Power of Change...

New Power of Change Blog Design!!!!

2006-02-23T13:41:00.000-08:00

Important - Power of Change Blog has moved...over one directory and to a new blogging platform. You should no longer come here for POC Blog, but rather point your browser to www.powerofchange.org/blog.

Also update your XML feed readers to - http://www.powerofchange.org/blog/index.xml

Let me know if you see any problems with the new blog - we are hoping to merge much of my old web site content (www.powerofchange.org) into the new blog over time.

You will be redirected in a few moments to The New Power of Change - Soli Deo Gloria

New Blog Coming Soon

2006-02-22T20:22:00.000-08:00

We are busy working on a redesign of Power of Change Blog. We are moving to the Moveable Type platform in order to utilize blog categories and a little more robust design.

I think it will be similar to the current blog yet better looking and a bit more organized. Be ready to point your feedreader to a new address. I'll let everyone know the address when it is ready to roll.

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Which Windows Vista will you run? You have 8 choices

2006-02-19T22:41:00.000-08:00

More proof that we might just have too many choices in life.

Which Windows Vista will you run? You have 8 choices. - Engadget

Piper on Church Planting

2006-02-19T22:25:00.001-08:00

John Piper has a great exhortation online about the great need for church planting in America today. Very encouraging and worth the five minutes to read.

A few highlights for me:

Third, new churches awaken and engage much of the under-used leadership potential of the saints in the older, larger churches. Many people are under-invested at Bethlehem. A new church would cry for your engagement. The need for more lay ministers in every sphere would press us all toward rigorous efforts of nurturing spiritual growth and leadership development.

Fourth, breaking free from the risk-free comfort of long-standing patterns of church life is a good thing. It’s good for your faith to be tested. It is good to take risks.

HT - Theologica

Current Reading - Jesus Driven Ministry by Ajith Fernando

2006-02-19T20:33:00.000-08:00

Jesus Driven Ministry - Ajith Fernando

I just started a book entitled Jesus Driven Ministry by Ajith Fernando (Crossway, 2002) . The book is Fernando's look at the manner of Jesus' ministry to others primarily derived from the early chapters in Mark. Put very simply, the book is a plea for the basics of Christian ministry amidst the Western churches obsessions with therapy, marketing, and CEO style pastorates.

I am three chapters in right now - and it has been very good. Fernando's writing style is a bit like organized stream of consciousness, following a good outline, but wandering down some trails at his leisure. Some of what I have read has been a refreshing sort of thinking out loud. Having recently heard Fernando speak on similar topics, it is fun to "hear" him in my head as I read along.

Here is the Table of Contents for the book. I look forward to the chapter on Discipling Young Leaders - surprisingly this can a lost art in many places which are no longer focused on raising up young men for the ministry of the gospel.

1. Identifying with People 17
2. Empowered by the Spirit 29
3. Affirmed by God 47
4. Retreating from Activity 61
5. Affirming the Will of God 73
6. Saturated in the Word 89
7. Facing Wild Animals 107
8. Bearing Good News 115
9. Growing in a Team 131
10. Discipling Younger Leaders 153
11. Launching Disciples into Ministry 171
12. Ministering to the Sick and Demon-Possessed 189
13. Visiting Homes 209
14. Praying 225

Fernando has a very unique perspective being from Sri Lanka, a country which has been plagued by civil war for many decades. He is the president of a national evangelistic organization, a lay local church leader, and a Christian thinker. He has has written a commentary on Acts, devotional literature, as well as an excellent treatment of the person of Christ.

When he calls pastors to suffer for and become weak for the sake of others, we hear it from a man who has walked in a different setting than our own. A setting where the Christian faith is a minority point of view and one that is deeply informed by the necessity of the gospel for his people.

Here are a couple of articles about the Sri Lankan church:

We would do well do have ministry that is driven. Driven by humilty, service, prayer, rest, and submission to God's Word. All with the model being that of Jesus rather than modern corporate professionals.

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On Color

2006-02-19T14:11:00.000-08:00

Appearances matter because God gave us eyes - which perceive color, textures, beauty. Now does color exist in things and present itself upon the soul? Or does the mind create color due to certain sensible light which reflects from the thing itself. I think both - making Aquinas and Locke Kiss :)

The thing itself does not "exude" color as once thought, but it does have certain properties in itself which absorbs or repels certain wavelengths of light. These are perceived by our eyes and brains and so we experience "orange" - So a modern and premodern view of color can be perhaps reconciled. The thing does have a property of "color" but we can describe the whole process a bit more with the tools of modern understanding. Now, the postmodern view of color?

A Postmodern View - Well, since there are color blind people, and people can see different colors trippin on LSD...well, there is no color, only that which you experience. And this is true for you and you can drive that way if you like. Wait a second, you better stop at the red light!!!

Above All Earthly Powers - Video Up

2006-02-19T07:01:00.000-08:00

The video teaser for the 2006 Desiring God National Conference is now up.

One gets the feeling of a gauntlet being thrown down when watching this one. Should be an interesting time gathering of leaders. I pray this will be marked as an historic day in church history, where both mission and gospel are clarified. Where truth and culture are clarified. Where believers will come out from Christian cloisters and invade culture - without loosing our ball in the weeds. A middle road between emergent compromise and fundamentalist irrelevance is being forged in the 21st century wilderness of Western Culture. I think this conference will be of great service to the people of God.

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Ten Reasons to Buy Windows Vista

2006-02-18T12:59:00.000-08:00

The Windows Vista buzz continues.
Link - Ten Reasons to Buy Windows Vista - Yahoo! News

Kill the Cartoonists?

2006-02-18T12:52:00.000-08:00

Ministers forced out as cartoon row escalates - Yahoo! News:

"On Friday, a Pakistani Muslim cleric and his followers offered rewards amounting to more than $1 million for anyone who killed the Danish cartoonists who drew the caricatures."

What a very strange religion of peace...

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Album Review - Flame Rewind

2006-02-18T08:44:00.000-08:00

Of all the cultural art forms that are being plundered and put to service for the Kingdom of God, I think I enjoy hip hop the most. Many are probably unaware of these guys, but for the past six or seven years, Cross Movement Records has been putting out doctrinally sound, theologically driven, raw beats, tight flowing hip hop music to the glory of Christ.

Their most recent release, Rewind, by Flame - is one of the best yet. The lyrics show deep theological reflection, achieve magnificently what Flame's web site describes as "Distance Discipleship", and have a flow and kick to the beats that is excellent. Flame's strength is flowing theological concepts in a flavor that will connect with the streets in a bold yet compassionate fashion.

He addresses several issues that trouble the church - health and wealth gospel (see the Track Rewind) and even Sabellian Modalism (an error regarding the Trinity common in Oneness Pentecostalism of our day - See his Track - The Godhead )

In a very creative track entitled Context, Flame gives a great introduction to Hermenuetics, the art and science of Biblical Interpretation. Here is a sample from the lyrics:

The first task of the interpreter is called exegesis/(extra Jesus)/ naw I said exegesis man/ it’s a Latin word don’t be scared/ matter of fact I laughed when I first heard it too/ its spelled e-x-e-g-e-s-i-s/ guarantee you learn this process and you’ll be blessed

Then the hook (chorus) flows:

With this skill this should keep you from heresy/ and keep you from going through theological therapy/, the words of God will change your life/ if you Keep the text in its context

Verse 3 has a strong exhortation as well:

What you don’t wanna do is called eisegesis/(I see Jesus)/ naw I said eisegesis man/ you a silly dude its Latin too/ and that’s just the act of when your adding to/ or the process of reading one’s own meaning/ into the text and that’s just eisegeting/ don’t fret I know these words are new/ and phrases to/ but it’s cool to go back to school/ its spell ei-se-gesis/ guarantee you learn this process and God’ll be vexed/ a text can never mean what it never meant before/ to its original reader or author/ so if you run into a difficult passage and you know the Bible never contradicts itself/ then turn the pages to a parallel passage and just let the scriptures interpret itself

Not theological baby talk - but rolled out in a cultural flavor that many a young brother will here. Other tracks of note are Give us Da Truth Part 2, Sola Scriptura, and Racial Diversity. The CD also has a fun flavor being set in a radio show format. The "commercial" is really funny. He has stepped out and brought strong lyrics into some worlds which he will find some resistance. The health/wealth false gospel is killing the church; and Flames compassion for his our African American sisters and brothers in that movement comes through.

Flame has given us a great gift - even to those who do not have ears to hear hip hop. And for those of us who do - ahhh yeah...Flame is kickin my iPod.

He asks us "is that in the Bible" when false teaching is flowing in the World. For that I tip my hat to a brother. May the Cross Movement Tribe increase the raw beats and the theological meats. May the Lord bless all flavors of the movement of His cross. Including the one who has chosen throw back jerseys to sunday clothes.

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Jim Elliot – To Exhibit the Value of Knowing God

2006-02-16T12:36:00.000-08:00

Jim Elliot – To Exhibit the Value of Knowing God
Born October 8th, 1927 in Portland, Oregon
Died January 8th 1956 at “Palm Beach” in the Ecuadorian Rainforest

Lord make my way prosperous, not that I achieve high station, but that my life may be an exhibit to the value of knowing God.

Such was the prayer of one twenty year old named Jim. As I read about the life of Jim Elliot I searched for a title for this biography which would be appropriate to describe the man I have observed. It would have been easy to select the Elliot quote for which he has become most famous: “He is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Yet that seemed an encouragement to others rather than a description of what I saw in this man. What I did see was value in a life, the great value of knowing and loving the God of the Bible. The value of knowing God was indeed fully on display in the life of Jim Elliot. So I have entitled this biography “Jim Elliot – To Exhibit the Value of Knowing God.” So it is now my prayer that the fire of the value of knowing God would be stoked hot in our own lives. To this end let us now look at the life of a man who lived and died just over fifty years ago.

To read the rest, the full paper can be found here: Jim Elliot – To Exhibit the Value of Knowing God

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Together for the Gospel

2006-02-15T23:06:00.000-08:00

Mark Dever describes the sort of "church growth" we all need to pray for...

Together for the Gospel - More Conversions

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Between Two Worlds: Biblical Illiteracy 101

2006-02-15T22:50:00.000-08:00

I know many have seen this but I felt it was worth posting. Apparently a United Church of Christ congregation had posted the words of Satan on their main web site banner: "If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours" Luke 4:7

See Between Two Worlds: Biblical Illiteracy 101
for more on this one...

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Living with Jim...

2006-02-15T11:17:00.000-08:00

I am extremely immersed today in the biography and journals of Jim Elliot. I'll have a paper on his life posted here soon. Keep a look out for that in the next few days.

I made the decision early in the fall to go ahead with Elliot this year in writing a missionary biography. I went back and forth on it because I knew the movie End of the Spear would be out. I think it was the right choice for no other reason that God has used the movie, the books I have read, and the documentary to greatly bless and encourage me in these days.

The journals have been very refreshing as they show the who angle of a man. The struggle as well as the conviction, the passion as well as the days of listlessness. Overall, it has been a great experience brought to my life in the proper time. Today I am marveling at how God led a man over time, through some years of certainty of call, but uncertainty of specific details. I can never get a broad view of my own life as I live it day by day, but seeing anothers life events from a broad perspective, able to see the years weave together, is a special gift.

To quote John Piper "Brothers, Read Christian Biography" Brothers we are not Professionals, page 89.

Elliot knew a sovereign God, who gave enough detail for today. A quick quote and then back to the writing the biography.

To dream, and want and pray, almost savagely; then to commit and wait and see Him quietly pile all dreams aside and replace them with what we could not dream, the realized Will [of God]

Jim has me swimming in good waters today

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BBC NEWS | Nelson releases gay cowboy song

2006-02-15T11:11:00.000-08:00

Momma, don't let your babies grow up to be gay cowboys???

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Nelson releases gay cowboy song

This is sad

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ESV Bible Blog » How Medium Affects Message

2006-02-12T15:28:00.000-08:00

As a user of Bible Sofware (yes, Logos - silver-scholar), my iPod for listening to the Bible (ESV, Max Mclean) this little post was of some interest to me. How Medium Affects Message

Here is how I use the various means of letting the word of Christ dwell richly in my life...well, sometimes poorly.

Memory - I use audio Bible in my car, text on my iPod screen, and primarily my leather Bible - I tend to see things and memorize them, so I have to see it in a text to help me memorize.
Study - I begin with my print Bible, do much of my book work on Logos (commentaries, dictionaries, language study, etc.) - I like to allow myself time to "get lost in Logos" going from resource to resource looking at a particular passage
Message Writing - I am evolving here. Before I lived mostly on the computer. Now, I use scraps of paper, little notebooks (moleskins), and MS Word. I usually print out outlines from Word, scratch them out with a pen, add stuff, round trip back to word. I use Endnote for all my references as I don't like to write any message without a bibliography and references to those I leaned upon in developing the message (yes, I think plagarism in sermon writing is wrong)
Prayer and Journal - I pray without a computer. I scratch prayer requests on paper, yet I do think and write sometimes here on the Blog.
Meditation - both with print Bible and with ESV web services on the blog :)

Long live books! Long live printed Bibles! Die Parchment and Papyrus! (at least in every day use - long live them in textual studies) Long Live Logos! Praise God for the Internet!

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Uncommon Descent » ID Applied to Crop Circles

2006-02-12T15:19:00.000-08:00

William Dempski has a good analogy posted about Intelligent Design and Crop Circles...ET walketh among us.

Uncommon Descent » ID Applied to Crop Circles'

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Driving Miss Baby

2006-02-12T14:57:00.000-08:00

Britney Spears: 'I Made a Mistake' - Yahoo! News

You think driving with a little baby right next to the steering wheel is a mistake?

End of the Spear

2006-02-12T13:19:00.000-08:00

This weekend my wife and I finally got out to see the movie End of the Spear. With a 4 year old and a two year old it takes some planning and coordination for something as simple as movie going.

End of the Spear was primarility about the story of Nate and Steve Saint and missionary work with the Waodani or Auca (Quechua for "savage") Indians of Ecuador in the 1960s. The Waodani were a tribe of fierce warriors known for their intense spearing of their enemies and their cycle of revenge killing over many years. The tribe was to the point where they were almost extinct due to the cycles of violence. Into this world stepped the Christian missionaries who would come to be known as the Ecuador Five. Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Peter Fleming,and their pilot Nate Saint. The film presents the story of the spearing of the five missionaries from the vantage point of the Waodani, which was a welcomed approach. Through seeing the story through their eyes one is able to see the utter humanity of a people living in a stone age fashion. The Waodoni are human in every senses - in their hopes and loves as well as in sinful savagry of a people wracked in the midst of a culture of murder and revenge.

The providential convergences in the story are quite fascinating to see:

A young Waodoni girl (Dayuma) runs away from home after a savage spearing of her people by a rival tribe. Dayuma winds up in the care of Western missionaries and grows up to help their cause. Her brother grows up to be a warrior and a leader set on revenge.
Dayuma helps the missionaries (primarily Elliot) learn some Waodoni language and with this help they secretly locate and make contact with a Waodoni tribe. It just happens to be the tribe of theDayuma's brother.
The five missionaries make contact with the tribe. It is friendly and looks to be heading in a good direction.
One of the Waodoni lies to his people about the westerners due to his own involvement with another Waodoni girl. He tells his tribe that the foreigners killed and ate the flesh ofDayuma - this causes them to go into a rage and fall upon the five men spearing them to their deaths.
What follows is quite remarkable. The wives of the fallen men, move in and live with the Waodoni, seeing many of them come to Christ at the witness and forgiveness of these families.

Though the film focuses primarily on the Saint family and the Waodoni, I have recently been reading quite a bit on Elliots life. It is quite a shock to many to see men give everything. Worldly possesions, life and limb, giving up family and loved ones only to see a self-destructing amazon tribe know the Jesus that saved their lives and loved their souls. Anthropologists will angle and debate whether contacting tribal people and preaching the gospel to them is "a good idea." Yet one must ask the question - has this not always been the way of Jesus. His gospel of the grace and forgiveness of God has spread to peoples far and wide. In its wake have followed literacy, health care, education, and souls brought to salvation and liberty from sin. Savage Europeans, Savage Africans, Savage Asians, Savage Americans, Savage Tribes of every tribe, tongue and language have seen a similar fate at the pierced feet of the king of kings. All sinners, all redeemed and changed. I am no naiive person to think all the activities of missionaries is carried out with peace, sensitivity, and kindness. Many atrocities have come by zealous people who have done terrible things. Yet I will still rejoice at the many who have come to faith through the missionary efforts of humble people, who did not consider their own lives of any value, only that others would know the Savior of the world and the gospel he commands us to preach.

Preach they did; they lost everything and gained everything. They gave their all, but did not loose a thing. Elliot is well known for a statement made as a very young man. He is no fool to give up that which he cannot keep to gain what he cannot loose. Much to learn from such souls - who endeavored to live life to show the surpassing value of the knowledge of God.

This week I write a short biography of Jim Elliot - I look forward to pulling my research together so others may see what a life can look like which is dedicated to the living God. Only one life - and it soon be past - only what is done for Christ shall last.

May such a song rise in this generation - to his the praise of a humble servant King, who rules not through swords, tanks or bombs. But through love and spiritual power to overcome evil with good.

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Doug Groothuis

2006-02-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

Some good advice from Doug Groothuis on writing letters to the Editor in newspapers.

Some of this counsel would be well headed in blog world (this is my first protest against the tired phrase "blogosphere"

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Mark Noll Leaving Wheaton for Notre Dame - Christianity Today Magazine

2006-02-10T13:28:00.000-08:00

Mark Noll Leaving Wheaton for Notre Dame

Best wishes to a great historian heading to Notre Dame. May he sit well in George Marsdens seat.

(HT - Theologica)

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Challies Dot Com: Living The Cross Centered Life

2006-02-10T13:25:00.000-08:00

Tim Challies reviews CJ Mahaney's new book -Challies Dot Com: Living The Cross Centered Life.

This looks like an excellent work on the gospel for a wide audience. Looking forward to the read.

A quote from the review:

And so I commend this book to you. If you have not yet read The Cross Centered Life this is your opportunity to read it blended with Christ Our Mediator. Mahaney recommends that each Christian read at least one book about the cross each year. This is your opportunity to read that book while the year is still young. Read it, learn the message and worship at the foot of the cross. Your life may never be the same

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Church Names | Resurgence

2006-02-10T13:19:00.000-08:00

Driscoll has a funny little table for picking church names. See
Church Names | Resurgence

The following combinations are sweet:

Life Changers - Love - Center
Hallelujah - Miracle - Headquarters
Triumphant - Worship - Campus
Spirit Filled - Intercession - Tabernacle

Or to break the rules and select three names from one column:

The Revival - Equpping - Miracle
The Victorious - Shekinah - Champions
Church - Fellowship - Compound

Or really kooky cultic ones. Tie on your white Nikes and go for the ride on Hale Bopp.

The Glory - Love - Compound
The Triumphant - Love - Home

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Its For the Kids...

2006-02-10T12:56:00.000-08:00

More stuff for the kiddos going on over at Girl Talk - girl talk: Q & A--"Quiet Times for Kids"

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Cartoon crisis deepens as Muslim fury spreads - Yahoo! News

2006-02-07T05:46:00.000-08:00

More news about how many from the religion of peace is responding to cartoons. It still ceases to amaze me how our journalists continually try to place blame for this sort of thing on the West.

Here is the recent story from Reuters:
Cartoon crisis deepens as Muslim fury spreads - Yahoo! News

A few things to note within the article (I will italicize the quotations)

People are being killed over cartoons and the violence is spreading. This time it is Europe who is under the gaze of the militant in the middle east.
These people are making things like "making a cartoon of the prophet" with the holocaust. "In a new twist, Iran's best-selling newspaper on Tuesday launched a competition to find the best Holocaust cartoon." Now som will say, this is how offensive depicting Mohammed is to radical Muslims. But this just reinforces my point. The killing of six million Jews in the Holocaust is in no where close to the same moral universe as drawing a cartoon of a so called prophet. The moral vision and religious perspective that says otherwise we must reject as severely flawed, yes, evil and dangerous.
In Turkey, a high school student arrested on suspicion of killing a Catholic priest told police he was influenced by seeing the cartoons. The priest was shot dead while praying. Now "the cartoons made me do it" is a defense for murder for a young man in Turkey. You ask if this is reasonable.
Militants in Iraq have called for the seizure and killing of Danes and the boycott of Danish goods. In London, there were placards demanding the beheading (yes, beheading) of those who insulted Islam. Iraq and London. Europe must sleep no longer.
Iran, which has withdrawn its ambassador from Denmark and which has moved to the front-line of the confrontation, said the cartoons had "launched an anti-Islamic and Islamophobic current which will be answered." This of course does not mean that someone will write an editorial response to answer the cartoons. No, this most likely means "someone will die"

If Christians kill in the name of Christ they act in direct contradiction to the words and example of Jesus.

When he (Jesus) was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 1 Peter 2:23

But Mohammed is the one who wrote:
Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits, for Allah does not love transgressors. 2:190

And slay them wherever you catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out, for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter. 2:191

And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and let there prevail justice and faith in Allah; but if they cease, let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression. 2:193

Fighting is prescribed for you, and you dislike it. But it is possible that you dislike a thing which is good for you, and that you love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knows, and you know not. 2:216

Let those fight in the cause of Allah who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter. To him who fights in the cause of Allah, - whether he is slain or gets victory – soon shall We give him a reward of great value. 4:74
Is there a difference?

A few links of note:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/
http://www.answeringislam.org/

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