Celebrating Change by Tami Cinquemani

This has been a very odd Christmas for me. My daughter got married in June, so this was the first year of “sharing” the season with my new son-in-law’s family. When the newlyweds asked if we would mind having an early Christmas this year, my husband and I assured them that we would be willing to adapt to whatever they wanted to do. We were determined to be good in-laws. Besides, our family is always looking for new things to do – so celebrating Christmas the week before Christmas sounded like a good plan . . . well, at least when we made that decision . . . back in July.

We had our early Christmas, and it was wonderful! Family, food, presents, music – the whole nine yards. Then, a couple of days later, my daughter and her husband left for Georgia, where they would spend the rest of the holiday with the other side of the family. Christmas 2010 was over . . . for us, but not for the rest of the world. This became very apparent when talking with friends, watching television, and walking through the grocery store. The excitement was all around us, and it was . . . depressing.

I thought I came up with the perfect solution. If being surrounded by Christmas only reminded me of what I missed this year, then I should put Christmas away. So on Wednesday morning, December 22, I packed it up. That’s right – the decorations, the music, even the tree – wrapped, boxed, and stored back up in the attic. I felt even worse.

It wasn’t until two days later – on Christmas Eve – that I had an epiphany. I began to realize that traditions, celebrations, and the sacredness of certain days are extremely important, but I also understood that circumstances change, and life experiences sometimes take you in new directions. I had a choice to make: To mourn what is in the past and be stagnated by the loss of what is familiar, or to embrace the life change as an opportunity to intentionally plan and initiate new traditions.

I came to the conclusion that there is sacredness in family tradition, but it’s not the specifics of the tradition that are sacred – it’s the value of the time and effort the family members are willing to invest.

So we’re embracing the life change. We’re experimenting with new traditions. And we’ve decided that Christmas 2011 will be a great opportunity to try some new things!

Tami Cinquemani

Christmas Means the End of Religion As We Know It by David Achata

With only a few days to go until Christmas, my kids are getting amped up to see family, open presents and eat sugar. My daughter has even designed a calendar (pictured above) that looks like a Christmas tree. On it she’s put numbers that count down how many days are left till the big day. I’m excited too.

This year, however, I’m excited less about gifts (although I’m anxiously awaiting what my wife will unveil this year) and excited more about what Christmas represents. Christmas represents something I want to be a part of. Simply put, Christmas represents the end of religion. What do I mean?

John 1:14 says that the Word “became flesh and dwelt among us.” This is John’s nativity scene. Literally, this says the Word “tabernacled” among us. This is meant to refer us to the Exodus narrative where Moses wants to see God, but God says—“You can’t look at me or you’ll die.” (Exodus 33) So God comes up with a plan that was a foreshadow of the real plan: “Build a Tabernacle, and I’ll reside there. This way we can be together.”

Thousands of years later, Jesus shows up in the real “Tabernacle” of his body so that we could see His Glory, God’s Glory. (See John 2:19-22) This means the end of religion as we know it. Why? Because, unlike many other world religions, Christians have no temple – we have Jesus. We have no priest; we have Jesus. We have no sacrifices to make; Jesus was our sacrifice. All these religious methods are gone because we don’t get a religion. Christmas means we get a person!

In his book, The Barbarian Way, Erwin McManus writes, “Two thousand years ago God started a revolt against the religion he started. So don’t ever put it past God to cause a groundswell movement against churches and Christian institutions that bear his name. If he was willing to turn Judaism upside down, don’t think for a moment our institutions are safe from a divine revolt.” (p.114)

Isn’t this wild? God causes a revolt against the religion he started? How confusing, exciting, ground shaking – how threatening! Like C.S. Lewis said “He is not a tame lion.”

I’ve recently been enjoying a TV show on hulu.com called “Bully Beatdown.” Basically what happens is people write in and tell Jason “Mayhem” Miller (Mixed Martial Arts Fighting Champion) about the people who are bullying them. Miller then invites them to be on his show where he challenges them to a fight. If they win, they get a bunch of money. If they lose, their victims get a bunch of money, and they have to apologize at the end. The bully always loses.

Watching this show has taught me one thing. When a bully gets beat by an MMA fighter, he is always humbled. Why? Because the MMA fighter could kill him but he isn’t allowed to. It’s humbling when salvation comes from the place least expected.

Welcome to Christmas. How humbling: the all-powerful, almighty God humbling himself, making himself vulnerable (Phil. 2). What does this all mean? It means the end of religion as we know it. In Jesus we don’t only get a teaching to follow, we get a person to know. Even more humbling, in that person, salvation comes from a most unexpected place – a baby.

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” (Romans 11:33)

Merry Christmas everyone!

David Achata

Workin' It Out by John Monday

Yesterday our church family decided to forgo our normal worship service in lieu of serving our community. We gathered together, prepared for service in 16 different places, dispersed throughout the city, served and then returned to share our experiences. I’ve never been happier with or more proud of our church than I was that day.

We volunteered at the Track Shack 5K Reindeer Run at Sea World, at the Hemophilia Foundation Holiday Walk at Lake Eola, and at the Orlando Children’s Church. At least three different groups went caroling at Florida Hospital while children and their parents visited 170 cancer and NICU patients, bringing them bags filled with blessings. We wrote letters to military personnel, tilled gardens at a local school and cleaned carpets at a community center. Four hundred plus members of the Florida Hospital Church served the city, and if we’re not careful we could actually be deluded into thinking that we did a good thing.

As Christians, we are convinced that our salvation, our redemption, our future, our life, our eternity, our very existence is completely dependant on Christ. We hold that our actions, our deeds or misdeeds, our morality or lack there of, is as filthy rags in the presence of a Holy God. It’s the distinguishing doctrine of Christianity. We are not capable of doing any good thing.

It's not to hard to get most Christians to agree that we don’t do anything to affect our own salvation, but we can be quickly tempted to believe that our actions have an eternal effect on others. It’s sort of crazy; we think that, while our good works do nothing for our own salvation, without our efforts others will never be saved.

So what's the point? Why get up at 5:00 am and pass out water to runners? Why pack bags with books and snacks and deliver them to cancer patients? Why clean carpets for people we’ll never see or know?

I began to understand the value of our service the first time my four-year-old son helped me wash my car. His help cost me time and resulted in a worse job than I’d have done alone, but the thrill of having a son that wants to help his father is hard to explain, and the value to the son is incalculable.

God, in his infinite grace, has allowed us to help him in his work - but remember, when we serve others, it’s not an act of our graciousness. Our service is an act of God's grace to us. I’ve no doubt that God could more efficiently complete his work without me, and I’m certain that Christ will accomplish what he has intended to accomplish. But yesterday he let me and four hundred of my friends help, and I’m as proud and happy as a four-year-old washing his Daddy’s hub caps.

I want to do it again - how about you?

John Monday

To Pray or Not to Pray by Andy McDonald

Let me begin by telling you that I am a praying person. I believe it is important for us to pray. Scripture is filled with the prayers of faithful followers of God. When Jesus was on earth, he taught his disciples to pray, and he was often in prayer. The Bible also tells us that we don’t know what to pray for as we ought, and so the Holy Spirit interprets our prayers into some heavenly language. We are counseled to pray for the sick, to be unceasing in our prayers. The Bible is clear in its directive that we should pray.

While I believe in the importance of prayer, I must be completely honest; I don’t have a clue as to how it works. God is present everywhere and is all knowing, so when we pray for a sick friend undergoing surgery, we certainly aren’t informing Him. We don’t catch God off guard making Him say in surprise, “Really, your friend is in the hospital?” Undoubtedly, he already knows. Also, God defines himself as love. So the God who is perfect love loves the person we pray for even more than we do. It doesn’t seem, then, that we are talking God into “saving, healing, protecting” or doing something for them that God wouldn’t want to do whether or not we intervene.

I think about poor John the Baptist in prison. Jesus isn’t that many miles away, and John sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the one they were expecting, or should they look for another. Maybe John’s faith is slipping a bit with prison life. Jesus isn’t rescuing him. Surely John prayed for safety, protection, escape, but he died. Was God less faithful to the beheaded John the Baptist than to the apostle John who is only banished to an island prison? However it works, it’s different than a vending machine where we put in our prayer and get our blessing. It is different than some benevolent Santa Claus-like God to whom we send our list of blessings desired, and he delivers them on just the right day!

When we start trying to figure it all out, the web only seems to get more tangled. Maybe we do best when we pray, trust and endure whatever comes because Jesus has conquered death and hell. All the things he said and did in his life, and the sacrifice of himself in death, were authenticated with the resurrection. It is that resurrection reality that validates all the claims of Christ and initiates the Christian church. Regardless of whether or not we “get our answer” or a seeming silence or even a no, the reality is we still go on trusting that, in his time and from his perspective, the resurrected Christ will set all things straight. In the meantime, with a word of courage and hope, we are changed as we support one another with our prayers. It’s the right thing to do!

Andy McDonald

The Gift of Time by Chad Hess

There is a handwritten note on our refrigerator to my wife from an 8 year old girl that says: “Slow down and make time to play games. Have fun. Everyone I know just keeps working. I have to play all by myself. So slow down.” It’s a constant reminder for me of the balance that is easy to forget.

It’s amazing how kids can cut right to the heart of things. They don’t really understand deadlines at work or the artificial priority some things have. They don’t really understand financial struggles or the other compounding stresses of our lives. But they do understand the value of play. They do understand the value of quality time. And they know the difference between distracted attention and undivided attention.

As we begin the often hectic holiday season, don’t forget to give the gift of time. Play a game with a child, a sibling, or the whole family. Your time, your love, and your undivided attention are very valuable gifts that don’t cost you anything. But their worth is priceless.

Chad Hess

The Word of God is Looking for a Church to Join by David Achata

Every few years I re-read Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s classic book The Cost of Discipleship because it serves as a good reminder of what life in Christ is about.

Today I was reading his chapter about the Church called “The Visible Community.” Bonhoeffer writes: “The word of God seeks a Church to take unto itself. It has its being in the Church. It enters the Church by its own self-initiated movement.” (p. 250)

I learned a little song at summer camp when I was a kid that totally contradicts this statement. It went like this:

If I had a little box to put my Jesus in

I’d take him out and hug him and put him back in

And if I had a little box to put the devil in

I’d take him out and SMASH HIS FACE! and put him back in.

It’s kind of cute, but it serves to illustrate the point. We can’t put Jesus (The Living Word, ie. John 1:1) into parameters. We don’t have Him—He has us! We can’t give Him our list of expectations and expect he’ll deliver. What happens more often is that he gives us the list of expectations and then we philosophize about how he really meant something different. Here are some examples:

• Mark 9:35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."

• Luke 18:22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

• Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-- yes, even his own life-- he cannot be my disciple.

• John 12:24 "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."

• Matthew 19:29-30 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first."

• Luke 6:27-35 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked."

• Mark 8:36 "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?"

I guess I'm just at a place where I'm tired of rationalizing away what Jesus said so I can do what I think will be more comfortable. Sometimes I feel like a crazy man. Bonehoffer was crazy, too, though. He, however, understood the nature of the call when he said:

"The disciple is dragged out of his relative security into a life of absolute insecurity (that is, in truth, into the absolute security and safety of the fellowship of Jesus), from a life which is observable and calculable (it is, in fact, quite incalculable) into a life where everything is unobservable and fortuitous (that is, into one which is necessary and calculable), out of the realm of the finite (which is in truth the infinite) into the realm of infinite possibilities (which is the one liberating reality). The Cost of Discipleship p.58

So what's the point? I think the point is that the Word of God is looking for a church to join, and when it finds that church—those people will learn about infinite possiblities of God's liberating reality.

David Achata

Leave It! by Karen Spruill

My dog, Teddy, is easily distracted by every bit of trash, leaves, sticks, bugs and acorns, that we come across on the sidewalk or in his line of vision. If he sees it, he puts it in his mouth. Of course, I know that some tidbits will be especially tempting as I anticipate his attraction from my height advantage. So when I take him on walks around the neighborhood, I really appreciate one of the commands that he learned in obedience class. I end up using the “Leave It!” command a lot. I want him to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the big beautiful world. There are birds, squirrels, children, other pets, water and flowers for us to explore together. However, Teddy will never get the Big Picture of what our walk could become if his nose is on the ground messing with junk.

Usually within one or two firmly voiced commands from me, Teddy has dropped the offending item. I say, “Good Boy!” and we are on our way. His obedient response makes our time together more much enjoyable with less tugging on the leash and worry over what he has just swallowed. I love it when my dog becomes re-focused, turns his darling little face toward me and we set off again on the path before us.

Since I have used the “Leave It” command, I have thought a lot about how much easier my life would be if I could audibly hear God say that to me at times. In my morning quiet times or as I try to meditate, I find it helpful to practice "Leave It" when my mind wanders to worries or lists of duties. My daily walk with God is interrupted as I become distracted by so much of the “trash of life.” Often it is just a bunch of little things that do not amount to much, but as I spend time on them—pick them up, puzzle over them, chew on them, or even play with them—I forget about my Master. Teddy is at least on the end of a leash as we walk. In my life, I am free to get just as distracted as I chose and wander far away.

Perhaps God does use the “Leave It” command in many ways. Surely the 10 Commandments are "Leave Its" designed to protect us from harm. Sometimes other people that I attempt to walk through life with offer me "Leave Its" as they share their experiences or wisdom. The Scriptures and godly authors, with the examples of those who have walked before us, are full of "Leave It" messages.

“Lord, Help me to listen to your Leave It commands. I truly want to look up and see that we have much to explore together.”

Karen Spruill

Licensed Mental Health Counselor

Member of the Florida Hospital Church

What Do I Stand For? by Tami Cinquemani

What is worth standing for? I had an experience several years ago that caused me to ask myself that question. It had nothing to with “taking a stand” but with actual physical standing. There have been times in my life where I have found reason to stand: holiday lines at Costco can take 20-30 minutes – about the same time I understand people stand in line at our local 4 Rivers Smokehouse for some of their famous brisket. But standing for 20-30 minutes? That’s nothing! I stood in line for over an hour to see the Sistine Chapel and about the same amount of time was spent on my feet waiting for the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

We live right next door to Disney World, and who hasn’t stood in line there? I think my record is about 45 minutes, but according to personal accounts on the Internet, people happily stand for several hours at a time for the newest theme park ride. And what about concerts? Even with tickets in hand, people tell stories of standing in line for two (Justin Bieber) and three (Lady Gaga) hours to see their favorite artists.

So back to the experience that was the catalyst for my question: I was visiting a church, and early in the service the congregation was invited to stand while we sang. I was fine until we began the third song. “Come on!” I thought. There was a perfectly good chair right behind me. What’s the point? The worship leader finally told us we could sit down, and the service continued. A few weeks later, a guest vocal group sang a medley of tunes as a special at my church. The medley ended with a beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Without direction, each person in attendance stood to his or her feet. It was a wonderful, emotional and meaningful moment.

It was at that moment that it hit me: If my natural reaction is to rise to my feet in honor and respect for my country, why is it that I feel so “put upon” when asked to stand while singing praises to God? When I was perfectly honest with myself I realized that I was willing to stand for great lengths of time for things that are temporal and somewhat meaningless, and yet I felt it was unreasonable to be asked to stand for 15 minutes to sing praises to the Almighty . . . the Creator . . . the Alpha and Omega . . . the I AM.

I don’t believe that sitting or standing while singing to God is a moral issue – a matter of “right” or “wrong”. I think God gladly hears our songs regardless of our posture, but that whole experience made me realize that I need to truly consider what I’m doing when I enter a worship service. Whether I’m singing or praying, listening or participating – I am in the presence of the One who deserves my wholehearted and willing attention – from my seat and from my feet.

Tami Cinquemani

Profession and Practice by Andy McDonald

A poem by Andy McDonald

Do I really plan to practice what I profess,

or is there subtle saboteur I must confess.?

I worship the God void of hypocrisy,

says what he does, does what he says with no duplicity.

That’s what I want…who I claim to be

and who I am a perfect match, the real me.

Can it ever happen here?

Is it enough to be closer tomorrow than I am today…

or was in some past year?

Inviting people to shed hypocrisy, isn’t that the best appeal?

A call to practice what is preached, to just be real.

Accurate But Useless by Chad Hess

Allow me to share one of my favorite jokes: “A helicopter pilot was flying outside of Seattle on a very foggy day. As he approached an office building, the co-pilot held up a sign to the window for the people in the office building. ‘Where are we?’ The people in the office building grabbed a piece of paper and wrote, ‘You are here’. When the pilot saw the note, he immediately navigated over to a landing pad. The co-pilot asked him, ‘How did you know where you were with that message?’ The pilot said, “When I saw that the message was accurate but useless, I knew we were at Microsoft.’"

Accurate but useless. A great description of many computer errors (both Mac and PC). Sadly, it is also a great description of many Christians. They may have a lot of truth, but they are not doing anything good with it. They may try to share their truth with others, but the message comes across as the kind of jibberish you find on the "Blue Screen of Death".

Is your Christian life making an impact on the world around you? Have you let the truth of God transform your life? Is the love of God spilling out in every encounter you have? Are you able to communicate the gospel in a way that people can understand?

Chad Hess

The Gospel of Fear by Matt Stevens

Homosexuals are eroding the traditional family unit by asking to be married under the state. Muslims are joining together to destroy America and Christianity by building mosques in America. Christ is being taken out of Christmas by godless heathens who believe that x-mas isn’t as offensive. Democrats and/or liberals are going to make America a socialist state and kill this Christian nation. The educational system is trying to convert our children to atheism by only teaching evolution. These are just few items that I hear the gospel of fear teaching.

Now if it you if you look up the word gospel in a dictionary, you notice immediately that gospel is tied closely to Jesus’ teachings, the first 4 books of the New Testament, and a set of beliefs. If you look closer, you see that the word we know as gospel comes from the English origin of godspel or good spel (spel meaning news, story) – good news, good story. If you look even deeper, you see the Greek word where we get gospel from is euangelion ‘good news.’ Why do I bring this up? First, the title of this blog, “The Gospel of Fear”, is a complete oxymoron because good news and fear really don’t go together but seems to be spreading in America. Secondly, the good news is what Jesus came to preach, to show and bring to this earth.

Sadly, it seems Christianity has been hijacked by this “Gospel of Fear.” Over the past few months (especially coming into this election season), I have heard so much of this gospel being pumped into the media, into discussions and into Christian programming. It’s like the end of the world is near… more on that later. At the same time, I can only imagine what everyone else who isn’t a Christian is thinking. I mean, really, just watch it, listen to it, see it. It’s unattractive, it’s brutal, it’s hateful, it’s dividing, and IT’S SAD!

It is sad because the Gospel was never meant to be viewed as any of the words I mentioned above. It is supposed to be GOOD NEWS! Just do a quick biblegateway.com search, and you will find it used in the Gospels 14 times and in the rest of the New Testament 14 other times. What was this good news? In short, that the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven has come. Search “Kingdom of Heaven”… 30 times in Matthew alone. And the Kingdom of GOD shows up 52 times in the gospels. Search “gospel”, and you see it 91 times in the New Testament. (I think that is a few more times than homosexuality is referenced). This thing called the Good News is referenced a lot, as it should be! And I venture to say that each of those references has something really good attached to it.

The Good News is that the Kingdom of God is here. We are not hoping for it or waiting for it. It is found in you and in me through the Holy Spirit. We see the Good News in that Jesus died for our sins, we have forgiveness of those sins if we ask for it, Jesus is coming again and we will live in a world with no sin or death or pain or hurt! What does this bring us? Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. And Self-Control… just to name a few (Galatians 5:22). We see that, in the Kingdom of GOD, we love our enemies (Matthew 5:43-48). We see that hate is equal to murder (Matthew 5:21-26). Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:3-12) All this and much, much more are oozing out of the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament – all talking about this Good News that the Kingdom of GOD is here.

Now I hope and realize that some of those who are propagating this “gospel of fear” are trying to help people and show them this Good News. But in reality, it is not coming across as loving, peaceful, patient, kind, good, being faithful to the Word, gentle or, in some people, showing self control. I, and other people, see hate, slander, murder, and that list could go on. It isn’t coming across good!

Other times it is coming across like these Christians are scared and are defending their beliefs and culture. Beyond civil and rational discussions between individuals, I don’t believe there is any more reason to prove or defend Christianity. Apologetics should only be used among Christians discussing their own beliefs, not against the rest of the world. Why do I believe this? Jesus said about Peter, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades (or hell) will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:18) There is no reason to defend against gates… because gates can’t attack you… they are a defensive system in themselves. Another reason… Jesus tells His disciples to go and preach that the kingdom of heaven is near. He mentions to them, “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.” (Matthew 10:14) In other words… let it go. It goes on later to say that GOD will do the judging.

Oh yeah, and that brings me to my last point… GOD will do the judging. There is no need for us go around pointing out each and every sin that people outside our Church commit. This doesn’t mean we should sit around and let the world fall into hopelessness, especially if we believe that the end of the world is near. Again, we have the Good News. We have hope! We have a way to life and life more abundant! We have peace! We have joy! Happiness! There is good here! Why in the world would we not want to share that? Why must we show and display anything else but that… ALL THE TIME! We are to love GOD first and love others second! Jesus’ followers will be known by their love! If we spent as much time and energy on telling the good news, I truly believe Christians, the Gospel, the Bible, Jesus and GOD would be seen in a whole different light. So please stop spreading the Gospel of Fear, but saturate the world with the Gospel of Love, the Gospel of Jesus, the Gospel which is the world’s Good News to everyone.

Matt Stevens

(Programming Director at Rock Point Community Church in Chattanooga, TN and longtime member of the Florida Hospital Church)

SDAs in Post-Modern America: A Response by John Monday

I recently had the pleasure of responding to a young man who voiced some concern over certain changes he was seeing in the Seventh-day Adventist church. My response follows:

Dear Friend (name withheld),

I joined a Seventh-day Adventist church about six years ago. When I sought membership, I was acutely aware of the distinctives of the SDA denomination. In fact, it was the distinctives that I had to work through, understand and find place for in my own relationship with Christ; it was not an easy or painless process.

When I joined my current church, I was not a new Christian. I came with a long-standing relationship with Christ that stretched back to a genuine and binding conversion to Christ from childhood. My interest in an SDA church did not come as a result of a search for more truth or as a realization of the error of other denominations. My interest was sparked by deep and meaningful relationships with friends and relatives that were members of SDA churches.

Like most christians, my prior knowledge of SDA distinctive beliefs was sparse at best, although I’ll have to admit my opinions were more generous than some, probably as a result of a couple brief incidents from childhood:

Once the pastor of our church was teaching a series on cults. He had a chart and teaching materials that he had obtained somewhere listing many cults that were in the christian mind in the 1970’s. The last group listed on the chart was Seventh-day Adventists. On the first night of the series the pastor took a sharpie and struck through the line with SDA’s. He then explained that, although they were listed on this chart, he had concluded that SDA’s were not a cult and were a part of the brotherhood of christian believers.

On another occasion, a new SDA church was built just down the road from us in the semi-rural area where we lived. As we drove by the church one day I asked my Dad, a very Christian but not very theological man, about Seventh-day Adventists. The entirety of his explanation was, “they’re pretty much like us except they go to church on Saturday.”

While not deeply probing, these two experiences were critical to my later exploration.

As one who was already engaged in a relationship with Christ and who had experienced the joy, grace, peace, and salvation found in Christ, I was less interested in SDA distinctives than in the critical points that join all true Christians together.

In the same way that the pastor from my youth had effectively said “SDA’s are okay, and they are a part of us,” I needed to hear from my SDA church that “other Christians are okay, and we are a part of them”. Don’t misunderstand. I don’t mean to imply that all who profess christianity are truly followers of Christ or that just any belief system is acceptable. What I mean is that I needed to know that there are true Christians who are also SDA’s and that they major on major issues and minor on minor issues.

I did not draw any conclusions about the SDA denomination but only about my SDA church and its leadership. My conclusion was that, while I probably disagree on some secondary points, on the primary points we were in complete harmony. More importantly, I concluded that we agreed on what the primary points are: Christ, grace, forgiveness, the loving nature of God, my total inability to earn any part of my salvation.

And here is the critical point: the SDA church that I joined as an adult believed, preached and tried to live the same gospel as the Baptist church of my youth, the Presbyterian church of friends, the non-denominational church of my favorite preacher, the Bible church of my sister and all the faithful followers of Christ that span the Millennia.

We were also in agreement as to the secondary beliefs. This is not to say that we agreed as to the details or even the truth of the secondary beliefs, but rather that we agreed as to which beliefs are secondary. Given the vast depth and breadth of christian doctrine, it may seem a daunting task to separate the primary beliefs from the secondary, but it can be simplified by considering this. Secondary beliefs are those that, if given ascendancy, separate true followers of Christ from each other.

Now here is the hard saying. If this is true, and I am convinced that it is biblical, then any distinctive of any denomination is of secondary importance at best, including SDA distinctives. It is for this reason that my SDA church has exactly the same mandate and calling as all Christians of all time, including Christians of other denominations in the world today – Preach the gospel (and there’s only one).

To misunderstand this is to place us at great risk of idolatry. Rarely will anyone idolize a bad thing; rather, we take a good thing and give it a level of reverence above its created purpose. Money, work, position, power, influence and health are all good things – in their proper place. But any of those will replace God and become idols if they become the pursuit of our hearts. Likewise, even our best distinctive beliefs will become idols that separate us from God if given position above that which God intended.

As I write this, my mind is drawn back to a chorus we sang often in the church of my childhood:

We are one in the Spirit

We are one in the Lord

And we pray that all unity

May one day be restored

And they’ll know we are

Christians by our love

John Monday

Looking for Faithful Slaves by David Achata

On the plane returning from vacation I found myself reading Matthew, Chapter 24. The disciples have just asked Jesus, “When is the end of the world coming?” The answer they get is more than they bargained for. Jesus prophesies about the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 (Mt. 24:4-28) and then, in the second part of his answer, he tells the story of a household of simple slaves.

The Master has gone away and puts his slaves in charge of his household. The slaves have two options: they can be faithful and serve, or they can forget about their master. Jesus adds that the slave who is working when his Master returns will get rewarded, while the slave who gets lazy and begins to serve himself will be destroyed. Yikes! As the disciples are wondering what they can do to prepare for the coming final crisis at the end of the age, Jesus gives them a simple message: serve.

While I was on vacation, I spent some time with friends who are planting a church. What struck me the most about them was that they were simply trying to find the best way to serve their city. They are a small group, but they meet faithfully twice a week for prayer and to strategize how to best reach their city for the cause of Christ—and it’s working! In about two years time they’ve grown to a worshipping community of about 175 from a small group meeting in someone’s living room. As I saw their meeting place covered with flipcharts, a pizza box and some donuts, I had one thought: faithful slaves.

About two months ago, I received the temporary responsibility of overseeing the ministry areas from birth through college at the Hospital Church. I’ve had a great time meeting with the Children’s Ministry leaders. In our meetings we’ve talked about where Children’s Ministry needs to go. Our first goal: find some faithful slaves. What do I mean by this? I mean we are looking for a group of people who want to work on behalf of the kingdom, even when no one is looking.

I’ve started affectionately calling our leaders “Pastoral Leaders.” I’m doing this because they are leaders who are more than organizers. They are leaders who see themselves as having a pastoral calling to care for their little flock. Although I call them Pastoral Leaders, they are really just faithful slaves who need more faithful slaves to do the awesome work of caring for our little ones.

Are you a faithful slave? In your family, work or church—are you faithful, or are you living as if the master isn’t going to return? Given the times in which we live, how are we to respond? Serve. Don’t wait and watch the sky—wash feet.

David Achata

Friend-Suggesting Jesus by Tami Cinquemani

There is a feature on Facebook that allows you to send a “friend suggestion” to someone. Generally, if you have two friends that you would like to connect, you “friend suggest” one to the other. Once the suggestion is made, it’s out of your hands, and you have no further responsibility. Whether or not the actual connection is eventually made is completely up to the party to whom the friend was suggested.

I recently came across this comment made on a Facebook resource site: “The suggested friends section has to be one of the most useless features on Facebook. I don’t mean to insult the person who came up with the idea at Facebook. Seriously, I understand the purpose behind it, but as a form of personal introduction it’s horrible.”

I think sometimes we Christians “friend suggest” Jesus. Maybe it’s someone at school or work that’s going through a difficult time. You’re convinced that having Jesus for a friend would make a difference in this person’s life, but you’re just not comfortable having that conversation. So what do you do? Maybe you leave an inspirational book on their desk or a flyer for an event going on at your church in their locker. Bingo! You just “friend suggested” Jesus!

Then there are those on Facebook who include their entire friend list when they suggest a friend, and a “Mass Friend Suggestion” is made. Many of those receiving the suggestion may never have actually heard of the person they’re suggesting, but does that really matter? Kind of reminds me of those little flyers I get in my mailbox sometimes. You know the ones I’m talking about. They’re covered with menacing beasts and warn of impending world doom! Bam! Mass friend suggestion!

In the book Ministry of Healing, Ellen White wrote, “Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, 'Follow Me.'"

In John 1:41-42 we see clearly how excited Andrew was after meeting his Savior and his obvious passion to introduce Him to his brother, Peter: “The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.” If we truly want to help people begin a lifelong friendship with Jesus, we need to be willing to get involved in their lives and develop relationships of integrity that allow those conversations. And when we have the honor and privilege of making that friend suggestion, I think we should use Andrew’s example rather than Facebook’s.

Tami Cinquemani

Times are Tough? by Andy McDonald

I just pulled up the statistics, and as of August 2010 the United States unemployment rate was 9.60%. That translates into twenty-nine and a half million people! Times are tough, but our highest rate of unemployment was November 1982 when we peaked at 10.80%.

For those of you out of work right now, the pain you are currently facing is really tough. Whether it’s been for just a few years or a life-long career, you have been a hard and faithful worker. But now the work seems to be hiding. Times are tough.

Some of you had different plans for your retirement than the life you now face as your investments and retirement accounts plummeted in value and you’ve had to adjust to this new reality. Times are tough.

Not to in any way dismiss our economic pain, but it is terribly important to keep it in perspective. Right now, over three billion of our brothers and sisters on this globe, almost half the world’s population, live on less than $2.50 per day, and 80% live on less than $10 a day. And in that perspective times are tough, but we are blessed.

And while we have hope of at least a slow long-term recovery, their future isn’t so hopeful. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their name. A total of 1.4 million children will die this year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. (That’s equal to 318 times the number of soldiers we’ve lost in Iraq, and it happens every year.)

Yes, times are tough for us compared to how they were a couple or three years ago. However, in the middle of all our economic pain, in the middle of very tough times, we have much for which to be grateful. In fact, maybe one of our strategies for moving through these tough days would be for us to stop and count our blessings.

We don’t need to thank God for tough times, but we can praise him in the middle of those tough times. We can stop and think about literally billions of our brothers and sisters on this planet and their even tougher times, and maybe we can find cause to celebrate our blessings even in the middle of tough times. Philippians 4:4-7

Andy McDonald

For What Should We Be Known? by Chad Hess

It seems to me that there has recently been a lot of national controversy regarding religious issues (or issues that the church has jumped into). From the proposed burning of the Qur’an, to the building of mosques, to the court battles over gay marriage, Christian leaders have been heavily engaged in the conversation and in the politics surrounding them. Over the last century, Christians have advocated on many national issues (war, alcohol, abortion, homosexuality), though often unsuccessfully. Unfortunately, this has contributed to Christians being more often known for what they are against than for what they are for (see Unchristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons).

Sometimes our message is right, sometimes it is wrong. But the bigger problem is that the issue we are fighting can overshadow more important things. Jesus yelled at the Scribes and Pharisees for a similar problem in Matthew 23:23. It is important for Christians to engage in their world and to exercise their right to vote, but we must not let these issues become our consuming focus. Nor should we focus all our power on fighting the “bad” that we don’t have time to do the “good” that we are also called to do.

In his response to Ted Wilson’s sermon at the General Conference, Sam Neves put it this way: “I would argue that the present generation would like this movement to be known: not only by what we eat, but by whom we feed.... not only by how we dress, but by whom we clothe… not only for being different, but for making a difference in the world around us.”

Are you too busy fighting against Satan to work for God?

Chad Hess

What if . . . by John Monday

Let’s play a hypothetical game.

If I discovered that there was, in fact, no God and this fact became irrefutable –

Then . . .

What benefit has my faith been?

Has it made me a better friend?

neighbor?

employee?

father?

husband?

Has it made me more or less tolerant?

judgmental?

generous?

happy?

As a result of my faith do I make others happy?

Do others feel accepted?

Do people want to be around me?

How about my church?

As a result of my church being in my community, are the hungry fed?

widows cared for?

sick comforted?

lonely loved?

homeless sheltered?

Here's the point: in a world that does not assume "God is", if all we have to offer is the "truth of God", then we have nothing to offer.

If our faith makes us less friendly, less kind, more judgmental, more angry, stingy, difficult employees, frightened –

If our church does not improve our community, does not seek justice, does not walk humbly and gratefully –

Then why would anyone want to worship our God?

John Monday

Garage Sale Grace by Tami Cinquemani

I just spent the last week with my daughter and her new husband. While I was there, they had a “Newlywed” Garage Sale. Their intent was to clear out everything they no longer wanted or had need for, so their prices were extremely low. Even though this was the case, as is normal with garage “salers”, there was still some haggling that took place.

There are really two different types of “hagglers”. For the first type, the price will just never be low enough. It doesn’t matter if you’re asking ten cents for a brand new iPod Touch, this person would insist there was something wrong with the item and tell you it really wasn’t worth more than five cents. After landing the deal they hoped, they leave feeling quite triumphant – unconcerned by the fact that they took advantage of someone who paid dearly for the item they so proudly now own.

The other type finds an item they desperately want but realizes they just don’t have what is needed to pay the price. Regardless of how cheaply the item may appear to be priced, it’s completely out of their range. It’s situations like these that I find the most rewarding when having a garage sale. The look on someone’s face when you say, “Why don’t you just go ahead and take it. The item is yours – free of charge,” is worth every penny you might have made on the sale. That person leaves with joy, and an instant relationship has been made.

Isaiah 55:1 says, "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” The grace and salvation that God offers us is something we could never afford. It is a gift.

For some, this gift is received with arrogance. They haggle a “price” in their head that they’re content with – something they feel they have offered that “landed the deal” – good Christian performance, faithful tithe, etc. The realization of the price that was originally paid for the gift is irrelevant.

And then there are those who come broken, poor, and in full awareness of their pitiful condition. They understand that they are undeserving, and the magnitude of the gift is beyond imagination. Then Jesus offers them what they most desperately need and want as a free gift. They are filled with joy, and a relationship has begun.

Tami Cinquemani

The Importance of the Process by Chad Hess

When I was in high school, one of my friends who had been home-schooled the year before, had the Solutions Manual for Algebra 2. The Solutions Manual didn't just give the correct answer, it showed all the work and how to get that answer. This is very important in math because all math teachers want to know how you got the answer, not just what the answer is. When I had questions, I would ask him for help, and if he couldn't figure out the problem, he would look in the manual. Such a valuable book also had great potential for evil. My friend's roommate stole the book and used it to cheat in the class. He didn't care about understanding the process of how to solve the problem; he only wanted the answer.

I have wished many times for a Solutions Manual for theological questions. A book that would tell me how to solve the problem and provide the right answer. But I understand how such a book could easily be abused and actually prevent people from really knowing God.

Just like in math, the process of solving a theological issue is just as important as the answer (sometimes it's even more important than the answer). A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook, "To most Christians, the Bible is like a software license. Nobody actually reads it. They just scroll to the bottom and click 'I agree'." The problem is that this approach completely misses the point of the Bible: God. God is found in the process even more than in the solution. It is in the process that we really understand the complexity and depth of God. The process is how God changes our hearts, not just our beliefs. It's how we understand who God is.

Chad Hess