Just wondering what your reaction is

I just came across this article on www.msnbc.com that relays an interview from Spiegel magazine. Read below what Spielberg had to say:

**********************************
Scaring the audience

Kevin Winter / Getty Images file

Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg got some tough cross-examining during an interview by German magazine Spiegel. A reporter for the mag questioned the star and director of the upcoming flick “War of the Worlds,” and suggested that they were playing off the fears of Americans in a post 9/11 world.

“Would you have made the film if September 11 had not happened?” the reporter asked.

“Probably not,” replied Spielberg, who added that the film is coming “at a time when Americans feel deeply vulnerable.”

“Won’t this film actually heighten that sense of vulnerability?”

“It probably will,” said Spielberg, who then hedged a bit.

The testy exchange also extended to a discussion of Tom Cruise’s religion, Scientology, which is considered highly suspect in Germany.

Then the reporter even asked Spielberg if he felt guilty for taking the fun out of swimming because people were afraid of water after his 1975 blockbuster “Jaws.”

“Not at all!” Spielberg replied. “On the contrary, I was impishly pleased. The reactions of the public showed me that the film worked and was touching the primeval fears of the audience.”
**********************************

I have a hard time with this. Playing on fears is one thing, but making a film that will make people more on edge than most already are in this society is (in my opinion) wrong. I believe that films that lend to a heightened awareness are good, and films that help people relieve stress or forget about the current news are fine, but to me, there is something morally wrong with making a film that will only increase phobias and that will be a detriment to society. I know this also disqualifies other films, but for some reason, this just really irritates me.

I'd be interested in hearing any thoughts. I am just processing this info...

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Today, I must confess, I was a little nervous about the attendace. Before the day began, I knew we would be down as we had about 15-20 people out of town. Then when I woke up and it was pouring rain, I thought we would be REALLY down. And then when I knew that we had several more families who missed for whatever reason, I was surprised when Krista told me that we had 86 in our two services - and on top of that, we had 3 people accept the Lord into their lives! God is SO GOOD!!! The three people were Kriss, who is the girlfriend of Kathy Boston's son, Randy; and a couple who have been with us for a month, Kregg & Veronica Gauthier. I just praise God for this blessing.

Scott Anderson, a friend of mine from college and an evangelist, spoke in our two services and was phenomenal. Scott has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair, but the Lord has used him mightily to demonstrate God's power. Our people really responded to him, and I wish more could have been there. We will have them back again.

Overall, the day was great, even with the lower attendance and the rain. God continues to move, and we continue to surrender this church to His will. Thank You, Lord, again for working in our midst.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

NOTE: Let me apologize for not getting this post in sooner - it is AMAZING how the week flies by!

This past Sunday was a unique Sunday. To begin, I had my mom and my grandmother visiting, and they had a chance to see the church for the first time since last January. They were very surprised by all the people and the warm reception, and I was glad to get up and talk about how much my mother has influenced me - what a privilege to have a mother and grandmother like mine!

The day was a good day. Truth be told, it takes a LOT of energy to do two services, specifically maintaining energy for the 2nd service, but we do it well. The attendance dipped below 100 (we had 98) for the first time in several weeks as we had many people gone, but God is so good. A few things worth noting:
1) Our offerings continue to stay where they need to be. We have experienced a major stabilization in our finances in the past 6 months, and I pray that they remain there. I am meeting with my finance team next week to discuss putting me on full time. I am excited about this as I feel our church is capable of this, and has demonstrated this. Besides that, it will be a step of faith, and God always rewards faith.

2) I preached for the third (and final) week about Experiencing the Care of Jesus, and I felt that it went well. God had impressed on me the key verse of I Peter 5:7 to speak on, and I was very excited to preach on "Releasing Ourselves into God's Care." This sermon was also my gross sermon of the year, specifically because of this gross story I told from the Hong Kong Medical Journal. I am hoping that beyond the gross stories that our people will truly learn to cast their care on Jesus Christ.

3) We intro'd the song You Are My World by Hillsong, and it was received well. The worship service has been great lately in both services, so much so that we intro'd double clapping during Free to Dance - you had to be there.

4) We baptized two people in our second service (pictures below) - Jane Nelsbach and James Smith. I am excited for Jane - she and her husband are new believers (see the blog from Sunday, February 20th, 2005) and while I baptized her, her kids gathered around and wanted to jump in - it was cute. James is recently back from Afghanistan and wanted to be baptized. This was a bittersweet day, as James and his wife Candace moved to Hawaii two days after he was baptized, and we will miss them. But I was so happy to baptize James and just share that experience with them.

5) We got to test out our new speakers and sound board - what a difference~!!! Thank you Lord for giving us the resources to be able to buy those without credit. We needed them so much. Hallelujah!

6) We had several visitors with us today that I believe will be back. Red & Karen Densmore were our guests for the first time along with Don Stockard. They each found us through the internet site, and Don's story is interesting. Don recently moved from Florida, and he and his wife attended a church called Northland while they lived there. It just so happens that we have a couple who also lived in Florida and attended Northland - Kyle & Amber Weststrate! So I hooked them up, and I hope that the service was a blessing to them. May the Lord continue to add to our numbers.

One other cool note - Miranda Atkinson, a friend of Kay Greene's, came with Kay, and she really enjoyed it. She is from Wakefield, and she said she would invite her parents to come as well. Overall, this was another great day at The Journey. May God continue to grow us, and use us to change people.

Jane Nelsbach accepted the Lord on February 20, and surrounded by her kids, is ready to be baptized.

Jane is raised to walk in a new way of life. I praise God for what He is doing in this woman and her family's life. 

James Smith ("Sarge") professes his salvation and is ready to let the world know through baptism. 

James is raised to walk in a new way of life! 

My first funeral

Today I performed my first funeral for Martin Gonya, Cheri Cocco's dad. I was pleased to perform this duty, although it was over 3 hours away in Corinth, Maine, but it was an experience that I will never forget.

Krista and I travelled with Ed and Brenda Cormier up to Corinth, and had a great time with them, especially as we listened to Bishop Joseph Garlington preaching - wow! I remembered why he blesses me so much.

We arrived at the funeral parlor around 11am, and immediately you could sense division in the family. Without going into any detail, Cheri's brothers and sisters have been attacking her over some family issues, and when we arrived we literally felt like the cavalry of spiritual refreshing for Cheri. But no sooner did we get there that there was a tug of war going on for spiritual authority in this place, and that is something that I was not willing to surrender. Cheri had chosen some great praise and worship music to play before and after the ceremony which greatly aided the atmosphere, but there was still a satanic grip that many people held on to. The four of us (Ed, Brenda, Krista, and I) just bathed the whole time in prayer and praise, and I believe God was honored, and His Spirit was moving.

The service itself was about 20 minutes long, and I was able to give a clear call to salvation. I believe that God was telling me to speak the truth, so that is what I did. The service went well, and I felt was well received. What a difference it makes when the person you are eulogizing knew Jesus Christ as Savior, and what a wave went through the crowd when I announced that he had done this just three weeks before he died!

After the service, I went in back to take the customary place near the exit to greet and bless people. Many walked by me without acknowledging me, and some went through a different exit. I am amazed how much men of darkness hate light "because their deeds are evil."

Honestly, because of the family situation, I did not know if there would be a physical fight before we left, but I was ready for it. But praise God, as much of a struggle as there was after the service, there was no physical confrontation because the spiritual was stronger! By the time we left, we were all pretty tired, but we ushered Cheri and Victoria out safely and held up our testimony and that of Jesus Christ.

My first funeral was definitely a memorable one - thanks for letting me share. - Pastor.

Sunday, April 10, 2005

You wouldn't know that we had 102 in our two services today by looking at the crowds - I thought we would be around 90 or so, but we cracked the 100 mark again, and it is amazing to me!

These two services were very good. I felt the worship, although slightly shaky at times from the praise team, was great in both services. Today we focused on the idea of offering - offering ourselves and everything we have to God - and focused on the fact that GOD is worthy of our offering and praise! I felt during the worship that we needed to focus on these things, and our people are responding and really beginning to grab ahold of the essence of worship. I was reminded on Saturday at our men's conference of the power of worship in my own life - I need times to just worship - especially for me just seeing the words on the screen of one of the songs - "For Your glory, for Your kingdom, for Your name, O Lord, here I am." That is my prayer, my surrender - and it is something I desire for The Journey people to feel.

Beyond the worship, I actually preached a message for the 2nd time in a year! I did so because we are talking in April about Experiencing the Care of Jesus and last week I spoke on TRULY trusting God, TRULY relying on His care. This week, I carried on with that theme and spoke on "Going Deeper into God's Trust," speaking specifically on giving and launching into the deeper parts of faith. The message overall was good, although I felt that I was a little unclear in a few places - hindsight being 20/20 - just a couple of points that I could have been more definitive on, but nothing that was majorly hindering.

So far as visitors, we did have one - the girlfriend of Kathy's son. I didn't get a chance to speak to her but just for a moment. However, we did have Tom and Terry with us again along with their kids, and I really hope that they stay with us. Also, Rick and Michelle were with us for the third week in a row, and I would like to get to know them a little bit more, and connect with them. I hope to have a chance to do so.

I thought today was a good day - all the way around. I am so excited about some of the new people that are with us - Andreas and Jane, Kregg and Veronica - and I just pray that the Lord will use The Journey more and more to help them grow.

I would like some prayer for this week. On Wednesday I will be performing my first funeral in Maine for Cherri Cocco's father, and I just want to be a blessing. I have never done a funeral before, but I am not worried very much about it. I just pray that I can bless that family. Her father was a Christian, so that makes this easier. Please just pray for me and for this opportunity.

Iron Sharpens Iron, April 9, 2005

"We Are the Champions" was the theme for this weekend's Iron Sharpens Iron conference in Portsmouth. What a good day it was, as we gathered together with about 1500 men from churches all over Northern New England to praise God, hear some good preaching, and participate in workshops on all kinds of topics.

I was really excited about this weekend as we took 16 guys with us, over a 500% increase from last year (we took 3 last year). Dr Ken Canfield was the main speaker in the morning, and Bishop Wellington Boone was the afternoon's featured speaker. We took the following guys from The Journey: Rod Kesselring, Chuck Green, Tim DeBenedictis, Floyd Harris, Joe Johnson, Ralph Johnson, James Smith, Ed Cormier, Dave Gibson, Andy Becker, James Smith, Jeremy Greib, Lee Thompson, Ron Bennetter, Ben Chamberlin, and me.

If you went with us on this one-day conference, please add your comments about the day.

(left to right) Lee, Ed, and Dave wait for the conference to begin. Notice Kyle, James, and Chuck in the background.

Several of the men at ISI 2005 before the sessions began.

Left to right: Joe, Andy, Floyd, Kyle and Pastor at ISI 2005.

A view of a soon-to-be packed house at ISI.

The praise team for ISI.

Many men from the ISI conference at Bethany Church.

Sunday, April 3, 2005

This Sunday, I was a little nervous in the beginning. It was our first "normal" Sunday (non-holiday) with two services, and I was concerned that the numbers might make the place feel a little empty. But to begin, we had several more visitors, including Tom & Terry Riordan (from Farmington), and their two kids, Michael & Rebecca; we also had Rick & Michelle with us again (from Sanford); we also had two of Jane's friends with us, Tom and Dave. So including 6 visitors, we had a total of 101! God is so good.

I preached on "The God You Can Trust" as I began the month's theme of "Experiencing the Care of Jesus," and during the invitation, I believe a 2nd time visitor Kregg prayed with me and asked God into his life! Praise God for His goodness.

The worship was great, as people engaged in both services and the praise team did very good. I am so proud of our new guys and their contributions, and I pray that we continue to get better as we work. I also like the direction that the team is headed, as we continue to push for unity and togetherness as we lead.

On Sunday evening, a small group of us got together at church to watch the Red Sox open the 2005 campaign as defending World Series champs - and they lost to the Yankees...oh well. We had a good time. God is good.

Vision Night 2005

Tonight, Saturday, April 2nd, we had our second annual Vision Night. This night was great on so many levels, with only one aspect not being that great. So let me give you the scoop:

1) First, I presented our goals for this year, and focused particularly on our growth goals which are:
• 75 New Christians by next March.
• Baptize 50 new Christians.
• 150 in committed membership.
• Bring in/invite 400 visitors.
• Aim for 200 in attendance.

I believe in aiming high, and quite honestly, if our building were larger, we would hit 200 in attendance by year's end in my opinion.

2) Which brought us to the 2nd part of the evening - where I invited Ron Tripp from Barden Church Building Services to present to our people about some options that we have for building, and how we can get from where we currently are to where we want to be (no money to ready to build). Ron unfortunately did not do this, and I was pretty frustrated with his presentation. But beyond this dissappointment, our people were exposed to the need to build, and we will continue to keep this in front of them.

3) To end the evening, Pastor Anthony Milas from Granite State Baptist Church (our mother church) delivered a great message, challenging our people to dream and to push forward with the vision God had given to us. He paralleled our plight with last year's Red Sox team where Curt Schilling wore the t-shirt "Why not us?". He gave his own story when he assumed the leadership of GSBC, and said that someone forgot to tell God that you can't build a great church in New England! It was awesome.

We began and ended our meeting with some earnest prayer, asking God for His guidance and His blessing - what a great time! I do not know the count for the amount of people we had (around 40 adults), but I felt the Lord's presence as we set our affections and focus on Him in our pursuit of the kingdom of God here in Rochester.