Just when you thought it could not get any more absurd… Fox News is reporting, Border Patrol agents in Arizona are blasting their bosses for telling them, along with all other Department of Homeland Security employees, to run and hide if they encounter an “active shooter.”
One student’s response to a police search attempt [VIDEO]
How should you respond when stopped by the police for doing nothing illegal? How should you respond when asked to do things that sound “reasonable” but are actually “unreasonable” by 4th Amendment standards? An unnamed Portland, Maine student demonstrates the advantage of knowing your constitutional rights. In an exchange recorded on video, a Portland police officer attempted to question a student carrying a pistol. Since Maine is an open carry state, and since the man was not threatening anyone or waving the gun around menacingly, he was doing nothing wrong. This is verifiably clear since he repeatedly asks the questioning police officer if he has done anything wrong, or if is he suspected of a crime. They answer given was always “no.” Notice he also refuses to give his name. This is also a smart thing to do. Each police encounter is written down as soon the event ends. Had the young man given his name, it would have become part of the “incident report.” This, in turn, could be used to build a case against him in the event he was ever suspected of anything in the future. (See this post for how the police use this kind of information.)
‘Pastoral Advice from a Professional Wrestler,’ by Jay Sanders
In my eight or so years of blogging, I’m not sure I’ve ever borrowed an entire post from another blogger. That alone should explain how I feel about the quality of what you will read below. I’ve known Jay Sanders since he was really young. “Young” like early middle school or maybe elementary school. Of late he has been pastor of the Towaliga Baptist Church in Jackson, GA. He is what a former pastor of mine used to call “a quality man.” He’s married to Marsha and has a couple of boys. He has been blogging a lot in the past two or three months and the blogosphere is much better off for it.
The danger of talking to the police [VIDEO]
A former defense attorney gives a lecture at Regent College in Virginia on the dangers of giving any information at all to the police. His lecture is fast paced using plenty of slides and quotes from legal sources. It is very easy to understand, compelling and disconcerting. His 30 minute lecture is followed by a Virginia policeman who is himself studying for the bar (or so it sounded). His time is intended to rebut the professor’s assertions, many of which sound utterly outlandish or downright conspiratorial. As a Christ follower I believe in the authority of the government. I also believe in discernment. When living in a context where government is increasingly running off the rails, as I believe we now are, self-defense becomes more than firing a weapon to protect your life. It also means exercising your rights to protect your freedom. This is well worth your time.
Pardon the mess…
While I check on a new Facebook plugin. Have two overlapping right now. Patience requested.
Free book: ‘The Generous Soul,’ by Marty Duren, Chapter 7
In case you need to get caught up before you start Chapter 7, follow these links: The Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 chapter seven enemies of missional giving “Do not covet…anything that belongs to your neighbor.” Exodus 20:17 (HCSB) “I’ve worked hard and I’ve become rich and friendless and mean. In America, that’s about as far as you can go.” Horace Vandergelder (Walter Matthau) Hello Dolly! The person who puts his or her trust in things is as great a fool as the person who denies the existence of God altogether. Periodically when I was a kid, my family would visit my Granny and Paw Paw in Clanton, Alabama. They lived in a wooden house, well-shaded by several enormous oak and pecan trees across the yard and near an old barn and smoke house where Granny stored her jellies, preserves, and canned vegetables. The front yard had a slight slope toward a hill that angled further down to the dirt driveway that led from Enterprise Road up to their house. It was there that my cousins and I played King of the Hill. King of the Hill is typically a boy’s game—a rough-and-tumble human version of young bucks butting antlers or mountain goats clashing horns. The objective was to remove the cousin or cousins standing at the top of the grade by whatever means necessary and send them sprawling to a place topographically less prominent. Sometimes the dethroning was the result of a one-on-one engagement—hand-to-hand combat, if you will; sometimes it was the mutual effort of a hastily made alliance. Such an alliance was never formalized; rather, it amounted to two people grabbing each arm of the current king and dragging him down. The alliance then was immediately broken as the usurpers turned on each other for final control. For a brief and shining moment, one boy could flex his scarecrow-thin arms at the rest and declare himself, “King of the hill!” That reign would last until the fallen gathered themselves, raced back up the incline, laid hands on the grassy monarch and pitched him unceremoniously forward to less lordly surroundings. All in all it reminds me of Washington, D.C. Or Wall Street.
Free book: ‘The Generous Soul,’ by Marty Duren, Chapter 6
I am running a little behind on the most recent chapters of The Generous Soul. If you missed the first installments, follow these links to read: The Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Below, you can read Chapter 6. Thanks for your patience. At the end of this chapter you have the option to buy the Kindle version through Amazon. chapter six becoming missional givers “Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.” 2 Corinthians 8:2 (NIV) “See that you also excel in this grace of giving.” 2 Corinthians 8:7 (NIV) You want to know what’s wrong with our waterfront? It’s the love of a lousy buck. It’s love of a buck, the cushy job, more important than the love of man! Father Barry (Karl Malden) On the Waterfront I am not by nature a generous person. I’m more what you might call, “generous by degrees.” I tend to be fairly generous with some things, but not so generous with others. For instance, I’m OK with giving money to someone who lost a job, buying Christmas presents for kids who are not going to have gifts on the 25th of December, giving an offering for a guest speaker, or a family who lost everything in a house fire. On the other hand, do not ask me for a SweeTart; that’s where I draw the line. I’m not likely to share a Snickers with you either. There are some things I’m just not sure God would ask this child to do. A couple of years ago, I was invited to speak to a group of pastors in Oklahoma. The leader who invited me, John, picked me up at the airport and we started a multi-hour ride back to the city where the event would be hosted. Pretty quickly he noticed my roll of SweeTarts and mentioned his affinity for, I believe, the blue ones. It grieved me to no end that he was worming his way into my candy stash. It was only with the greatest personal suffering that he received a few of those tantalizing discs of Dextrose, Maltodextrin, Malic Acid, Calcium Stearate, artificial flavors, Blue 1 Lake, Blue 2 Lake, Red 40 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, and Yellow 6 Lake. I mean, c’mon. I would have bought him an apple.
Three copies of ‘Transformational Discipleship’ to give away
I have three copies of Transformation Discipleship to give away. Give me your top idea for doing biblical discipleship and I’ll choose the best ideas (purely subjectively, of course) and get 1-copy each to the winners. You can use the Facebook comments or the regular comment thread. From the description: A Christian’s desire to grow in faith is beautiful and biblical, best illustrated in Jeremiah 17 where Scripture describes ‘The man who trusts in the LORD’ as being ‘like a tree planted by water…It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.’ But how do people really grow? Transformational Discipleship describes the process that brings to life that kind of person described in the Bible. There’s no magic formula or mantra to recite here, but rather a substantive measure of research with churches and individuals who have wholeheartedly answered the call of Jesus to make disciples. A compilation of their wisdom and stories, it surely guides church leaders and members to practice the intentional efforts needed to foster an entire culture in which people grow in Christian faith. And they will grow, not because of human research, but by the power of the Word and of the Holy Spirit working through the church—the same way disciples have always been made. When the people of God engage in the mission of God through the Spirit of God, lives are transformed. The authors of Transformational Discipleship are Eric Geiger, Philip Nation and Michael Kelley, all of LifeWay Christian Resources. Buy either the print or Kindle versions at Amazon via the link below. THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW OVER.
‘The Gospel Project,’ by Propaganda [VIDEO]
Here’s a new video to help promote The Gospel Project for students. Do not forget you can find full information on The Gospel Project at the website. You can also read my review and download samples.
Interview with Maranatha! Music recording artist, Shelly E. Johnson
Recently I received an email encouraging me to give a listen to a new song, “All Things Beautiful,” by Shelly E. Johnson. This expected top song is a part of her EP release, Power of the Cross due out in August 2012. Her label debut is a powerful collection of songs helmed by acclaimed Dove Award-winning producer Phil Sillas. The project spotlights Shelly’s gift as a songwriter, vocalist and pianist. Her poignant ballad and debut single, “All Things Beautiful,” acknowledges life’s baffling challenges yet echoes with the hope of God’s goodness and sovereignty. The album also includes “Power of the Cross,” a song Shelly was inspired to write while volunteering at the Nashville Rescue Mission, a shelter that ministers to the homeless of middle Tennessee. Two Wednesdays a month, for four years, Shelly led worship for morning chapel at the Hope Center, the branch of the Rescue Mission devoted solely to women and children. Shelly recalls, “One morning our speaker talked about the cross and explained to these women – some who were hearing it for the first time – what Christ did on the cross and how it could change their lives. She held up a wooden cross and said, ‘Some of you have been living in chains with drug addiction, abuse, all the things keeping you from embracing Christ, and it’s time to let these things go and embrace the life God has for you.’ She then encouraged the women, if they were ready, to come forward and lay their chains at the foot of the cross.” As the women began to come forward, one by one laying down their chains before Jesus, tears streaming down their faces, Shelly was deeply moved. “It was one of the most powerful things I’d ever experienced. I came home, sat at my piano, and began playing and singing the song, as though it had already been written. It was a gift from God.” In the years that followed, as Shelly continued volunteering at the Hope Center, “Power of the Cross” became a life song to many of the women involved in the ministry. Shelly is a native of the Atlanta area where she grew up in a strong Christian home, but it wasn’t until the age of fourteen when her father tragically died from cancer that Shelly became serious about her relationship with Christ, and her life was changed forever. “When faced with that kind of tragedy, some people get angry at God and turn their back on Him, but I chose to run to Him. I knew if He could create the universe, then surely He could take care of me, and I wanted to know Him more. Reading the Bible, praying and journaling became part of my daily routine, and seeking after Christ became my number one priority. I began to transform spiritually during that season of my life.” I had the opportunity recently for a brief email interview with Shelly. MD: How did you get into music? SJ: Music had always been an integral part of my life, from playing classical piano from age eight, to being involved in every church and school choir musical, to leading worship throughout middle school and high school. But it was during this painful season that I discovered the art of songwriting. When my daddy was sick, playing my music was my way of dealing with it. I would play and sing for hours, pouring my emotions out to the Lord. The first song I ever wrote was called ‘Miracles’, and it was just a simple, honest song from the heart of a 14-year-old begging God to work a miracle and heal my daddy. After attending a private Christian school kindergarten through eighth grade, I attended a public high school and became involved in chorus. My chorus teacher, who knew of the struggles my family was experiencing, encouraged me to share the songs I was writing with the chorus classes. I was in a public high school with over 2,500 students, from all different backgrounds, religions and races, singing and playing my newly-written songs about Jesus in the middle of chorus class. I was able to share with my classmates what my family was going through and share with them how I was learning to depend on God. MD: How many projects have you recorded? SJ: This is my first album signed to a label. Before this, I released an independent album in 2009 entitled Mosaic of Grace, comprised of eleven original songs. MD: From where do you draw the inspiration for music you write? SJ: From life, conversations with others, from observing what goes on around me, but mostly from my prayers, my journal, the Scriptures and books I’m reading and what God is teaching me. MD: Tell me about your new song, “All Things Beautiful.” SJ: It seems everywhere I turn, I hear stories that break my heart. Stories that cause me to stop in my tracks, shake my head in disbelief, and ask, “What?” I quit watching the news a long time ago because, frankly, I just couldn’t handle it. So much suffering in the world. A world God intended to be so perfectly beautiful. Horrible things happen to us and those around us, and when we try to reconcile these horrific events in light of the loving and all-powerful God, we are simply left shaking our heads, with nothing to say other than, “Why?” This song is my response to that heart-wrenching, desperate question. The question with an answer that has eluded so many, sadly, causing them to run in the opposite direction of the very One who can carry them through the fires and floods in their lives. I don’t know why God allows fires and floods. I don’t know how He can just stand by, do nothing and watch a mother lose her child. These matters are too overwhelming for me to wrap my mind around. I do know that when Adam & Eve sinned,