It has been a pretty interesting read. Perhaps the best part of the whole thing has been listening in on a conversation between the two as they discuss Church, God, and how Christians look at outsiders. The big takeaway is that Jim and the other Christians in Casper’s (the atheist) life seem to be making much more of a difference in how he perceives the possibility of a God existing than any of the Churches.

The book is a good reminder that

1. Churches need to be more aware of the fact that our culture is no longer led by Christian thought and we need to be sensitive to it. It was very evident that pastors specifically tend to use words that at the end of the day are very vague and meaningless in our culture.
2. People don’t come to love Jesus because of the words of preachers, they come to love Jesus because they see Him alive in the lives of those around them and through watching and being a part of their journey.

This book reminds you that there are people out there who are disconnected and far from God and that they matter as people!

Here are some things you can be praying about this week for Jenni and I.

1. I am interviewing with CEA of Kansas (a Church Planting organization) – please pray for wisdom for these men and for the opportunity to join together to plant Epic Church.
2. The house Jenni and I currently live in has been sold and we are waiting to hear from the people who purchased it how much they will charge us to live there.
3. Our baby & Jenni. Jenni has been such an amazing encouragement to me, but I know that she is facing a lot of tiresome days, we would love your prayers for her and the baby.
4. For the people who we will be interacting with in KC on this journey, pray that God is doing things right now to prepare for those contacts.
5. We are seeking out staffing positions and trying to find people who have the right fit.
6. Epic Church (Jenni and I) is going to be the missionary at a few camps this summer, please be praying that God uses us to ignite a passion for the Kingdom in the students we work with!

Thank you for taking the time to pray for us! We certainly need it!

My Birfday!

Yesterday Jenni threw a birthday party for me and her entire family (pictured below) came to visit! It was a blast, we had a bunch of friends there as well. We started at a park but soon decided to move indoors since it was like 30 degrees outside. We had fun all the same!

I feel blessed to get to enjoy this life with Jenni and to have a baby (little Barton Finkey) on the way! I can’t wait to see where God takes us next. I don’t know about you, but I have started to learn that God is more interested in the process of getting us where we are going than where we are going itself.

Thanks for joining Jenni and I on this journey!

Are you kidding me? What kind of a solution is that? At what age does a person stop needing quality of life? At what age does a person become dispensable enough that we don’t need to care for their physical ailments. I have included a link to the video below, the comment comes shortly after 3:49 min.

Women’s Health

A new study shows “22 percent of Americans say they NEVER (emphasis mine) go to church, the highest percentage ever recorded by the General Social Survey, conducted every two years by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago” – and that is up from 17 percent in 2004.

A recent cover of Rev! magazine stated that, “only 52 million people, or 17.3 percent of the U.S. population, are in church – that’s down from the traditionally recognized 40 percent participation rated suggested by the Gallup Organization and The Barna Group.

Quotes taken from the Christian Standard, Special Annual Report Issue, April 13, 2008, pg. 7.

These stats are extremely disturbing to me. They disturb me because somehow Churches are loosing the battle. Alan Hirsch has said that the American Church must move from a church that is attractional based (meaning “you come to us to find out what we know”) to missional based (meaning missionaries who go out and try and share what they know in the context of relationships). I think he is right. The time has come to GO, the time has come in our society to be in our communities making a difference. To let our conversations be seasoned with the salt of the Gospel. To serve the poor!

I personally am praying for a revolution to take place in the Church – the declining American Church. A revolution of love & service, one that lets go of power and manipulation. One that feeds the Gospels burning fire!