July 30, 2012
Mountain On 5 video
One of my other hats (in addition to writing message based study guides) earlier this summer was sending email or text updates to family members of Mountain On 5 mission teams serving in Asia, Africa (Kenya), Europe (Czech Republic), N America (Apache reservation in Arizona), and Central America (Mexico). You can read details about the trips (plus the Student Ministry trip to the Dominican Republic that includes an update written by my daughter Livi!) at the Mountain Cannonball site, OR take a three-and-half minutes round the world tour by watching the video below…
March 10, 2011
Making Waves in the Kiddie Pool!
As we count down to MCC’s Sat 5:05p service, we’re using creative (and comic!) ways to invite people to serve in ways BEYOND their usual…
MCC Familiy Ministry team leader Gerri Baker gave more details about the thorough training for new recruits: “[they] are assigned to the specific staff person that will … [oversee] them in a teaching rotation, and then they are followed through with an interview, in-class training, and then implementation. It takes an average of 10 hours per person to implement them into ministry because of the safety/security and simple pre-training that has to happen to be able to start effectively.” [KEY STAT] “…. about 10% of those who have indicated an interest are men. We would love this to be more like 50% as so many of our little boys do not have positive male role models.”
She closes, “We are encouraged by the response…. we still have a long way to go!”
Our churchwide initiative – “Cannonball!” – calls each MCC members to go “ALL IN” and “MAKE WAVES.”
So if you want to make waves in the kiddie pool 🙂 JUMP IN HERE
[Mountain Chr School mentoring program student Mark P co-wrote this post]
November 14, 2010
Cannonball + ECC + Global Impact Celebration
#MtCC is taking two big JUMPs “into the pool” to make splashes for God, both this week! And I survived my term as Eastern Christian Convention workshops chairman – all the workshop presenters made it there 🙂 and shared insights from the Spirit. The last couple of weeks I’ve suffered the “ripple effects” of a cold + last minute ECC + Cannonball + GIC scrambling, which meant no blogging, but I’m back 🙂
Here are notes for the most recent Cannonball Sunday AM messages. I’ll be trying to catch up w/ reflections on some of the daily devotions & daily dares in upcoming posts; along w/ thougsht about the ECC + GIC.
October 27, 2010
Bobbing Along -vs- Rowing Forward
I understand the point of the contrast between the corks bobbing in water -vs- rocks making waves in Wednesday’s Cannonball reading, but the contrarian in me is not thrilled with the imagery of rocks sinking to the bottom after they make the big splash 😉
Instead, I pic
The Cannonball reading challenged me to go against the tide of culture, and tell a friend my plan. There are Christ followers who inspire me by their stand against popular culture, from football players to college professors. Time to row forward, and make some waves!
October 26, 2010
Ripple Effect
Today’s Cannonball reading contrasted “efficiency” against “deep devotion,” using the example of Mary, sister of Lazarus, in Matthew 26:6-13 (also Mark 14:3-9 and John 12:2-8). Jesus said that “all-in” devotion makes a “ripple effect” that reaches throughout the world, and throughout history – proven by the fact that people at MCC who had never heard this story before today are thinking about the overflowing commitments they can make.
The reading closes by asking, “Are you willing to ‘waste’ your life for the cause of Christ even if it looks foolish to the rest of the world?” I think I’ve reached the stage in my faith journey where I don’t care as much about what the world (non-Christians) think of me, but I still care (too much?) about what fellow Christians think of me. Good thing Mary didn’t pay attention to the opinions of Peter, John, and others who should have known better.
October 25, 2010
Making a Splash – then & now
Monday’s Cannonball daily reading from Mark 9:33-35 (parallel in Luke 22:24-27) asked,” What is your strategy for making an impact in the world? For ten years at East Northport Chr Ch my primary answer was primarily “communicating God’s word through preaching and teaching.” At the time, I probably considered my individual discipleship time with a few different men, members and interns, important but secondary. The previous four years working at Cincinnati Chr University, my strategy order was reversed: individual or small group discipleship (“servant of all”), with occasional opportunities to preach & teach. I ministered by shepherding the Resident Assistants in the men’s dorm, who in turn shepherded a generation of young men, many of whom are being used by the Spirit to spread God’s word.
These days, my answer to the Cannonball question on strategy for making an impact in the world has cycled back to “servant of all,” especially MCC small group leaders & coaches who are shepherding others. My Sunday PM short-term Cannonball group read from 2 Timothy 2:2 (NLT) “You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.”
October 24, 2010
Make Some Waves Oct24 resources
Luke Erickson continued MCC’s Cannonball series by using the question from Luke 7:19 “are you the One we’ve been expecting or are we waiting for someone else ?” to make the point “a cannonball is judged by its effect.” In the same way that Jesus was God’s “cannonball” into the world, we should be making waves in our community and around the world. More notes that I took listening to the simulcast from MCC Bel Air (at John Carroll School). Audio available already, if you notice the video is up, post a comment and I’ll add the link.
Today’s “i dare u” was the first I’ve muffed. Even though we live in a townhouse development, there are days when I don’t see the neighbors in our row and the one across the street. Ravens game-days are an example, with several ardent fans in our row, most likely glued to their TV screens agonizing over the close contest 🙂
Speaking of close contests, I think the young men in this video (from the special MCC Cannonball website) went to bed nearly as broken-hearted as I was last Friday PM 😦
Vodpod videos no longer available.October 22, 2010
All In – poor widow’s example
How do I follow Mark 12:41-44 (same story in Luke 21:1-4)? The computer spreadsheet side of me wants to analyze the dollars and decisions: Does it mean I give the church all I have in my bank account right now, including what I was going to use to pay this month’s bills? Does it mean I stop saving for the future (daughters’ education, retirement, medical insurance coverage)? Does it mean I stop eating out – or just sometimes? Sundays after church? lunch w/w co-workers? date nights w/ my wife? What about the broadband internet access I’m using right now to post this devotional on the internet?
“everything–all she had to live on.” How much would I have to give to become completely dependent on God? I think this verse is not about dollars or spending decisions, but dependence – complete dependence on God. I confess, I’m not there, not even close – I prize my independence; even if my financial “independence” is a mirage of living paycheck to paycheck. Maybe Cannonball will move me a step towards depending on God like I never have before?
In the incident immediately before today’s story, Jesus condemns the religious leadership who take advantage of widows. Easy for me to point finger at pseudo-Christian figures who rake in donations, but I need to perpetually assess how I use my ministry resources, lest I waste them on the modern day equivalent of “flowing robes . . . the most important seats . . . the places of honor. . .”
BACKGROUND: Widows in Jesus’ time had no government-provided safety net, but were dependent on extended family, or the charity of the community – which makes this (Mark specifies “poor”) widow’s “all in” even more meaningful.
Ancient Roman lepton (penny)
October 21, 2010
All the Way + with a little help from my friends
Today’s Cannonball story shows how you can break through barriers together with friends. The paralyzed man didn’t have use of his legs, but he did have friends who would do anything to get him to Jesus (Luke 5:17-26 also found in Mark 2:1-12 w/ more details).
Imagine the teamwork of the four who carried their paralyzed friend on the mat, plus others who dug through the roof. Mountain’s Cannonball initiative is both individual = “what is God calling me to do,” AND church-wide “what is God calling us to do.”
My whimsical side wonders about the aftermath of the miracle. The owner of the house was supportive enough of Jesus’ ministry that he invited him there in the first place, so maybe he wouldn’t have been “take these guys to court” upset. Maybe after celebrating, the friends came back to fix the damage. And maybe one of the healed man’s first acts of physical labor was to join his friends up on the roof for an “extreme makeover.”
October 20, 2010
Toe-Dipping + security blankets
As follow-through to Luke 18:18-24, Wednesday’s reading in the Cannonball booklet asked, “What are your sources of security and how might they be an obstacle to following Jesus?”
My job and my family my two main sources of security. Though both are blessings to me, either one could become an obstacle to following Jesus if I let them get more important than following him. Tonight, my small group discussed Luke 9:57-62 and I realized that even the blessings we receive from God, like a wonderful family or working at a great church, can be obstacles if I value them more than following Jesus.
For the rich young ruler in Luke 18 (see Matthew 19:16-22 and Mark 10:17-22 for parallel accounts w/ additional details), wealth was his security blanket. Linus, from Charles Schulz’s beloved comic strip Peanuts, was one of the few pop culture figures who could quote from the Bible without drawing the wrath of the thought police. It’s only my opinion, but my guess is Linus would have chosen Jesus over his blanket 🙂
Linus and his security blanket
More Better Tools for the Journey 