New Message Series…

Here’s a “preview of coming attractions” for our upcoming Summer message series. 

BTW – it was produced by 15-year-old Sam, and despite my bias I think he did a great job!

Sunday Replay 05.25.2008

Man we had a lot of people missing today!  Some were visiting family, a few went to the race in Indy, and one is working in Japan – Konnichiwa, Josh!  But you know what?  We had very strong attendance for a holiday weekend!  Equal to what we would have called a “good Sunday” a couple of years ago – plus we had a fair number of guests, including some first timers! 

The worship band did great – good choice of songs, great execution.  Mark my words, this group will one day have an influence far outside Jubilee!

We finished up our “Hope… When Life Seems Hopeless” series by talking about how real hope can heal a broken heart.  We looked at the story of Jesus’ encounter with the disciples on the road to Emmaus.  Those two men were down and discouraged, with no hope for the future… And then they met the risen Jesus!  We can encounter Him in the same way those two men did – We can walk with Him, listen to Him, and recognize Him – and we can have the same results: a restoration of hope, reassurance that God can bring us through any circumstance, and a reason to tell other people about Jesus!

Next week we’ll begin a new message series…  More about that in a future post!

Bible Beach Club is right around the corner! June 16 – 20!  We’re still looking for a few more volunteers to lead teams, and some more students to serve in the BBC “Gopher Army.”  You can get involved by attending the next prep day this Saturday, May 31st, 10:00 AM.

Here’s an evening’s entertainment that lets you to stay close to home and save gas!  Family Movie Night on Saturday night, May 31st, 7:00 PM.  We’ll watch Flywheel, the first movie from the makers of Facing the Giants. Admission: one canned good/non perishable item for the food pantry per person, and each family bring a dessert to share.  (We’ll be doing more of these, and publicizing them in the community, during the Summer. See you there!)

I’ll be out of town a little bit this week – a leadership conference in Ft. Wayne on Tuesday, and a ministry conference at Granger on Friday – so leave a message at church, home or on voicemail if you need me. 

Have a great week!

Legislation or Salvation: do we have to choose?

What follows flows out of a conversation about the recent California Supreme Court overturning the voter’s referendum on same sex marriage.  When the discussion took the inevitable turn toward the legislation of morality, my friend, the eloquent Robert, had a very thought provoking response…

We will do more for the kingdom of God by witnessing to the unwed mother/thieves/drug dealers, etc. than we will standing on the steps of the Supreme Court with a sign or throwing red paint on a girl going in an abortion clinic. If you are trying to decide how your congregation is going to spend a Saturday, I would opt with witnessing in love to a gay person over writing a Senator or attending a rally.

If you can do both well, then go for it. (though I think that a LOT of political groups love decisions like those in California for the fund-raising opportunities…) I’m all for laws against vices, but let me ask you:

Have drug laws eliminated drug use in your community?

Do you think making abortion illegal would eliminate abortion or make unwanted pregnancies any less common?

Would laws against homosexuality make it less common (in many places there were laws against homosexuality until recently [well, against sodomy, but that was only targeted at homosexuals, few married couples were ever arrested for violating such laws.])?

In other words, or what I’m getting at is that while laws against non-Christian behaviors make us feel good and are not a bad thing to have, they do very little to change behavior.

Let me use an example. There is a road here called Dry Ridge Road, but everyone calls it “Roller Coaster Road”. It has a lot of curves and really steep hills and dips. The speed limit is 45 but most people speed on it to get the thrill of going over the hills (you can get air, trust me). The law does not keep people from speeding on it, unless someone is there with a radar gun. The other day 2 kids were killed joyriding on the road. I’m going to bet that people will slow down now (for a while). I know I will. The law didn’t change, people’s hearts did. The law could now make the speed limit 100 and people will still go 35 since they’ve seen what speeding on that road can do.

The point: we won’t change hearts with laws. Sure, I would be in favor of a law that required tithing, church attendance, loving your children and volunteering for VBS. More seriously, I’m all for laws legislating morality… so long as it’s my morals. But I don’t think that anything will change until we lead people to Christ.

So, I’m not too worried about gay marriage. It’s a travesty, but it’s not like gay people are not living together, having sex, raising families, etc. That won’t change until God changes their heart, unless you want to arrest people and throw them in jail for living with a member of the same sex.

Now, when you ask if we can oppose something legislatively while still witnessing, then I would agree that we can do both. I will vote against unbiblical legislation and ungodly candidates every chance I get (heck, that’s the sole reason I can never vote for a Democratic candidate on the national level so long as their platform endorses abortion, though I think we will soon see a lot more pro-abortion Republicans).

So, I don’t think it’s either/or, but I find that most Christians in America will go to an anti-gay-marriage rally any day of the week, but won’t walk across the street to share Christ’s love with their gay neighbor.

Look at what Jesus did. I don’t see him working to change the political structure of his day– which is astounding when you consider the oppression of his time. He didn’t rail against the cruel Romans or the inequities shown to women and Gentiles in Jewish culture. He didn’t march to make Roman orgies illegal or to shut down brothels. He didn’t oppose paying taxes which went to the Roman government nor did he spend any time getting involved in politics– if you want proof of his attitude, consider that he had a both a tax collector and a zealot in his band of disciples; talk about irony…

Instead, he changed one life at a time. Jesus didn’t legislate to make adultery laws tougher, instead he took one fallen woman and told her to go and sin no more.

I think that Jesus finds our obsession with political solutions to moral problems to be a horrible waste of our time and an abandonment of our commission, both for the left and the right. It’s easy to wear a ribbon, write a senator, or stand outside an abortion clinic. It’s hard to share the love of Jesus with someone so that God can change their lives.

Robert and I don’t always see eye-to-eye, but he’s given me a lot to think about.  I have a limited amount of time and energy… Should I use it to push for laws to limit people from doing things I think are wrong, or to share and show the love of Jesus in ways that bring people who are far from God closer to Him?  Can I do both?  Should I?

The Church Welcomes Everyone… Well, Not You

This story was all over Fox News this morning… Here’s the version from Saturday’s Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Standing more than six feet tall and weighing more than 225 pounds, 13-year-old Adam Race cuts an imposing figure for his age.  Adam is also severely autistic, and his meltdowns during mass at the Catholic church in Bertha, Minn., have prompted a public battle between the parish priest and Adam’s parents.

You can read the rest of the article here

The parish priest has told Adam’s family that he is too disruptive, and has filed a restraining order to keep the family away from church.  The family was cited by police for ignoring the restraining order on Mother’s Day.

So much for the church being a place of welcome and acceptance for all people, regardless of their shortcomings or limitations.

God forgive us.

 

Sunday Replay 05.18.08

What a beautiful day!  inside and out, God’s handiwork was a sight to behold!  We had some guests in the house, too, and that is always exciting.

The worship band continues to surprise me – in good ways!  The “beat-box” version of “Holy, Holy, Holy” was awesome, so creative!  And the song Anya wrote is amazing!  I can envision it on a CD one of these days.  Thanks guys, for working to keep worship fresh and engaging.

We continued our series “Hope… When Life Seems Hopeless!” with a message on overcoming fear.  We saw that by focusing on God’s strength and His truth, and by literally throwing our cares on Him, we can overcome the fear of evil, our future and even death!  If you weren’t able to be here, be sure to ask for a CD or tape of the message – and pass it on to someone when you’re done listening to it!

“Friction” – our ministry to students, led by Chris and Anya, washed cars after worship for donations to raise money for their upcoming trip to Louisville.  They made over $300!  Way to go guys!

The elders and deacons met in combined session and got a lot accomplished – plenty of projects going on, and exciting things on the horizon.  I can never say enough about how much I love these men, and how honored I am to serve alongside them.

One more thing to wrap up: One of our guests from Sunday, while riding home with his friend, said this: “You guys are going to need a bigger church!”  Praise the Lord!

Have a great week.

I See What You’re Saying…

“People will believe the behavioral message over the verbal message every time.”  – Steve Sjogren

When I was a kid, our family doctor was a man named Preston.  He smoked like a chimney.  I can recall him examining me with a cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth.  I can also remember him lecturing my mother about smoking, trying to get her to quit.  She laughed it off because his behavior didn’t match up with what he said.

There have been a number of books in the last few years on the subject of the disconnect between what Christians say they believe, or should believe, and the way they actually live.  Dan Kimball’s They Like Jesus But Not the Church, Kinnamon and Lyons’ unChristian, and Dean Merrill’s Damage Control: How to Stop Making Jesus Look Bad  are just a few.

My mom is a very smart person.  She knew cigarettes were not healthy.  She just felt a little indignant at a doctor who would say, “You really ought to stop smoking…” while lighting one Chesterfield off the end of another.

People who are far from God are smart people.  Many of them even understand that they live messed up lives.  But they see the call from Christians, “Come be like us…” as an invitation to mostly ignore or fail to apply the teachings of the One we claim to follow.  They don’t see the need for church or the trappings of religion to help them neglect to be the kind of people they should be.

Dr. Preston died of lung cancer.  It took 6 heart bypasses to convince my mom to stop smoking.

Can the Body of Christ turn things around without such a crisis?

 

Zimbabwe update

Kevin Fry left Eden’s Village for Harare midweek last week.  He met with state police officals and the American ambassador at the U.S. Embassy.  He sent this email on Friday:

There have been some improvements in the last 24 hours, and we are praising the Father for His intervention.  The Provincial Welfare Officer went to the Chief of Police and demanded that the violence towards orphans stop immediately, and reminded them that Eden is a protected government agency, and that Social Welfare directives supersede all police directives.   The result of this conversation was the police intervention at an incident yesterday that involved literally all of our staff.

Our staff were forced to go to a rally where opposition members were forced to apologize for voting for MDC.  Angela, our herbalist stood up in the meeting and gave everyone the gears for terrorizing people and forcing them to sleep in the bush on the ground.  She said our Clinic is inundated with beating victims, and people, mainly children, who are becoming quite sick sleeping on the ground (it is winter here.) They were held at the meeting for 8 hours without food or water.  One employee was beaten.  At the end of the rally, all were forced onto tractor-pulled wagons with the instructions that they were to go to Farways Farm to beat everyone and burn all the buildings.  (People are often forced to do these things — either you beat others, or they beat you).  They did not get far from Doma before a single police officer stopped the group and told them to turn around and release everyone, which they promptly did.  You have to understand that we have not seen a police response like this since 2000!

We have a prayer concern.  Some of our children are being forced into the Youth Brigade, and we are fighting to keep them out.  They will be forced to commit atrocities, and will be raped repeatedly (to make her tough), and re-educated in terrorism.  All of our teens need special prayer cover to keep them from this evil.

Many who have been involved never recover from the atrocities they have committed, and our kids have already been through enough.  Pray fervently for supernatural protection of all of our teens — they are under a great deal of pressure.

I had a good meeting with the US Ambassador, the Security Unit, The Business Unit, the Media Unit, and the Consular Section.  The Ambassador is approaching several officials in very high positions to basically tell them:  You are harming an American citizen doing philanthropic work for the benefit of the Zimbabwean people.  The attacks on defenseless orphans have to stop immediately.  If it is not stopped, we will make a worldwide press release documenting the atrocities against defenseless children.

In a few days, we should see some result from the Ambassador’s efforts.

The press release will not happen unless the violence continues.  Then we will be asked to go to the US Embassy Media Unit to prepare the statement for release.  The Embassy already has pictures, and knows the details of everything that has happened to date.  They also know that the full responsibility of the atrocities fall on Douglas Mombeshora himself.

Going to the Embassy does carry risk.  The Embassy did indicate that my arrest would be likely, and we defined some protocols on what has to happen in that event.  The most critical thing is that the Embassy must be notified as quickly as possible so that the diplomatic machinery can be put into full operation right away.

Last night was the second night we have had 180 people in my house and Rory and Judy’s house.  It has been wall-to-wall Shona people.  We have not hesitated, because this is the only safe place we can offer them.  We fed them a peanut butter sandwich and a small glass of milk, and that took 40 loaves of bread, half a bucket of peanut butter, and 15 gallons of milk.  Probably one of the strangest picnics in history!

At one point, a group of thugs arrived at our property while Judy, Thomas, and Isaac were loading personal belongings in a container.  It was total panic, and total pandemonium, and in the end, Isaac was locked in the container!  After quite a long time, Isaac was able to make someone hear him, and they keys were located to let him out.  His eyes were like dinner plates!  I don’t think he will ever volunteer to help load a container again!

It appears that the rural violence is now shifting to the urban areas.  It is anticipated that the military will be shooting people in urban areas. Things could escalate significantly as this unfolds.  The Embassy has the impression that the violence is intended to continue for at least a year.  If things become much worse, the Embassy intends to order all Americans out of the country until there is a regime change.

So, to sum it all up…Right now Eden is in the best position we have been in for many months.  It is only by Father’s faithful intervention, and your intervention in intercessory prayer, that we have come to a more stable situation.  We are truly grateful for your prayers and concern.  We are far from out of trouble, and as a nation, we are still sliding deeper into an abyss of total chaos.  Prayer is greatly needed.  Please don’t stop!

Blessings to you!

Kevin

Thanks to everyone who has been praying.  Please continue to keep Kevin, Eden’s Children’s Village, the staff and the children in fervent prayer.

Sunday Replay 5.11.08

What a terrific Mother’s Day!  The weather was lousy, but it was great to see so many families worshipping together!  Lots of guests in the house, too!

The worship band did things “a little differently” with kind of an acoustic, “coffee house” vibe.  I was thoroughly blessed!  It was refreshing to worship with songs we know and have sung in the past played in an innovative way.  The band’s vision and desire to be creative is so exciting to me.  I’m looking forward to more great things.

We continued our message series, “Hope… When Life Seems Hopeless.”  Sunday’s message was “When My Family’s Falling Apart…”  We looked at Joseph’s messed up family situation and saw that God can heal any family, no matter the problems or dysfunction, and He can use any family for His purposes.  If you’re in a family that’s struggling, or you know someone who is, get a CD or tape of this encouraging word.

A quick word on the video marriage conference, “Love and Respect” with Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, held on Saturday:  It was, hands down, the best marriage conference I have ever heard or seen.  We are going to become big time proponents of this conference.  We plan to offer it again and again, both in conference format and as a small group study.  My goal is for every couple, every adult in the Jubilee family to go through this material.  It is no exaggeration to say that it is potentially life changing.

We are lasering in on Bible Beach Club, June 16-20.  Volunteers, don’t forget the first of our Saturday org meetings, May 17 @ 10:00 AM.

Have a great week!

 

Prayer for Zimbabwe

This is a lengthy post – I ask that you bear with me…Our congregation has for several years supported Kevin and Susan Fry and the work of Eden Children’s Village in Zimbabwe.  Members of our congregation sponsor individual children at the mission. 

The is little news coverage, but the situation is rapidly deteriorating in that country following the last month’s elections. The general consensus is that the ruling party and it’s leader Robert Mugabe have lost control of government, but election results were never released and a “re-election” is planned.

The ruling party is not willing to give up power peacefully and is using terror and intimidation tactics to retain control.  The Fry’s and Eden have been a particular target. Susan is currently in the States with a group of the children who are participating in some academic competitions. (We will have the chance to fellowship with them at Rainbow Camp next week, PTL!)  Kevin is in Zimbabwe, trying to keep the Eden employees and the orphans safe.

Please pray.

Below are transcripts of daily correspondence we are receiving from Kevin…

Sunday:

Things have become quite violent in Doma in the last 20 hours. The Party is after the 7 employees who assisted in the election campaign. (They did not ask to do this; they were told they had to assist). Daniel managed to get away before getting pounded, but narrowly missed losing his 13 month old. Thugs threw concrete blocks through the windows, and just missed the baby.

Punish has taken quite a beating. He was actually abducted to Chapumani Farm after the police fired warning shots, where he was severely beaten.

The Youth Brigade came to our property this morning, and they beat most of the 200 people who live on this property in an effort to get them to go to a political rally at Cecilmour Farm, which has been the scene of a number of families having their homes and belongings burnt.

People will become quite wound up at this rally this afternoon, and the Youth Brigade has promised to return tonight to beat everyone and burn all the houses. Our employees intend to fight back (NOT their usual way of handling things).

I will keep you posted as things unfold. Above all, PRAY!!! We need Father Yahweh to show His power, and save His children!

We have waited for this day for eight years, and for those long years we have had the miraculous protection of the Almighty. Today, we are asking for His will to be done. We pray for the protection of the children, our staff, and their families. We have actually been praying that people will be allowed to literally see the heavenly host protecting Eden, and that this will bring fruit for the Kingdom.

I want you to know that I am not anxious or fearful. I have things I have to do here. I have packed a small suitcase and a backpack for a quick evacuation, if that is warranted.

Kevin

Monday

We thankfully had a quiet night in Doma last night. Between the generator and the local power company, we were able to keep lights on all night. The thugs prefer to work in the dark, and wear masks to keep from being identified. So lighting is a deterrent. I had teachers and some orphans who are on the hit list sleep at the house last night, and they will continue for a few nights, until we can get some more information.

The military was at the rally at Cecilmour Farm. Eden employees and their families comprise about 75% of the township population, and they were told in no uncertain terms that Kevin and Susan Fry are targets, and Eden will certainly be taken apart. They told them this will not be by a few, but by hundreds. The difficult thing in these situations is to determine what is a genuine threat, and what is the usual hot-air bravado.

In any case, we have an obligation to report threats to the US Embassy, and that report will be filed sometime tomorrow. We are trying to gather a few more names of specific individuals involved in the threats. What the Embassy does is file a complaint with the Foreign Relations Committee, which reports to the President himself. There are bilateral agreements still in place that are supposed to provide protection for our foreign investment. Eden is under the umbrella of our foreign investment, part of our corporate responsibility programme. This has been on file for nearly ten years.

We still covet your prayers. There will likely be another election for the presidency, and things will continue to escalate until that exercise is finished. We are hearing unofficially that the runoff could be as early as the 24th of May. We just pray that it is not postponed another 90 days!

Inflation has hit a record 400,000%, and the marketplace is in total chaos. Bread is now $150,000,000 a loaf, and there are riots to get it. We have truly slipped into an abyss!

I will keep you posted as things develop. THANK YOU for your faithful prayers! They keep us going, and keep us protected. Prayer is a most powerful weapon!

Kevin

Today (Tuesday)

Violence continues to escalate in Doma. Last night a cooking hut was burned on our property, and there was a major fight between employees and the thugs sent by ZANU-PF. The greatest casualty in the fire was little Luckmore, a five-year-old AIDS orphan living with an employee’s family. Luckmore was quite traumatized by the fire — he has suffered third degree burns twice in his life with two different incidents. He has extensive scarring on his head from falling in a fire as a toddler, and he is recovering from a child spilling boiling porridge on his back. Last night’s fire was targeted on this particular family to traumatize this tiny child. We see this as attempted murder.

We have notified the police, and the Provincial Social Welfare Officer of this event. The Provincial Officer is at the police station as I write this to demand action on this crime. He is also requesting protection for the orphans in our care who are wards of the State.

Our teachers continue to be targeted. Shupikai Wairesi was severely beaten while visiting family at Kismet Farm just 2 miles away, and ZANU-PF has indicated that they will severely beat every teacher at Eden Christian Academy. They assume that our teachers will vote against the ruling party, and the intimidation tactic is to get them out of the area so that they cannot vote in a presidential runoff.

We will be evacuating all of our teachers within the next 48 hours. Our students will be taught leathercraft by a skilled artisan while we wait for things to settle down. We are also making plans to evacuate all the orphans if things continue to escalate. We will take them to a national park for a bush awareness course for a couple of weeks. We are actively making plans…

My presence in Doma appears to be inflammatory, and I will be packing the house down tomorrow, and moving to Harare. I need to file reports with the US Embassy, and I need to see our attorney in Harare about confronting our Member of Parliament personally about his responsibility in this terrorism. I have many things I need to get done in Harare, so the move is beneficial at this point.

All of this trouble comes from just one source. Douglas Mombeshora, MP, has libeled Susan and I repeatedly in his campaign speeches, and he has inflamed the racist hatred that is manifested all around us. Our employees are being beaten because it is a crime to assist indigenous children, and an even greater crime to work for a white person. None of this is legal, of course. It is not illegal for us to operate our foreign investment, and it is not illegal to operate assistance programmes for destitute children, and it is not illegal to operate a licensed medical clinic.

We would certainly appreciate your prayers! We are hanging by a thread here, and all are very discouraged and frightened.

I will fill you in on more as things develop. I will be sending photographs in another e-mail.

Thank you all for all your prayers! I think they are preventing fatalities!

Kevin

I simply have no bucket to put any of that in – persecution is so far removed from us American Christians…  All I know to do is weep and pray.

I ask that you do the same.

This Sunday @ Jubilee…

We begin a new message series this Sunday – “Hope… When Life Seems Hopeless.”  We struggle in difficult situations when we try to handle them by ourselves and on our terms.  It’s ironic that our “do-it-myself” mentality actually produces the feelings of frustration and hopelessness so many of us struggle with!

This 4 week series will focus on the Bible as our source for finding godly confidence and victory in the face of difficult situations.  God’s Word makes clear that for the believer, hope is not a wish, it’s a certainty!

 Messages include:

• “When My Life’s a Mess”
• “When My Family’s Falling Apart”
• “When My Fears are Out of Control”
• “When I’m Ready to give Up”

The start of a new series is a great time to invite friends, relatives, co-workers, and neighbors who are not involved in church.  I urge you to call someone who:

• is struggling in a relationship
• is afraid of losing their job
• is overwhelmed by the pressures of life
• thinks they’re too far from God for Him to notice

and invite them to come.  Offer to meet them in the parking lot or foyer, and to sit with them during the service.  If they’re not ready to “go to church” just yet, that’s ok – offer to get them a CD of the message.

Always remember – we’re here for good.