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.

Heather & celebrated the 80th birthday of a MCC friend last night – certainly the largest (by attendance) birthday party I’ve ever attended Among the many humorous and touching tributes to a woman of God who has blessed many around her, MCC’s senior pastor Ben Cachiaras closed the evening with a blessing to her in the form of the Apostle Paul’s prayer from Ephesians 3:14-21.

Earlier yesterday, at a slightly larger gathering 150 miles north Yankee fans celebrated the team’s World Series victory with a parade. Though I’m an avid Yankees fan, I didn’t make any of the 1996, 1998-2000 parades; I think I’ll reserve my crushed-in-a-sea-of-millions NY experience for one of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades

Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi celebrated victory in a very different way, by helping a stranded motorist on the Cross County Parkway – I’ve driven the Cross County and he’s compassionate & brave, even if not quite to the degree of another traveler who stopped to help someone he didn’t know. I remember following him from his first days as a Yankee, including my joy at learning more about Girardi’s strong but not overly-confrontational faith.

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.

Back in the spring, Heather & I went to see the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire for her birthday, a rare movie for both of us   She enjoyed the romance, and I appreciated the underlying reality of the religious extremism, crime, and poverty. For a more eloquent and thoughtful analysis, check Jennifer Taylor’s post. For a Christian mission that is confronting some of these crimes in the courts and on the streets, check International Justice Mission, my teammate Tom Moen was attending a screening of the IJM movie At The End of Slavery this week.

Last Sunday, she & I attended the celebration for MCC’s India short-term mission team. Imperfect disciples serving the one perfect God are changing the storyline of hatred, crime, and poverty one small step at a time, whether thousands of miles away or in our own neighborhood, something my teammate Luke Erickson will speak about this coming Sunday.

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.

Ben Cachiaras concluded the Finding Jesus on Facebook series y asking “Are You Finding New Friends” – emphasizing the importance of every Christian reaching out to “the people Jesus misses the most.” These are my notes of the message, and mp3 for download or livestream available from the MCC media archives.

Ben showed the ESPN video “Without Sports” (click on pic of surfer w/ kid, choose Surf Camp TV spot from drop down menu) which described Surfers Healing, a nationwide organization that helps autistic children to enjoy a day at the beach.

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