Here’s a rare Saturday post for me.

I first saw this on the ever amazing Michelle Malkin’s site, and couldn’t agree more! Check out Captian’s Quarters for more infor on what this is all about!

Bottom Line is that just because I, and many, many others, never served in the Armed Forces, doesn’t mean we can’t support the war in Iraq, or anywhere else!

Those of us who do support our fighting back against the Islamic Terrorists who have killed so many Americans and others, will continue to do so regardless of what is said about us!

We are the 101st Fighting Keyboardists! Sure, I would have preferred a Marine based idenity, but you can’t have everything!

I know that most veterans appreciate our support, from WW2 Raiders all the way to Iraq vets!

So I close by saying – Gung Ho!

Here’s yet another set of great sites and links for you to check out on the good old World Wide Web this weekend!

Enjoy!

Tough Talk with Colonel Hunt:

If you’ve watched much of Fox News coverage of the Terror War then you know who this guy is. He’s one of the best analysts around, and one tough guy!

Apparently he doesn’t contribute to this site very often, but whatever he says is well worth reading.

Hot Air:

This is a great site featuring a daily video news commentary/rant by one of my favorites bloggers/authors – Michelle Malkin. You might have to download the flash video player to access it, I did. It downloads in a flash and then you can enjoy!

There’s other news stories and vids here as well, I check it every weekday morning!

No More Christian Nice Guy:

If you are a single Christian guy looking for a different perspective on dating and a Biblical view of being a man, you might want to check this site and book out.

I haven’t read the book, and won’t, but it does sound interesting and I believe he has a good point. His point isn’t immediately clear, but once you see it, it’s hard to argue with.

You Send It:

If you need to send large files to someone, too large to fit into their Inbo, then this site might be your answer. You register here, upload your file, and your friends log on and download it.

Not too bad!

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I’m sure you’ve heard the quote about a Chinese proverb or curse about living in interesting times.

Well almost – as NOBLE (North of Boston Libary Exchange) points out.

In a speech in Cape Town, South Africa, on June 7, 1966, Robert F. Kennedy said, “There is a Chinese curse which says, “May he live in interesting times.” Like it or not, we live in interesting times…” Journalists picked up the phrase and it has become a commonplace. However, the popularity of this “Chinese curse” puzzles Chinese scholars, who have only heard it from Americans. If it is of Chinese origin, it has somehow escaped the literature, although it may be a paraphrase of a liberal translation from a Chinese source, and therefore unrecognizable when translated back to Chinese. It might be related to the Chinese proverb, “It’s better to be a dog in a peaceful time than be a man in a chaotic period.”

Stephen DeLong, who has been researching this quotation for several years and details his quest on his own website, has traced the quotation back to a 1950 science fiction story: “U-Turn” by Duncan H. Munro, a pseudonym for Eric Frank Russell.

I love how many so called quotes turn out to either be completely made up, or a result of misunderstanding, mistranslating or muddled up understanding of what’s been said or written.

I get a lot of forwards from people containing a lot of so-called quotes. You’ve probably seen the “real life” quotes from grade school kids, Sunday School classes, etc. We must love those kid quotes don’t we? But I’m convinced that many, if not all of them are in whole or in part made up.

Of course that doesn’t stop me from using the really funny ones as sermon intro’s – so keep sending me the good stuff!

Here’s another great quote that actually has been documented. I first read it in Serious Times by James Emery White.

John Adams to his friend Thomas Jefferson toward the end of their lives. “You and I have lived in serious times.”

The Revolutionary Generation did indeed lived in serious times, but we are living in times that are no less serious. Between the cultural decay all around us, Islamic Terrorism, other kinds of terror (such as ELF and other enviromental and animal rights groups, etc.) I don’t think anyone would deny that the times are serious!

But I don’t believe that means we have to be so darn serious all the time! Or so easily offended either.

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I know, I know, I was supposed to comment on the old philosphy of ministry I posted for the last two days.

Well the heck with that! Unless I change my mind tonight, I’m in the mood for a little fun! And thanks to Mark Roberts, who got me thinking about this – I’m going to have it!

He put up a post on his site a while back that I just read today titled, “How Will I Be Remembered?” In it he asked the question that I’ve made the title of this little post. I admit it got me thinking, below is what happens when I let my mind wander a little too much!!

I have to admit that I didn’t create that, I found this funny site using Google where you can try out what you think you want on your headstone called Tombstone Generator. Go ahead and check it out – you know you want too!

So what do you think you’d want on your tombstone? What have you done that you’d like those who come after you to remember? In his post Mark Roberts shows us what Thomas Jefferson has on his -

I guess that’s what Jefferson was most proud of, or at least thought would be the longest lasting, most permanent part of his work. Or perhaps it was the work he had enjoyed the most or found personally fullfilling. Either way isn’t it interesting that he doesn’t list being President or Vice President? (Okay, I can understand trying to forget about being VP – but President??)

Here’s a fascinating picture of the written instructions Jefferson made as to how he wanted the tombstone to look – and it does! A bit of a control freak perhaps??

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[What you are going to be reading today and tomorrow first saw the light of day on March 3rd, 1996. Yep - this is really Old School!

I had talked to everyone then part of CCR and tried to put together a document that described our view and philosophy of ministry. My first attempt was judged by one and all to be far to long. Thus this somewhat shorter version.

I'm reproducing it here several reasons:

1. I'm really tired, and can't think of anything really good to say right now!
2. Reading it over I'm surprised at how much of this fits into the Purpose Driven Model we're following now - well, it fits into our version of being Purpose Driven anyway!
3. It never hurts to look at your history and roots once in a while.
   

I'll save my comments for either tomorrow, or perhaps Wednesday - either way enjoy and hope you benefit by reading this over.]

Our Organization

We want our organizational structure to reflect our freedom from tradition. We will always keep our organization flexible and open to change. When and if a committee ends it’s work (like a building committee for example) it should cease to function and allow it’s members to serve in other ways. We hope to always be open to new ways to organize our ministries and never get so comfortable that we end up creating our own unbreakable traditions.

We demand that leaders actually lead, not simply hold a position for the prestige it might involve. The essence of leadership is saying, “Follow Me,” and being a servant-leader.

We affirm that women are co-heirs of Christ, as men are, and are not second class citizens in God’s Kingdom. (Galatians 3:26-29) We expect those who are called and gifted for leadership to take the positions that God has prepared for them regardless of sex.

We are now, and will always remain, a locally governed nondenominational congregation of believers.

Our Attitude

Since we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit and is without error, we take it’s commands seriously. This seriousness is reflected in a careful and continual study, teaching and preaching of the Word.

Because we take the Word seriously we are a people who want to be filled with, and noted for, our love and joy. We believe that allowing God’s Word and Love to flow through our lives will result in true joy. This fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22) should mark our worship services, our individual lives, and everything we do.

It is only by taking the Word of God seriously that we can live a life of joy, love and grace. This will result in a joyful church where having fun isn’t frowned upon but is seen as the gift of God it really is!

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Well I’ve finally done it! Got on the Podcasting bandwagon that is!

I’ve been thinking about it for quite a while and last week finally decided to see if I could figure out how to do it. Today I finally did, thanks to a lot of research and a great little software package called The Podcast RSS Buddy, it makes typing in all that XML info super easy!

What am I podcasting?  For now I’ve just put my sermons up as a Podcast, tho I may start another kind of Podcast here at the Marshian Chronicles later – who knows??
I’m starting with yesterday’s message and will continue from there. You can learn more by going to the CCR page and clicking on Audio Sermons.

I’m putting up info there on how to get what you need to recieve the podcast if you’d rather do that than manually download or stream the message.

BTW – you can still stream or download it, and it’s all free.

If you are into podcasting here the url you need to paste into itunes or whatever Podcasting software you use.

http://www.ccr-online.org/CCRPodcast.xml

[What you are going to be reading today and tomorrow first saw the light of day on March 3rd, 1996. Yep - this is really Old School!

I had talked to everyone then part of CCR and tried to put together a document that described our view and philosophy of ministry. My first attempt was judged by one and all to be far to long. Thus this somewhat shorter version.

I'm reproducing it here several reasons:

1. I'm really tired, and can't think of anything really good to say right now!
2. Reading it over I'm surprised at how much of this fits into the Purpose Driven Model we're following now - well, it fits into our version of being Purpose Driven anyway!
3. It never hurts to look at your history and roots once in a while.
   

I'll save my comments for either tomorrow, or perhaps Wednesday - either way enjoy and hope you benefit by reading this over.]

Introduction

What is this anyway? It is not a creed or a set of by-laws. It is a summary of the unique views and feelings (or our Philosophy) about what Christ’s Church on the River’s main goals are and some of the things we’ll do and refuse to do to achieve those goals.

Our Ministry

The Ministry of Christ’s Church on the River is expressed in the Great Commission given us by our Lord Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20. This making of disciples is a two fold process: 1) leading men and women to become disciples of Jesus Christ as their Lord through faith, repentance and baptism. 2) Leading them on into spiritual maturity by “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Therefore we are more concerned with making disciples than counting decisions or baptisms. We are concerned with numerical growth, but are equally concerned that each one of those numbers have deep spiritual roots and continued growth. We reject high pressure “witnessing tactics” and methods of “selling” the Gospel.

The New Testament tells us that to obey Christ’s command we must, every one of us, use our spiritual gifts and ministries to serve the Lord Jesus in the church and community. In short we are called to do our part in our place. (Romans 12:4-8)

Because of this and other Scriptures we believe in letting people be the unique souls God designed them to be and to minister in whatever ways He leads them too. The only limits placed on a person are the limits of Scripture.

Our Methods

Our underlying philosophy concerning methods are framed by the following Scriptures. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free…Therefore do not let anyone judge you…with regard to a religious festival… or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow…the reality, however, is found in Christ.” (Col. 2:16-17; Gal. 5:1).

We conclude then that the Traditions of Men, no matter how well they may have worked in other places or times, have no hold on us. We are not a traditional church, nor do we intend to become one. The seven last words of the church, “We’ve Never Done it that Way Before,” are considered utterly irrelevant to this congregation of believers.

This doesn’t mean that we despise all traditions for we do not. Indeed we see many traditions of the Christian Churches and other Christian groups of great value. But they are not binding in anyway upon this congregation.

We ask one overriding question in regards to what must be done and how to do it: Would Jesus do this and would He do it this way? If the answer is yes then we follow God’s leading regardless of whether it’s traditional or not.

The bottom line on tradition is this: if it works for us fine, if not fine. We will never adhere to tradition just because that’s the way it’s always been done. Men’s traditions are tools to be used or discarded as necessary, nothing more!

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I’ve got an explosive edition of Short Rounds for you this week! Are you ready to feel the rumble?

Atomic Information:

I discovered some interesting sites revolving around the men who made the first atomic bombs and the men and planes that dropped them. Here ya go!

509th Composite Group:

This is the group which did the dropping, you can see some pictures of the planes and their nose art here.

Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Assoc.:

Here’s a great site to learn about one of the most amazing secret projects in human history. What they did changed history, for better or worse, you make the call, but not before knowing a thing or two about it!

Why Truman Dropped the Bomb:

Here’s a very interesting article by Richard B. Franks, one of the best Military Historians writing today and author of Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire, the best book on the subject written to date.

Read this one and be enlightened!

Some Truth About “The Gospel of Judas”:

This great blog post gives you just about all you need to know about this current news item – here’s just a sample:

The “Gospel of Judas” is not a new revelation. In fact, the manuscript was denounced as Gnostic heresy around 180 AD by bishop Irenaeus of Lyon, France.

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I read an article yesterday in World Magazine that was simply unbelievable! Titled, The End of Humanism by Gene Edward Veith.

Veith uses a recent speech by University of Texas biologist Eric Pianka. In his diatribe Veith says Pianka said some unbelievable things that you might think could only be said by the likes of Hitler, Stalin or Osama Bin Laden!

Mr. Pianka began by condemning “anthropocentrism,” the idea that human beings have a privileged place in the universe. He told about a neighbor who once asked him what good are the lizards that he studies. Mr. Pianka replied, “What good are you?”

Mr. Pianka believes, in his words, “We’re no better than bacteria!” and he has proposed an anti-bacterial course of hygiene. He said that, in order to save the planet, the human population should be reduced by 90 percent. War and famine are not efficient enough, he said, to kill the billions of people necessary. Disease would be the best population reducer. AIDS, though, works much too slowly.

What would be best, he said, is Ebola, a Central African virus that liquifies the internal organs. An airborne variety of Ebola, he calculated, would produce 90 percent mortality.

Like I said – unread! And as Veith points out – so much for secular humanism – the human quota is now all but gone from their thinking.

But is this really true? I wondered, and so I did what I always do when in doubt about things like this – I googled him!

Besides his school webpage linked to above, I found this very interesting site – The Citizen Scientist. Shawn Carlson, Ph.D., MacArthur Fellow,
Founder and Executive Director, Society for Amateur Scientists had Forrest M. Mims III, who actually heard the speech, write up a report on it.

We only have his report to rely on since the school refused to let it be taped! Guilty conscience guys?

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I was thinking a bit tonight about an old article I read by Joe McKeever on Leadership Magazine’s website called, I Prayed for My Preaching.

I looked it over tonight, I had saved it as a Word file, and found it’s even better than I remembered. What really stands out to me are the four things he says he asked God to do for him in his preaching.

They are listed below, then I want to make a few comments on them.

1. I never want to stand up to preach again without a good grasp of the Scripture. I’m tired of not being clear about the text in front of me.
2. I want the message from God to have a firm grasp on me, to grip my heart. I want to preach with genuine passion.
3. I want a good rapport with the congregation. I’m tired of that “glazed-over” look on the people’s faces. I want to make contact with them, to communicate effectively.
4. I want to see lives changed. If the point of preaching is for the Word of God to make a difference in people, then it must be in order to ask the Father to give me success in doing it.

When you stop to think about it, these are things that anyone in any ministry could benefit from. Having a clear grasp of the Biblical text is a must! And you’d be surprised how often people are fuzzy about what the text really says!

As the saying goes, “A mist in the pulpit is a fog in the pews.” Meaning – if the preacher or teacher is slightly confused, chances are his listeners are likely to be completely befuddled!Ministering without passion is a killer, and it doesn’t matter what ministry you are talking about either. If you are singing, teaching, serving, preaching, praying or cleaning the toilet, if you don’t have a passionate desire to do what you do for God, you are in trouble.

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