In an interview with ‘Greater Than magazine’, Brian McLaren talks about ‘Making God’s Dreams come true’. I feel this is a frightening insight to Brian’s real view of the Gospel and the Bible. I will let it speak for itself.

Brian McLarens view is that the Bible is to be viewed as Library rather than a Constitution

“I grew up in an evangelical home. The church background I come from would be on the fundamentalist side of evangelicalism. We loved the Bible and we studied the Bible and I made a personal, deep commitment to Christ in my teenage years and so the Bible has been such a deep part of my life ever since. I noticed that, on a lot of the issues, the Bible presented multiple viewpoints. It wasn’t contradictions: we were always told to be careful about saying “the Bible has contradictions.” I just saw the multiple viewpoints. For example, if you ask a question like “What is the attitude of the Old Testament toward the monarchy?” Meaning, the period of Jewish history when they had a king. You can pick out a whole set of verses that would say the monarchy was a terrible thing. For example, I believe it’s Samuel, God says through Samuel, “Israel has rejected me because they wanted a king. “So, there is a very negative view of having a king. But, there are other Scriptures that really see “the king” as a great thing. For example, at the end of the book of Judges, it says, “in those days, everyone did what was right in his own eyes because there was no king in Israel.” There are places where the king is seen as a great gift from God. So, what that started helping me realize is that the Bible is not a univocal book. It was not a book dictated by God that was only giving one perspective. The bible itself is giving us multiple perspectives. That, actually, is a better thing than something univocal because, if you were to think today what our attitude toward government should be. Well, I think there is a sense that government is a gift from God, we should appreciate it. But there is another sense that government can become an idol and we can have a misplaced trust in it. So, when you live with that kind of tension, when the bible itself gives you multiple perspectives that put you in tension, I think is actually a richer gift than to have a black and white, one-sided answer."

What is the Gospel then?

Again Briam says: "The gospel is the good news that the kingdom of God is available, it’s at hand, it’s in breaking, it’s oncoming, and we can be part of it. If we wanted to understand what “kingdom of god” means, I would say: God has a dream for creation and we don’t have to be part of turning that dream into a nightmare. We can actually join God in creating something beautiful and good that makes God’s dream come true."

I don’t know about you but, it seems that the Bible, in it’s univocal, uniform and Spirit inspired teaching doesn’t speak of God as a dreamer but rather as the Sovereign God who is in control.

God Bless you, Tim

Candidate Orientation

Hey everyone.

Well the time has arrived. Starting tomorrow we will have the privilege of hosting a church team for an orientation. This team is preparing to engage in immigrant ministries in Europe, reaching the lost through evangelism and church planting.

Please be in prayer as we seek to guide them with humility, wisdom and grace. Pray the Lord will give us the endurance and focus as we run this part of the race with each of the candidates.

We are excited about this opportunity and cannot wait to see what the Lord is going to do.

Thank you so much for standing in the gap with us, Tim and Jennifer

Harvest

Hello all.

I just wanted to pass on a thought. I’ve been reading a book by the name of “I want to bear fruit” (Chuck Quinley). It’s a bit off the beaten path but I like some of the challenges within.
This morning as I was reading I came across a statement that I thought was genius. Yes, it’s simple, yes most of us would say, “well sure”, and yet, we don’t live it.

“He (Jesus) walked each day with harvest eyes, connecting with people everywhere he went.” ‘Harvest eyes’, what a concept. Are your eyes, are mine looking through harvest lenses? When we encounter someone, is one of the many thoughts we have about that person relative to their eternal status?

Jesus Christ came to seek and save the lost….. are we engaging the same way?

Just a thought….

Sermon

Thanks to everyone who prayed for Tim this weekend. Though he was nervous about preaching his first time to this congregation (in English non the less), he really enjoyed it immensely. It was wonderful to see how the Holy Spirit knit the entire service together from the music, the prayers and the sermon.

Tim really misses being able to preach. If you think about it, ask the Lord to provide more opportunity for him to do so.

Also be in prayer as Tim is working with another church to start up a brand new youth ministry in town. We have a number of young people in town who have no direction, absent parents, poverty and going in the wrong direction.

We want to reach out to these kids, give them a place to go, a place to encounter God, a place to be safe and experience life change through the Gospel.

We will keep you updated as we continue to work toward our grand opening in September.
Finally, please continue to pray for our financial situation which continues to weigh heavily on us.

Thanks and all our love, Tim and Jennifer

Hello everyone,

many of us love talking to others about Jesus Christ. Many also love finding new ways to engage people in these conversations. This T-shirt will definitely open doors. The coordinates on the front of the shirt point to the location where Christ was crucified. You’ll be surprised how many people become curious and ask about the meaning of the shirt.

In an effort to raise funds to help our monthly deficit, we are selling these T-shirts.
If you would like to order one, please let me know what size you would like and I can send it to you.

Also tell all of your family, friends and study groups about this opportunity.

Thanks, Tim and Jennifer

These are premium screen printed T-shirts. 100% Cotton Premium Weight Tees 6.1oz. and are retailing for $10 (Plus sizes add $2).

Update

Hey everyone.

Well the weeks of summer carry on and my children are lamenting the fact that it’s almost half way over. Last week we had Tim’s little sister and family for a visit. It was great to spend time with them hiking and eating good food. Thanks to the car situation we had two good cars to cart all 9 of us around, safely.

Jennifer continues in her therapy for her neck and back and is showing slow improvement. In the mean time Tim has had a conversation with his orthoped and is slated for total knee replacement in September. They were considering a double knee replacement but due to a preexisting issue with his left leg, they thought they would do one at a time. Time wise this works out as well as Tim has a Candidate Orientation the week of August 14th and then will hopefully heal up in time for the orientation end of October.

Tim will also have the opportunity to preach at our church on July 25th, which he’s really excited about. He has really missed preaching since his return to the US and would covet your prayers as he prepares for this message. May it be from God, to His people in grace and humility.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and love, Tim, Jennifer and the kids

Coaching

Allow me to share with you about some of the people I have been coaching.

FourforFrance is the name of Dave & Jen’s blog.
Over the past year and a half I have had the privilege to walk with them as they have been appointed, through to preparing a trip on the Queen Mary bound for France in July. Over this time our conversations have been many, ranging from discipleship, to prayer partners, to family adjustments, whether or not to sell the house, support raising, marriage, ministry etc.

During this time we have become good friends too, prayed for one another over the phone and I’ve been able to answer a myriad of questions; What about schooling in Europe, what about team, what about language, what about packing, travel etc. We’ve also addressed things like connecting with neighbors, discipling others, processing through church planting and more.

While the journey of coaching is designed to be of assistance to our appointees, to getting them to the other side well, I benefit so much from these relationships as I get to watch God do some incredible things. This family of four is excited about moving to France and becoming a part of a team that will engage in the north of Paris, in an area of lower economic income. The teenage boys own this ministry as much as their parents and Dave and Jen will be a long serving family to the French.

Another family, is headed to the same area in France and we are targeting this fall to get them there. A dynamic family with 5 children and an inner city ministry in Philadelphia, B. and K. are the kind of people we want on a team like this. Their experience will bring a flavor to the ministry that will move right to the hearts of the people.

Coaching has it’s easy and it’s challenging aspects. While on our road together I have been able to walk them through some more difficult times and been blessed to see their humble responses to life’s issues.

Thank you for your continued prayers that allow me to continue preparing the hearts and the paths of those God has called to impact Europe for His Kingdom.

Tim