Here is a before after satellite photo. It has two locations in Haiti juxtaposed next to each other showing the destruction of the earthquake that hit a few days ago.
Remember, that you can help the victims of Haiti by going to Baptist Global Relief. 100% of the funds will go to Haiti since our Baptist Churches pay for all the administrative costs.
Tags: baptist global response, donations, earthquake, giving, haiti, offering
Baptist Global Response is raising funds for disaster relief in Haiti. All Southern Baptist relief is being organized by Florida Baptist who have an ongoing ministry in Haiti to help the people there. If you want to help click the link.
Tags: baptist global response, disaster relief, florida baptist, haiti, southern baptists
Do you use Bible software to study for preaching and teaching? I do. One of my programs of choice is Logos. Morris Proctor is THE Logos guru and does training as well as sends out a newsletter with great tips and info on Logos. In the most recent email newsletter he had a wonderful tip that I will likely employ for collecting illustrations. It is below:
I recently received an e-mail with this question:
Preachers are always in search of the perfect illustration. I’ve been collecting stuff from various sources and dumping them into my notes.
My question is: Can I make my own customized "Illustration Bible" with my collected illustrations embedded into the various texts?
Excellent idea and question! Here’s what to do:
- Create a new note file at File>New>Note File
- Name the file something like Illustration Bible
- Open any Bible to a verse for which you have an illustration
- Right click on any word in the verse
- From the right menu select Add a Note > Add a Note to Illustration Bible > Add a Note to "the verse"
- This creates a note in the note file and adds a note indicator in the Bible
- Paste the illustration in the note file
- Click the Note Color icon on the note file toolbar and select a color for the note indicator in the Bible (use the same color for all illustrations and pick something other than the yellow default color)
Now when you open any Bible to that verse and see that color note indicator next to the verse, you know you have an illustration for it! Just click the indicator to jump straight to the illustration.
Get Morris Proctor’s info at his helpful site.
Tags: Bible, Bible Study, Illustrations, Logos, Morris Proctor, Sermon
I just read a great post by Ed Stetzer of Lifeway. In it he talks about how Christians need to end the worship wars with truth rather than a truce. In other words lets not compromise but rather find the truth about worship and let it reign king in our hearts and churches on Sundays.
I love the idea and I support what he says. My fear is that too many who are embattled in the worship war will never see it or listen to it. The one idea he advocates is the crux of the problem. He says:
The reason worship wars exist is because the church thinks it is fighting for something permanent when it is actually temporary. Musical styles and service preferences are like a jacket that can be taken on or off depending upon the temperature.
True. And that permanence is the issue. I am thankful I am not really involved in the worship wars at my present ministry, but I have been in the past. The key issue is that people think their way is the most spiritual way and should be THE way. He also said we need to remove preference as the key choice. What I like is different than what you like. However, I can worship the way you like. I do it all the time. In one week’s time I went to worship experiences that included old hymns and Revivalist gospel tunes. Later I went to a service that included a blend of contemporary songs, praise choruses, and hymns. Then, with my youth group, I went to a concert that included both a country rock style and and a bee-bopping boys band. All were worshipful to me. Not all were the kind of music I’d download to my iPod. But I worshipped.
I hope you can worship no matter where you are, who you are with, or what is playing over the speakers. If you cannot, then the problem is not with the music but your heart!
Tags: church, ed stetzer, Ministry, music, Worship, worship wars
Pray for Burke County is a new web site focused on praying for Burke County, NC. The site is kicking things off by supporting the Prayer for the Cities event on November 21, 2009 at Freedom High School Stadium from 5 till 7 PM.

Tags: pray for burke, prayer, web site
I have created a new forum just for pastors and preachers. This is a forum dedicated to helping the pastors and preachers who like to work together to study the Bible. We will study passages, topics and theology together to challenge each other and help each other learn, understand and communicate God’s word.
If you want to join us, click the link above and start posting!
I received the following email from my cousin Lisa Gibson.
Her brother was a victim of the bombing of the flight over Lockerbie Scotland many years ago. Since then she has taken her grief and turned it into a positive thing starting a ministry that seeks to help people in the country of Libya and around the Arab world. It was proven that Gadhafi was behind the bombing, supporting those involved. He has been in the news recently since he spoke at the UN this week. Lisa went to NY hoping to meet him. And here is her account:
Several years ago, when I launched out on this journey to be an ambassador
of reconciliation with Libya, I had a dream. It seemed like a ridiculous
dream at the time, but nonetheless very clear. In the dream, had the
opportunity to meet and share the love of Jesus with Muammar Gaddafi.
For several years now, I have been doing missions work in Libya. It is the
most tangible way I have known how to overcome the act of terror that my
brother was killed in for good. It is the essence of the gospel, which
calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to love our enemies.
Now if you have been following the news in recent weeks, there has been all
kinds of controversy around Libya, especially about Muammar Gaddafi making
his first trip to the US and addressing the United Nations.
When I heard he was going to be at the United Nations, I asked Ambassador
Aujali, the Libyan Ambassador. The Ambassador said he would do everything
in his power to make it happen. He is a controversial man and a true
revolutionary. You never really can predict what he will do or how he will
respond. But one thing is true. Few people can resist a gesture of
authentic goodwill motivated by love.
So, I arrived in New York on Tuesday, believing in faith that the dream God
gave me would become a reality. That I would have the chance to meet
Gaddafi face-to-face and share the love of Jesus with him. But after I
arrived, there was tons of controversy around him in the news. It was
obvious that the general sentiment in New York was hate toward him. He
couldn’t even find a place to stay.
On Wednesday morning, I went to the United Nations. As I stood on the
street corner watching the leaders from countless nations arrive, I just
stood there and prayed for them silently. It was a procession of many
different nations, several in the Muslim world that drove by, each with
their countries flags in their windows.
As I proceeded to the grounds of the United Nations, several groups were
protesting Gaddafi’s visit. There were two Libyan opposition groups, one
led by the last King of Libya’s grandson. He was ousted by Gaddafi during
his revolution 40 years ago. The Pan Am 103 victims families were also
protesting. There was a much larger group protesting Ahmadenijad from
Iran’s presence at the UN, but he didn¹t get nearly as much attention in the
media. For some reason, the eyes were all on Gaddafi, and the comments were
not good.
There was one group of people that came out in support of Gaddafi. This
group is the Nation of Islam. It was a rather unexpected combination. A
group of more than 500 african American men with dark suits and bow ties,
who are followers of Louis Farrakan and the nation of Islam. You may
remember during the election that Farrakhan called Obama the "messiah."
There were also Black Panthers in the group. All standing, holding a rally
in honor of Muammar Gaddafi. The speakers included Native Americans, Chuck
D former lead singer of the Public Enemy rap group and other Nation of Islam
members. Among the crowd stood a few young Libyan students who have come to
the US to study and me. A lone, white, Christian women in the Middle of the
crowd. It could not have been a more political display, but at times it was
really unclear, what message they were trying to communicate. We watched on
a big screen television as President Obama and then Muammar Gaddafi
addressed the United Nations. Even as members of the crowd held up signs
declaring Gaddafi the King of Kings, I couldn’t think of a better place to
pray.
After the rally, we (the group of Nation of Islam supporters, and myself)
were invited to go to the Libyan Mission headquarters to wait the Leader’s
arrival. While we waited I made some new friends among several Libyan
students that were there. One was a young women who is in the US studying
pharmacology and is due to have her first baby any day.
Well, after waiting for several hours we got word that he had been delayed.
So, I left. At 5:30 pm, I received a call from the Libyan Ambassador who
invited me to come to the Libyan Mission to meet the leader at 7:30 pm.
So, myself and another young man who lost his father on the Lockerbie plane,
were invited to a one on one meeting Muammar Gaddafi. He shook my hand and
we exchanged the general pleasantries. I shared with him about the fact that
I have been to Libya three times and have truly fallen in love with the
Libyan people. I also talked about the projects we are engaged in there.
He was greatful. I also gave him a gift. A "Cross" brand pen and a card.
In the card I shared that I have been praying for him since my first trip in
2005, wished him the best for himself and the people of his country, and
blessed him. Not the expected response to a known dictator and terrorist.
But, when he opened the gift, his countenance changed. His previously stern
demeanor softened for a moment and a genuine boy-like smile came to his
face.
It was truly a historical day by many standards. I have the t-shirt and
umbrella with a welcome for his first trip to America to prove it. The
western media were not present, only a small delegation of Libyan reporters
when I met with Gaddafi. They filmed and asked us questions, but the world
may never hear about it. But as I walked out of the Libyan Mission and on
the way back to my home, I felt God’s peace. I had fulfilled that
particular mission. While the rest of the world was spewing hate and
rhetoric against him, one simple women welcomed him to America and shared
the love of Christ with him in the simplest ways I knew how. I pray that it
will in someway make a difference.
Thank you so much for praying for me.
God bless,
Lisa
My cousin is the Executive Director of the Peace and Prosperity Alliance. They seek to bring together leaders from many areas to help bridge the gap between the developed and developing world. You can read Lisa’s story in her new book, Life and Death: A Journey from Terrorism to Triumph.
I am currently watching the You Version Live demonstration (http://www.youversion.com/live). Or I should say I am listening. Sadly the demonstration video failed. Which leads me to say that no matter how cool this might be, I don’t think I would ever put much trust in it if the big demonstration they heralded for days and really weeks fails. Good try. Call me when it works.
Now, my annoyance aside, they have something that looks pretty cool. It is a live, interactive experience using the iPhone app or mobile browser version of You Version. YouVersion is an interactive Bible study platform. I’ve never been a big fan since I only have Edge for my iPhone. 3GS is really needed for a decent experience.
The capabilities claim to be able to custom design an interface for you and your congregation to use together on an iPhone or mobile web browser. They can see your outline, notes, verses, interactive polls, and question/answer area. Also they will even let you use PayPal to give electronically and Twitter to share whatever you want with the cloud.
To set things up you can use a “drag and drop” interface to work it out. And they say it will be useful for weekend worship, conferences, and other study events where more than one person wants to interact with others using their service. I hope it works much better than the demo, which totally failed as I was typing this. Fortunately they posted the slides that were not seen in the demo on Slideshare.
Good luck, YouVersion. Hope it works!
Here is the slideshow of the High Peak Baptist Church youth mission trip to Hendersonville, NC.
Yes that is my son Michael in the preview picture.
If you are here looking for the Prayer Survey, then look here.