Local Christian Concerts

I wanted to pass on some of the local concerts that will be happening in the area over the next couple of weeks. There is some great talent coming to the local area.

The Robbie Seay Band, will be at Bethel Baptist church in Troy, Illinois on August 25 at 5pm. Bethel Baptis's location is here:

http://www.bbctroy.com/location.ivnu

This concert is targeted to high school students, but the bands is top quality and I am sure you will be welcome if you show.

The second concert is very local, in fact it is on McKendree's campus on this Sunday August 27 (the day before classes begin). The group’s name is Ineloquent and they are from Dubuque, Iowa. For more information on the band their website is located at http://www.theineloquent.com/ . They will be leading worship at 10am in Bothwell Chapel and will be in concert at 3pm on the McKendree Quad. Tim Harrison assures me that "They are exciting and should have a lot to say as we start the year off!" It sounds like a great way to kick off the new school year. The concert is free and there should be some food there as well.

I hope to see you there.

Passionate Christianity

Passionate Christianity started yesterday at church. It was a pretty good lesson, but I really don't like the 40 days of...I think it tries to make God into s 12 step program.

In Donald Miller's Searching for God Knows What Miller makes the statement that (I'm paraphrasing now) the Bible is God's love letter to us, and that coming to know Jesus Christ in a personal way is very similar to falling in love with your spouse. I think that is a wonderful way of describing the Christian life. I didn't come up to my wife and try to capture her love all at once, it was a process that takes time and effort. A lasting relationship with Jesus Christ is the same way. Thumping someone over the head with your Bible until they submit isn't the way to win someone to the Lord. It may be a way to force them to say the prayer, as if they wre saying "Uncle". But leading them into a love relationship with the Creator of the Universe and the Savior takes time and can't be packaged into a 40 day journey.

I'll strive to keep an open mind and see where this goes.

Passionate Christianity

Our church is starting another 40 days of.... This time it is Passionate Christianity. I don't normally care for the 40 days of...., and I find it hard to get on the enthusiasm bandwagon, but this time I have seen a difference. My fairly conservative church has decided to throw its hat in the ring and stand up a Passionate Christianity website and of all things it even includes a blog (although it is more like a bulletin board). I never thought our church would get to the point of having a blog, but I have seen positive changes happening in the last year that I like. I am impressed that even our senior Pastor has contributed to the blog. This is a great sign.

My Apologies For Not Writing

I apologize for not writing much this summer in my blog. It was so busy and I just needed to take some time off. Working more than full-time, running a ministry, working on my Ph.D. dissertation, and trying to spend time with my family got me to a point where I had to take a break. Anyhow, I plan to be posting a couple times a day.

The Gate Website

I can't believe the reduction in price and the increase in capability in the technology world in the last couple of years. I was looking for a very basic, low cost website for The Gate (the McKendree College Baptist Collegiate Ministry) and came across Ipower. For no set up fee and only $7.95 per month we were able to set up a scalable website with E-mail capability. It doesn't include anything fancy, and there isn't a whole lot there so far, but we will add capability as my students get more involved in building the website. I know there must be some other good deals out there, but this one I couldn't pass on.

Another Conference

Hello from Manhattan, Kansas. I am attending the Army's Integrated Training Area Management Conference this week on the campus of Kansas State University. (I can't get the website to work, so I hope they are just doing maintenance on it)

The Army does a good job understanding the environmental implications of owning large areas of land. Some are native grasslands, some are forests, others desert, but they all have conservation programs in place that ensure they will be as undisturbed as possible. The ITAM program helps the Army manage these training areas. The Army's ITAM program uses our electronic mapping software extensively and have been good customers.

I am enjoying the conference for a couple of reasons.

First, I have an opportunity to meet lots of great people who I develop relationships with as as customers. ESRI places a large emphasis on relationships rather than purely as sales opportunities.

Second, I am completingt my PhD dissertation on John Steinbeck's book The Grapes of Wrath and I enjoy any chance to enjoy the culture of the great plains.

And third, as a diehard Nebraska Cornhusker fan, I have always wanted to come and visit KSU's campus. For the last 15 years or so the Cornhuskers and the Wildcats have had a good rivalry. I have had a chance to see the campus up close, and eventhough I got a $50 parking ticket, it has been a wonderful experience.

I'll be home tomorrow evening and back to work in the office on Thursday, but for today life in The Little Apple of Manhattan, Kansas has been good.

The Phantom Father's Day

For Father's Day we went lawst night to see The Phantom of the Opera at The Fabulous Fox Theater in St Louis.

We have seen Phantom 5 different times and I believe this was the best one yet. The Phantom was played by John Cudia, who has a one of the strongest voices I have heard. Christine was played by Marie Danvers, and Jim Weitzer was Raul. They were all fantastic and the visual effects were incredible. I still like Michael Crawford as The Phantom the best, but this cast worked very well together and put in a very strong performance. I can't imagine a role that is more physically demanding that playing The Phantom.

The Fox Theater is the perfect venue to see The Phantom. We have seen The Phantom 3 times in Los Angeles at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and now twice at the Fox (No one can keep up with my Dad's wife Sharon who has seen The Phantom over 75 times, mostly with Michael Crawford in the lead part). It is hard to find a playhouse with as much character and appeal as the Fox. The auditorium is very unique and contains carvings and statues with an Indian/Asian theme wherever you look. The lobby has large columns and lots of carved figurines also.

It was a great gift and a very good day.

Lance Marcum Signs With The Cardinals!

In my earlier post I mentioned Lance Marcum, one of our collegiate ministry interns from McKendree College, was hoping to get drafted in the Major League Baseball draft at the beginning of June. It didn't happen and I was pretty surprised. But, the Lord had more in store for Lance than he could ever imagine. Last week Lance was offered a free agent contract with the St Louis Cardinals ( a dream come true) and Lance has reported to their State College, Pennsylvania minor league ball club. Lance used this opportunity to share his faith in the artlicle located here. Link. What a great young Man. The Cardinals organization won't know what hit them and Lance will have the opportunity to affect the lives of a huge number of people. The Lord is really using Lance and Lance isn't afraid to give Him the credit.

Thanks Stacy for the tip!

Bowing My Knee

I am attending the Air Force GeoBase Compass Conference in Denver this week. The Compass Conference is a conference about the Air Force's capability to use electronic mapping capability. As I arrived at the Denver Airport I noticed a family of three getting off the airport tram and heading up the escalator. They had a daughter who looked about 3 years old who tried 4 times to walk up the down escalator. Every time the parents would tell her that if she would just go to the correct escalator she would be able to get to the second floor. It didn't matter, every time she would turn and go up the down escalator. This continued until she got so tired that she had to give in and go up the correct side.

So many times in life I feel like I do the same thing to God. I am running as fast as I can, but not making any progress. God is there telling me, "If you just follow the path I have set before you you will make progress". But it never happens until I get so tired of living for myself that I have no choice but to follow God. Kind of reminds me of Romans 14:11,

For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to Me, and every tongue will give praise to God.

I can either choose to bow now out of respect for the Lord, or I will be forced to bow later.

If The Bible Had Been Created By Dogs

The Wittenburg Door bills itself as "The World's Pretty Much Only Religious Satire Magazine". I have been a subscriber for years and as I was plowing through the current May/June 2006 issue I found the following article and thought it was clever. On page 21 the article "If the Bible Had Been Written By Dogs" states,

In the beginning, the People created the grass and the birds and the squirrels. And the World was without Dinner, and Treats; and the People left, so it was time to sleep.

And the People came back, and said "Let there be Dinner": and there was dinner.

And the Dinner was good: And it divided the sleeping-time from the eating-time.

And People called the Dinner "Food", and the sleeping-time they called Night-Night.

And the eating and the sleeping were the first Day.

And the People said, "Let there be a fence in the midst of the World, and let it divide the Outside from the Go Home". And the People divided the grass which was inside the Outside from the grass and vehicles and squirrels and birds which were outside the Outside: And it was so. And the People called the Outside "Home", and set within it a Get In Here, with all the power and righteousness and Food and Night-Night.

And the People said, "Let the Outside bring forth squirrels, and rabbits, and interesting little bugs": and it was so. And the People blessed them saying, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the Yard, but do not enter the Get In Here, even though ye be dead and flat and matted.

And the eating and the sleeping and the chasing were the second Day.

And thus it was and would be for all eternity.