do Luggage @ 9am. You really don't want to miss this!
(3) We celebrated Earth Day. Caryn and Tom made it a fabulous celebration.
(4) We had friends from Concordia Ministries with us. They did a nice job of talking about their work in the Bangna slum community.
(5) I got to declare that dogs DO go to heaven in the sermon (Romans 8). At least dogs that behave! :)
(6) From 12:30 - 4pm we had a very good Church leadership meeting. The discussion did NOT go how I expected. It exceeded expectations. Now to pray that some practical changes come out of it. (Here's the skinny: we highlighted some systems overload on our structure that is cramping our ability to grow. There is a little more research to be done to identify all the gaps in the system and how to fix them, but the more I think about it the more I appreciate this meeting. I have the privilege of working with some really amazing people in this church.)
(7) Evening Service was fun. Smallish crowd. Perhaps due to the massive thunder storms that swept through an hour or so before hand.
(8) Got to sing "Happy birthday" to DJ Vers@ille. :) And found out he's on his way to getting engaged. That's cool.
(9) Enjoyed reconnecting with Jean. Praying his job comes through soon. Enjoyed meeting Bill and April. Seeing Dang again and meeting Sarah and Betsy. Enjoyed meeting Rick (again). Enjoyed meeting Hashimotosan (again). Glad he came again after Easter. And enjoyed seeing Jill again. Glad she came back as well and praying for Trent who sprained his ankle.
Question: Would you support a missionary who was not regularly involved in a church? We've got some very faithful missionaries that comes to our church. I know many that go to other churches. But I am also increasingly disturbed by how many missionaries I know who use Sunday as a travel day. I know not all churches meet on Sundays. And I know that a formalized church (institutional/traditional) is not the only form of church. But I'm increasingly feeling like there are a lot of Lone Rangers out there who make regular choices not to really involve themselves in any meaningful/accountable way with a local church. This really disturbs me. When you give money to support a missionary, is one of your expectations that they are involved actively and regularly in a local church? Mine is.
(1) Sermon from 26 April.
(2) Rob Bell's Kickball DVD was outstanding and we had a good crowd! Next week (3 May) we are going to do Luggage @ 9am. You really don't want to miss this!
(3) We celebrated Earth Day. Caryn and Tom made it a fabulous celebration.
(4) We had friends from Concordia Ministries with us. They did a nice job of talking about their work in the Bangna slum community.
(5) I got to declare that dogs DO go to heaven in the sermon (Romans 8). At least dogs that behave! :)
(6) From 12:30 - 4pm we had a very good Church leadership meeting. The discussion did NOT go how I expected. It exceeded expectations. Now to pray that some practical changes come out of it. (Here's the skinny: we highlighted some systems overload on our structure that is cramping our ability to grow. There is a little more research to be done to identify all the gaps in the system and how to fix them, but the more I think about it the more I appreciate this meeting. I have the privilege of working with some really amazing people in this church.)
(7) Evening Service was fun. Smallish crowd. Perhaps due to the massive thunder storms that swept through an hour or so before hand.
(8) Got to sing "Happy birthday" to DJ Vers@ille. :) And found out he's on his way to getting engaged. That's cool.
(9) Enjoyed reconnecting with Jean. Praying his job comes through soon. Enjoyed meeting Bill and April. Seeing Dang again and meeting Sarah and Betsy. Enjoyed meeting Rick (again). Enjoyed meeting Hashimotosan (again). Glad he came again after Easter. And enjoyed seeing Jill again. Glad she came back as well and praying for Trent who sprained his ankle.
Question: Would you support a missionary who was not regularly involved in a church? We've got some very faithful missionaries that comes to our church. I know many that go to other churches. But I am also increasingly disturbed by how many missionaries I know who use Sunday as a travel day. I know not all churches meet on Sundays. And I know that a formalized church (institutional/traditional) is not the only form of church. But I'm increasingly feeling like there are a lot of Lone Rangers out there who make regular choices not to really involve themselves in any meaningful/accountable way with a local church. This really disturbs me. When you give money to support a missionary, is one of your expectations that they are involved actively and regularly in a local church? Mine is.
