For people who are disconnected and distant from God, there is good news: Jesus offers a map back to God. John 14 begins with Jesus teaching his followers about heaven ...what it will be like. I don't know about you, but I've noticed that heaven is a topic that comes up at every funeral I've attended. As much as we don't like to talk about death, heaven is another matter. Talk of heaven gives us a sense of hope. For Christ-followers, we believe that hope comes through what Jesus did for us. It is Jesus who provides hope and offers reassurance. It's founded in a belief that Jesus will come back for them. All this talk of heaven prompts Thomas to ask this question ... "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" (John 14:5) That is essentially the question of our day. …
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An interesting op-ed in the New York Times over the weekend: The Gospel of Wealth by David Brooks. It's essentially a review of a book called “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream" by David Platt. A few snapshots from the column: Maybe the first decade of the 21st century will come to be known as the great age of headroom. During those years, new houses had great rooms with 20-foot ceilings and entire new art forms had to be invented to fill the acres of empty overhead wall space. People bought bulbous vehicles like Hummers and Suburbans. The rule was, The Smaller the Woman, the Bigger the Car — so you would see a 90-pound lady in tennis whites driving a 4-ton truck with enough headroom to allow her to drive with her doubles partner perched atop her shoulders. Jesus, Platt notes, made it hard on his…
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In this article over at PyroMarketing, the writer has an interesting suggestion: "Have a “Textable Quote” in every worship service and ask members to send it to one person in their life who they think needs to hear it and also to Ping it." What a great idea! The most common way people 25 and under communicate with others is via text messaging. If the church wants to get serious about reaching this generation, we must think about how they think. By giving them a "textable quote," we are equipping them to communicate quickly and easily in the way that is most comfortable to them. Something to think -- or text -- about ...
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I grew up in East Peoria, IL, and just across the river sat a Pabst Blue Ribbon plant. In the 1890's Pabst brewed the most popular beer in the country; in 2001 it closed its last plant and brewed its last beer. But as you may (or may not) know, Pabst Blue Ribbon is certainly not dead. In fact, for the past several years, it has been experiencing a tremendous comeback -- with almost no advertising. The brand has experienced a resurgence among snowboarders, 20-somethings, urbanites and suburbanites alike. When we lived in San Diego, it was one of two beers on tap at one of our favorite pizza places -- the other was Newcastle. The brand is on Twitter, it has a blog ... but it hasn't had a national advertising campaign in over ten years. Yet it continues to rebound. In 2009, it grew by 33%. Retro cool.…
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One of our E4U classes I'm most excited about is our upcoming Financial Peace University class. FPU is about helping learn to manage their money wisely -- and to get out of debt. Created by Dave Ramsey (yes, that Dave Ramsey), FPU is a great tool for singles or couples who need to get a better handle on their finances. Mountainview will be offering FPU on Sunday evenings beginning September 12. You can register for Financial Peace University online.
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