As the Christmas season grows more hectic, thank you to the MCC volunteers who join tens of thousands of others around the country to raise support for the ministry of the Salvation Army.  My daughter Ely & I made a quick trip to the Abingdon Walmart for school supplies, and met 3 different MCC friends who braved the falling temps to be bell-ringers at the kettle. Her student ministry small group is so enthusiastic about serving that they will ahve TWO different shift times to accomodate them all If you’re interested in volunteering, there are still open spots – sign-up here.

Here’s video from a couple weeks ago of the Salvation Army kick-off in Washington just down the I-95.

And as the Christmas season grows more hectic – at the far end of the Christmas celebration spectrum from serving amidst the shopping bustle and silver bells is this Advent devotional from Ruth Haley Barton on waiting on God. The whole Christian life, and Christmas in particular, is the balance between doing (serving, reaching) and waiting.

Today’s notes cover both the message and worship because the music, Bible reading, and prayer tightly integrate with the theme of thanking God with our whole lives. I’m guessing most small groups don’t meet this week, but just in case, here’s a brief study guide.

This is the official YouTube video from Gateway Worship of song MCC used in worship today, “New Doxology.”

Ben Cachiaras and Ethan Magness closed MCC’s Untouchables series with a dialogue message on Homosexuality. Because my family and I were away (enjoying the Eastern Christian Convention in Hershey, PA), I downloaded the message, then listened and typed some notes to accompany the small group study guide.

Today is Veteran’s Day, and I’m remembering a powerfully moving ESPN article from the week of the World Series about National Guardsman,  NYPD officer,  Yankee fan, and hero Deon Taylor. My Maryland friends often tease me about obnoxious Yankee fans, but I think they’d agree that veteran Taylor would have been one they wouldn’t have minded sitting with at the new Yankee Stadium or Camden Yards. Sadly, we’ll never have that opportunity.

The article mentioned the Wounded Warrior Project. Though I don’t know the director of Christian Military Fellowship personally, I did attend Cincinnati Christian University with his son – this CMF (different from Christian Missionary Fellowship, one of the missions MCC supports directly). For a perspective on ministry from within the armed forces, Christian Standard’s Brady Dupray interviewed Colonel Gene “Chip” Fowler about his experiences and insights as a chaplain.

Ben Cachiaras continued MCC’s  series Untouchables (topics the church doesn’t want to touch) with today’s message “Suffering.” This link is for either mp3 audio download or livestream. For small groups, you can download a study guide and/or message notes. Ben mentioned the story of Christian musician Steven Curtis Chapman and the tragic death of his daughter Maria. Here’s a Christianity Today interview w/ him in which he shares about his family’s suffering and recovery.

Here is a video of the song “I Will Rise” from today’s special music during Communion.

MCC’s Pastor for Community Outreach (and soon to be campus pastor for our March 2010 Bel Air campus) Luke Erickson spoke this on “Poverty” – part two in our Untouchables series used.  Mountain small groups (or other interested individuals) can download a rough draft of small group study guide and the message notes I wrote while listening.

I’ve also uploaded a copy of the information sheet Luke referenced that lists “next step” opportunities to help the poor, either locally or globally. Luke mentioned the book Same Kind of Different As Me, which I wrote about earlier in the year.

Ben Cachiaras started a new Sunday message series Untouchables = controversial topics we don’t want to touch. Today’s message was on “Pornography” – highlighting both the damage sexual impurity causes AND the grace of God that forgives sins like sexual impurity. You can download audio from MCC’s website and/or a draft of the small group study guide, plus my notes from the message.

Not for the faint of heart (or those who are not already struggling w/ pornography or who know someone who is) – the most blunt + helpful ministry I’ve encountered for sexual purity is xxxchurch.com. Another good resource, especially for men’s small groups looking for a book / study guide (co-written by one of the xxxchurch guys) is Deadly Vipers. On recommendation from our exec pastor Rob Kasten’s, MCC’s men’s pastoral staff read through Deadly Vipers – hard-hitting, phrased w/ contemporary language (which might be off-putting to some) BUT well worth it!

Here’s the Casting Crown’s music video of the special music that opened the service.

Throughout MCC’s Sunday message + small group studies alignment, we’ve emphasized that you do NOT need to be a FB user to participate.  Here’s an insightful article on FB and genuine Christian community from a Christianity Today editor who highlights the weaknesses of connecting w/ people online. Christianity Today also posted a more positive “tools approach” to FB and other online resources, entitled “The Technophobe’s Survival Guide”.

From FB itself, a user posts tips specifically for teachers, but a small group leader or church leader can easily adapt the advice for useful ways to connect with fellow members.

If you have observations about either MCC’s recent FB series, or generally about FB (maybe other online resources like Twitter, MySpace, etc.) and Christians, I encourage you to comment on this post. My teammate Ethan Magness already told me about another church to whom MCC is loaning our Finding Jesus on FB resources so they can use for a series next year.

I’ve not posted often here at my personal blog the last couple of months because I’ve been on-line supporting Mountain Chr Ch’s efforts with global missions and the Sunday message + small groups alignment Finding Jesus on Facebook. Check the MCC short term missions blog for past updates on the Sept 09 India trip, the current Dominican Republic trip, and the Nov 09 Kenya trip.

Closer to home and of worthy interest for MCC small group leaders and members, MCC’s glocal missions team is again hosting a Perspectives on the World Christian Movement class, Sundays 5-8p 3 Jan – 2 May 2010. I attended an information meeting about Perspectives earlier tonight for both MCC people and churches throughout Harford / N Baltimore counties. I can’t adequately capture the enthusiasm of the Perspectives alumni about the class, so if you’ve taken it, feel free to post a comment. If you’re curious to find out more, check the link to the website above, or comment and I can connect you w/ one of the Perspectives alums.

Sometimes I finish the message notes from hearing the speaker live (two or three times!) on Sunday, but sometimes I make use of the online mp3 version, and I can pause and rewind and type-edit on a full keyboard.  Yesterday, Ben C used the question “Is Facebook Really Free” as a starting point to  talk about living generously. Here’s online video of the message, too.

Ben featured greetings from Ajai Lall of Central India Christian Mission, partners in MCC’s recent short term mission trip. He also mentioned Park Rapids, MN Main St Logging & Legends festival featuring “water wars” between teams trying to push a hanging barrel with their fire-hose streams of water. This is a video clip from a different town’s version, but you get the idea