Tuesday, June 22, 2004

11:23 PM Darin Weil, director of our Power Connection Junior High Ministry, shares this report:

We said good bye to our class of 8th graders and welcomed the new 7th graders. We kicked off the program a couple weeks ago with a welcome breakfast during the Sunday AM service. Parents provided the food, students provided the appetites. It was a good time of getting to know each other. Then we officially launched into our summer festivities by going to Magic Waters for a great day of water slide fun. Additionally, each week we have a bar-b-q at a different student’s house. While there, we play some fun games, have a brief devotion, play an organized game in a nearby park (ask them about “shoe golf” when you get a chance), eat food and have some great fellowship. We plan to have those bar-b-qs each week until the end of July. Mixed in there is a “Water Wars” night at Mills Park and an all-day trip to Great America. In short, it is a fun-packed summer that I believe will begin to unite our students and start the year out in a positive direction. I am very excited about this new group. We are only a few weeks old and they are already interacting as if they have known each other for years. It is a great group dynamic and I personally can’t wait to see what God is going to do in their lives. I already see a ripeness for spiritual fruit and a hunger for the deeper things of the faith. It is quite encouraging.

11:07 PM Today’s entry in the Crosswalk weblog is called Faith Is. 12:12 PM Mary Gaskill reports that Vacation Bible School is off to a very good start this week. We have 471 children registered from 300 families. We have more unchurched children than ever. VBS ends Friday morning. 12:08 PM Today’s Viewpoint by Chuck Colson discusses the connection between same-sex marriage and terrorism. The homosexual lobby won’t like it—but Colson is right. Here’s an excerpt:

When we tolerate increasing amounts of trash on television, when we permit pornography and gambling to invade our homes via the Internet, when we allow babies to be killed at the point of birth, we are fueling the flames of radical Islam. And when we talk about legitimizing homosexuality by granting same-sex relationships the status of marriage, we’re giving powerful ammunition to those who use America’s decadence to recruit more snipers and hijackers and suicide bombers. We’re also making it much more difficult for Christian pastors and missionaries to win the hearts and minds of Muslims around the world–one more very good reason we need to clean up our act.

(Hat tip to Brian Bill for the link—and also for preaching an excellent sermon at Calvary last Sunday.)