A Far Green Country

New study says prayer is powerless. It only cost $2.4 million to come to this 'conclusion.' Read the article...not to worry!

He's wrong about 85%...I think we'd be thrilled with 20%.

A year ago today I was in Jakarta, one day away from being in tsunami ravaged Banda Aceh, Indonesia. It was a chance to go to the nation the Lord had specifically placed on my heart 3 years before arriving. In the last year, Aceh has been a fixture on my mind. Progress is being made structurally, and there's even reports of a handful who have come to Christ since that deadly day in December 04. However, this is still a staunchly Muslim people in desperate need of the Prince of Peace. Please remember to pray for these people...that over a quarter million people would not be lost for no greater good, but that YHWH would use it to save a remnant to Himself.

A movie called Amazing Grace about the life of William Wilberforce is coming out in 2007. Wilberforce fought to abolish slavery in England in the late 1700's & early 1800's.

This is an excellent, simple sermon by Sinclair Ferguson on the "Birthmarks of a Church" from Acts. His whole series on the church has been phenomenal, so if you have 25 minutes, this will whet your appetite.

ATHENS, Ga. — Tired of accommodating their legalistic friend, members of a men's group have asked Harold Beihn to loosen up or move on.
"His standard of personal holiness fits us a little too tight," says one member.
But Beihn says he just "wanted my guys to be holy as the Lord is holy. I think God put me in their lives to remind them of the rules."
By all accounts, Beihn's lifestyle was out of synch with the others'. He vetoed most activities the other guys wanted to do because they "didn't accord with righteous living." This ruled out movies, sporting events, even bowling because the atmosphere at the lanes is "too loose," says Beihn.
Beihn also took accountability so seriously that he often called the other men at 7:30 a.m. and asked, "Did you kiss your wife yet?" If the answer was no, he'd report them to the men's ministry pastor.
The situation recently came to a head when everyone but Beihn wanted to play darts and drink beer every Monday night in their garages, creating a casual venue for inviting unsaved friends.
But Beihn had a major hang-up with it.
"He kept saying, 'Darts, I can handle, but beer — I can't go there, guys,'" says one member. Subsequently, the other members asked Beihn to leave the group, saying they were "moving in different directions."
Beihn joined another group, which he enjoys and whose members "run a tighter ship, morally speaking."
"They have respect for the rules I live by," says Beihn. "We get along great."•

By my own admonission
I must give admission
I've had prideful ambition
To be something great

And in addition
In my own volition
I have not petitioned
But waited on fate

What a poor postion
To come to the Lord in such condition
With unconfessed sins of omission
The Cross, I desecrate

It's in deep contrition
I come in the disposition
Of deep reverance & submission
Pleading for a clean slate

Lord, my propisition
Is to heal this heart of division
Win the flesh/spirit competition
Put me on the path that's straight

He said, "Take recognition,
Though your heart's in opposition
And often in remission
I'll lead you through the narrow gate

You're My child, you have a mission
It's not to be great but for My vision
To love Me and obey My Great Commission
You're forgiven, I give you abundant grace

from Mark Dever

So why are Calvinists considered such poor evangelists? Do the statistics of the PCA's growth that I have read suggest that Reformed types are better evangelists? In the Southern Baptist Convention, we're always having to defend the idea that we can believe that Romans 9 has to do with individual salvation, and that Romans 10 still weighs on our hearts and minds and calls us to obedience. But in a more Reformed denomination like the PCA, do you actually think that Calvinists are better evangelists?

I think of the kind of denominational statistics we see, like in Dave Shiflett's book Exodus (that Al was interviewed in) from last year. Shiflett cites the following statistics of church membership from the last 10 years:

14.8% decline in the United Church of Christ

11.6% decline in the PCUSA

6.7% decline in the United Methodist Church

5.7% decline in the American Baptist Churches

5.3% decline in the Episcopal Church

5% growth in the Southern Baptist Convention

18.5% growth in the Assemblies of God

21.8% growth in the Christian and Missionary Alliance

40.2% growth in the Church of God

42.4% growth in the PCA

57.2% growth in the Evangelical Free Churches

In light of your post on not losing a grip on the gospel, would you suggest that Calvinists are better evangelists? Is that what these statistics suggest? To what do you attribute the PCA's much more rapid growth?

Yo, yo, yo, what up cyber space? Just cyber chillen like a villain in here. I've been thinking, "Dude, how can we ever expect post-modernism to embrace calvinsim, or what I prefer to call it, Biblicalism, with such irrelevant, stuffy terms as T.U.L.I.P? Cmon B, depravity, election, atonement, grace, perseverance - those terms are out like a gallon of expired milk is out my fridge, you know what I'm sayin?

So, I was like day-dreamin' bout this in Ethics, right - cuz payin attention in class is totally modernistic and "bad" old-school...it's dope to like, go you're own way, do your own thang, whatever speaks to your inner conscious the most. So there I was in the zone right, and I came up with a way for my post-modern peeps to follow along with what the Bible's screamin in a cool like jazz fashion. I call it "C" to the 5th power...or you may wanna call it C5, son.

Here it is:

Completely screwed up (Total depravity)

Chosen with my only qualification bein totally screwed up (Unconditional election)

Christ ain't no universalist, son! (Limited atonement)

Can't dis His grace, boyyyy! (Irresistible grace)

Christianity in you ain't stoppin even after your heart stops poppin (Perseverance of
the Saints)

Add up all the lines that start with C's and you get 5 of em, leading to the new, C5.

So long T.U.L.I.P, hello C5.

And don't forget to make Jesus your homeboy today.

by John Bunyan

Run John run, the Law demands
But gives you neither feet nor hands.
But much sweeter news the gospel brings
It bids you fly and gives you wings.

This photo came from our wonderful friend who serves as a missionary in the Pacific Rim. I hope that seeing their beautiful faces would serve as a reminder to pray for these people to come and know Christ as their Redeemer and Savior.

Romans 15:20-21
"and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written,
"Those who have never been told of him will see,and those who have never heard will understand."