I just heard the best radio commercial...

I listen to a Christian radio station online, and they just had a commercial from Lifeline Productions that I wanted to share with you. It is not verbatim...

Game Show Host: We're here to play, "Are you better than the devil?" Our contestants are Bob and, as always, Satan. Ok, first question: Bob, do you consider yourself a good person?

Bob: Yes, I'm as good as anyone else, and I think I'm a pretty good person...
Game Show Host: Ok, Satan?
Satan: Yes, I'm as good as anyone else, and I think I'm a pretty good person...
Bob: Hey! That's my answer! He can't do that!
Game Show Host: OK, let's check with the judges. Judges, what do you say?
*DING DING DING*
Game Show Host: Well, our judges accept the answer. Next question: Have you ever read the Bible? We'll start with you this time, Satan.
Satan: Yes, I've read the Bible through many times.
Game Show Host: Bob?
Bob: Well, I, uh, once saw a guy hold up a John 3:16 sign at a football game and I looked it up...
Game Show Host: Judges?
*DING DING DING*
Game Show Host: OK - final question. Have you ever put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ?
Satan: No, I can say that I have not. I just don't believe I need to.
Game Show Host: Bob? Bob...?
Bob: Uhhh...

I thought it was very good and well thought out. I just wanted to share.

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, JOURNEY!

Today we celebrate our 2nd birthday as a church. Praise God for what He has done so far!

Do you have a story or a good word that you want to share about The Journey—maybe you have been blessed or changed by The Journey or its members? PLEASE shareyour story to celebrate our two year birthday. Make your story part of the written history of our church as I would love YOUR contribution. Take a moment and just share what the church has meant to you. I would appreciate it so much. You can also visit our blog and post something there yourself.

Sunday, July 24th, 2005

I knew that today would be a lower attendance day because of the amount of people we had gone, but I was determined to not let that stand in the way of having good services. Overall, I felt the services were good and that the response of the crowds was good. We had 73, our lowest attendance since March, but the low number didn't prevent us from worshipping and receiving the Word, and I felt that both were fresh today.

I did the 2nd sermon in our 3 week miniseries God in the Movies. Today, I spoke on The Fantastic Four: the Value of Teamwork, and I was overall pleased with how the message came out (a few rough spots). It wasn't a complicated message, but I believe that it brought some of our people into a decision of searching for their spiritual gifts. If you would like to know more about what your spiritual gift might be, you can click here to take an online gifts test. This test is only a guide, and I would recommend that you sit down with myself or Pastor Rod and discuss the results.

Before the message, I handed out a chart with the spiritual gifts listed and the Bible passages that they are from. If you do not have a copy of this and you want to use it as a guide, email me at willis4nh@metrocast.net, and I will send it to you. Below are some of the other questions from the message that you can use to guide you in the process of discovering your gifts, and they reference the chart I handed out yesterday:

• Look at the lists in your chart – do you do any of these well?
• Of all the gifts listed, are there any that you receive great satisfaction from doing?
• Of all the gifts listed, are there any that you do in which people respond well to you?
• Is there a need in the church that you desire to fill? Your spiritual gift often coincides with your desired ministry.
• Do you do something well now that you did not do before you became a Christian?
• Have you ever talked to a minister or leader about what your gift might be?

I look forward to this body discovering the diverse and wonderful gifts God has given to it, and then watching as each member of The Journey discovers their place at The Journey. May God bless you and draw you closer to Him as you pursue Him this week.

An ongoing Challenge to the Journey!

NOTE: I am putting this particular challenge at the top of the Journey blog for awhile as we discuss more and more these topics. The Sunday blogs are still listed each week below.

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED SO FAR - COME ON, THE REST OF YOU, LET'S DIALOGUE AND TALK (JUST NOT DURING WORK TIME!).

I am becoming a "news junkie," specifically internet news - www.msnbc.com, www.foxnews.com, and www.cnn.com - but as a pastor, I am consistently seeing a rise in articles and news stories that deal with religion in some way.

I am amazed to see just exactly how much of our news comes from moral and biblical issues. Let me challenge you, The Journey (and our friends) - I challenge you to look for yourself and see exactly how much of our modern news deals with issues of religion and morality and the Bible. Any mainline news article that you find that dealing with a biblical topic - morals, religion, etc. - post a response to this blog and include the link of your article along with the reason why you believe it deals with a moral or biblical topic - and then if you would, post your response.

I'll begin - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8511662/ - this topic deals with the Constitution and what it has to say about partial birth abortion. I personally believe that the Bible speaks of the sanctity of human life, and that abortion is wrong. In this article, partial-birth abortion, a brutal practice, comes into question.

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Star Wars Episode III was the first movie in our three week break for "God in the Movies," a mini-series meant to help the people of The Journey analyze movies from a Christian perspective and dialogue with others who are not believers. I felt this sermon took a while to build some steam, was a little slow-going at times, but since this is new ground so far as sermon-style, I half expected it to be that way. The last part of the sermon flowed much more smoothly, as I talked about not being bound to the "darkside" of sin and gaining victory that we were meant to have in Jesus Christ. I feel the Lord annointed the last part of the message.

I want to say - I am very pleased with the attendance this summer. We haven't grown, but we have stayed consistent, just a little over 100 each week - and we had 106 today. That is so important to maintain momentum - keeping things afloat during the summer vacation months is important. Thank you for your faithfulness - let's keep going. The fall is full of important happenings, and I pray that the Lord is blessing and working in your lives during this time.

I was pleased with this Sunday. Good stuff all the way around.

Please pray for Bill & Debbie as they minister in the city of Dresden, Germany. Pray also for their daughter, Tiffani, who is starting classes at Boston Baptist College this fall. Also pray for their daughter, Heather, who will be ministering alongside her parents in Germany.

Sunday July 10, 2005

Every once in a while, you meet people who you just click with, and whom you just grow to love very quickly. This Sunday, we had Bill & Debbie Crawford, missionaries to Germany with us, and we just fell in love with this wonderful couple and their family. Bill & Debbie joined us in both services, and Bill preached using his karate expertise, showing how we can use the armor of God to withstand the attacks of the devil (see pictures below). We were so excited to have these folks with us, and I look forward to sending a missions team over to their church in the next two years to minister along with them. Let's be in prayer for either 2006 or 2007 for God to give us the opportunity to go and send a missions team there.

Along with the Crawfords, we had a wonderful day overall. Our attendance was good (107) even though we were missing so many people. God continues to give us momentum heading into the fall, and I believe our Wednesday prayer meetings with lay some of the spiritual groundwork necessary for a fall harvest of people coming to know Jesus Christ through this church.

One other funny note: during the first service, Bill Crawford used Seth to be his warrior that he would dress up in karate gear during the message and then show how the attacks of Satan are useless against the armor. Well Seth had on a tight karate belt, a chest protector, feet protectors, and a shield, and he thought Bill was going to hit his shield with a rod. Instead Bill kicked the shield (and Seth), sending Seth flat onto his butt! We laughed, but when Seth got up, he looked ashen, and couldn't focus. I had to go up and give him some juice, and let him sit down - we thought he was either going to faint or throw up or both! But you know, as I sat there with Seth, I thought, "What a place to be when you get hurt! We could lay hands on him if this continues." And he got past it in just a few. I believe that he just got dizzy. Bill didn't mean to knock him over - but it's all good, and God was in it, and the service went well.

Thank you, Lord, for Your protection over Seth, and for Your Spirit meeting with us through the Crawfords. We seek Your beautiful face more and more in our services.

Missionary Bill Crawford explains the importance of the spiritual armor as given in Ephesians 6.

Bill gets ready to launch a spear at Gabe (he didn't actually do it!). :)

Gabe put on his feetwear (from Ephesians 6) with Debbie help.

Bill Crawford finishes his presentation with Gabe wearing the complete armor.

Sunday, July 3rd, 2005

I Surrender All. If I could some up the theme of this morning, it was for me the song I Surrender All. We spoke on "The Joy of Being Used Up and Wasted for God" as we look at the last beatitude in Matthew 5:10-12, "Blessed are the persecuted." We have spent the last two months talking about Experiencing the Joy of Jesus, and it has been a challenging study for me. I am glad we went through the beatitudes, as I feel it has been a good series. I just pray that our people get the last one - blessed are the persecuted - that they remember those who have endured persecution (and who are enduring persecution) - and that they surrender all. I pray that our people at The Journey would live in such a way that they will embody the wisdom of Jim Elliot who said, "He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose" - surrendering all. For our invitation, we sang the song I Surrender All. God help us to do more than just sing that song, but to live it!

It is the summer, and we were missing many families, but our attendance was still at 102! We praise the Lord for that, and trust that God will continue to add to our numbers. A man named Pete was back for the 2nd week, and I hope to get to speak to him as last week (June 26th) he raised his hand that he asked Jesus Christ into his life. I hope that we are able to minister some more to him.

Our second service was small this week, and I hope that I can get this service built up some more. I would appreciate your prayers on this.

But the highlight of the day was baptizing Zander Allen and Kriss Gagno (see pictures below). I love seeing people respond obediently to Jesus Christ, and this is the very first step of obedience for any Christian. The water was colder, but it was good.

I thank God for what He is doing at The Journey. I pray that our people would break and learn to truly surrender. Some of our people are HARD - hard nosed and hard-hearted. Pray that the Lord would break them down and that they would make themselves mold-able in the Lord's hands.

Pastor Rob has a laugh as Zander Allen gets in. This was the first time we did not use water heaters since it was a hot July day - but it was still cold in the water! :)

Zander accepted Jesus Christ into his heart last year at a vacation Bible school at an area church. He and his family have recently joined us at The Journey, and we are excited to see this young one walk in obedience to the Lord.

Zander is raised to walk in God's way as he comes out of the water.

This is Kriss Gagnon. She came to Jesus Christ about 2 months ago (see April 24, 2005 blog) in one of our Sunday services, and has been faithful and growing ever since. I praise the Lord for what He is doing in her life.

Kriss is excited (albeit very cold) about getting baptized.