Battle Lines

Sidone Holland is a dear friend of mine. She emailed a link to an online article entitled How Will The Shocking Decline of Christianity in America Affect the Future of this Nation?. Talk about a sobering read. It contains statistics and facts that show that discipleship is in decline in the USA and that it’s pretty much a lost cause, especially among 18-29 year olds.

On the other hand, there are hundreds of American churches with attendance in the thousands and deep conviction about reaching this generation. In addition, the spoken word video below, entitled Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus, was written and performed by a 22-year-old named Jefferson Bethke. It’s had nearly 18,000,000 hits on YouTube to date. Apparently, young people are still interested in Jesus’ message. Every generation has to fight to gain, keep, and spread their faith.  What a calling for which to live! What a cause for which to fight! Our church is ALL IN and the new Millennial Generation Initiative (MGI) has gotten of to jaw-dropping start. It’s been great to see so many Millennials seeking and finding God. I’m really thankful to be witnessing it.

The battle lines are drawn; the odds long. Come to think of it, that’s how it’s always been. As Rob Bell wrote in Velvet Elvis, Jesus message and church are “still going after all this time. After the Crusades, the Inquisition, and Christian cable television...She (the church) will continue to roll across the ages, serving and giving and connecting people with God and each other. And people will abuse her and manipulate her and try to control her, but they’ll pass on. And she will keep going.”

Seminary for Dummies

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”  2 Timothy 2:15 (NIV)

After 6 years, 18 courses, 54 unit hours, hundreds of books and articles read, and dozens of papers written, etc, I'm scheduled to graduate in May of 2012 with a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry degree , from the Harding School of Theology in Memphis TN.  I've also taken some of the courses toward this degree at Azusa Pacific University, Abilene Christian University, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and have done research at Fuller Theological Seminary. My file with all the course work done is 160 MB :) 

The Spirit has put on my heart the desire to teach a Master's in Theology Overview Class for Turing Point beginning on Wednesday January 4th at the Burbank Worship Center. The hope is for this to be a "seminary for dummies" of sorts.

As I always say, I'm not a scholar or an expert but I am an avid student. I know that many of you have done more study or similar study. I can't fill your cup but I do want to empty mine into yours. What I look forward to most is being able to "upload" the highlights and best information from these studies onto your hard drives! I hope that our roots will grow deeper, our spiritual foundation will broaden, and our toolbox of spiritual resources will expand as a result.

We envision a schedule sort of like an academic calendar with four quarters in 2012 with the following tentative schedule: Winter quarter: Systematic Theology (what the heck is theology anyway?); Spring Quarter: Advanced Old Testament Overview and Study, Summer Quarter; Advanced New Testament Overview and Study; Fall Quarter: Church History and Christianity in Europe and America. We’d also like to give out certificates of completion at the end of the year to those who participate. More details are to come but I just wanted to put this on your radar. Hello 2012 & Happy New Year to all of you!

MGI

During a message on Sunday November 13^th, I asked all of the members of our church to give the next year of their lives to reaching the Millennial Generation for Christ. In addition, I asked all those who would volunteer to be a part of a special mission team/task force to focus intently on engaging this emerging generation. We are calling it the Millennial Generation Initiative (MGI) and can’t wait to see what God does with it in 2012!

TP 2012 Millennial Generation Initiative Video from TurningPoint Church on Vimeo.

All In

In every endeavor of life, there are those that are marginally committed and those that are all in. Sometimes you can't tell the difference at the beginning. Nevertheless, time and adversity eventually separate the two.  

If there is any cause that deserves an All In devotion, it’s following Jesus.  

Being all in is not a onetime event but a day-to-day choice. That's what we as a church are going to recommit to in 2012; being All In, all the time.

Transformers

A while back, Jay Torres recalled something that caught his attention and motivated him to focus more intently on pursuing his relationship with God. He said that seeing the personal transformation in the lives of his sister in law and her husband, Fei and Michael Baumgart, changed him. Jay was baptized earlier this year. His wife Shimooi became a Christian last year. The Torres family and countless others first witnessed transformation; then they experienced it for themselves.

Each Sunday in October, our worship services will feature two members of our church family sharing their stories of how God has radically changed their lives for the better. It’ll be a great way to honor him and to illustrate what following Jesus looks like day in and day out. As it fitting, we’re calling this new Sunday message series Transformers! It promises to be a great time. See you there!

Transformation 9-28-11 from TurningPoint Church on Vimeo.