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August 22, 2007
Bad Blackout Date Emails
Every month, I ask the members of the Music Team to share their blackout dates. I do this so that if someone knows ahead of time that they will be unavailable on a specific date then they can avoid the hassle of having to find a sub. So, for the benefit of anyone on the Music Team, here's a little tutorial on how to write a good blackout date email.
GOOD
I am unavailable Sept 2 and 9
BAD
Kirk, my brother is coming in town and I really want to spend time with him so would it be ok if the first week was a blackout for me. The last weekend is fine for me but there is a remote chance that I might have to work. I will let you know about October, but it might be that on the 17th I will be going out of town, and I might not get back into town until the evening of the 20th, so I might not be able to do that weekend. Oh yeah! the 9th, too.
These emails end up being like a logic puzzle. Sometimes I have to read it a few times, taking notes just to discern what dates they are talking about.
I love you people, but you're driving me crazy with stuff like this!!!
Posted by Kirk Ward at 4:40 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
August 15, 2007
Gatumba Massacre
Some Congolese members of our congregation in South City just got back from a memorial conference in Albany NY for people who survived the Gatumba massacre. This is an article done by a St. Louis paper. This is an article about the conference by a paper in Albany that actually mentions one of our members, Sideriya Nangabire.
It's hard to miss the strength of the survivors' faith in Jesus and their confidence that God is good even in the midst of such tragedy.
Posted by Kirk Ward at 8:56 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
August 13, 2007
Bush Sings U2
I stole this from Peter Kuo. I thought it was rather funny.
Posted by Kirk Ward at 9:31 AM | TrackBack
August 10, 2007
Simpsons Reveiw and Mac Ad Parodies
Here's a review of the Simpson's movie on Christianity Today. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I really appreciated this guy's articulation of what is good about the Simpsons.
I also saw these clever Mac ad parodies. They are sort of about the "emergent church" culture. I thought the one called "Counselor" was the funniest.
Posted by Kirk Ward at 4:16 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Pics from London
Sarah and I were so focused on surviving that we failed to take any pictures while were doing ministry. We had to rely on our friends to preserve the moment in pictures. These are a few that Jennifer Owens snapped. Click on the image to see a larger version.
This is me standing in the middle of the road in front of the Asha Charity Shop. It's a thrift store that is run by the church there to generate income to fund ministries and as a venue for sharing the gospel. We got some great eclaires a few doors down at Pual's(sic) bakery.
This is a Hindu temple in Wembly that we visited. I think it's the second largest temple outside of India. It's full of idols.
This is our team leading worship with a few guests (Chuck the cop and Matt the intern.)
This is the front of the mosque that we visited.
To check out more of Jennifer's pictures click here.
To see pictures of our days off at Sarah's parent's house you have to check out Sarah's Facebook album.
Posted by Kirk Ward at 10:15 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 6, 2007
A London Synopsis
The Big News
My wife is about 7 weeks pregnant, so the trip for our family had an overarching theme of nausea and exhaustion. We are totally happy about having another baby, but it was a little bit of a downer on the trip. God graciously provided a lot of people who were willing to watch Joanna or give Sarah a place to chill out.
Evangelism
Of course, the whole purpose of the trip was to learn more about evangelism and to put it into practice. The week had a wonderful effect of freeing me from a lot of my bad evangelism prejudices. Handing out tracks and going door to door with a survey are forms of evangelism that I have always hated because they are impersonal and obnoxious (in other words nothing like Jesus). However, this week I learned that some people will never have any contact with Christians unless we walk up to them on the street or knock on their door. I had a wonderful feeling of being the first step in God's process of calling people to become His adopted children. Now, I want to pursue learning more about how to share the gospel in St Louis.
Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhism
As I prepared for this trip, I began to fear that I would not be able to overcome our cultural worship of tolerance. I was afraid of making exclusive "truth claims" about the Bible. However, all of those feelings went away as I visited the temple, mosque and gudwara and heard from their representatives about what they actually believed. There was really no hope and no answers; just empty religious rituals and philosophies. I was also struck with how easy it is for people (like me) to practice a Christianity that is just like these other religions. Without the gospel of Jesus Christ, Christianity is just a bunch of rituals and philosophies.
The Hatches
It was great to hang out with Chris and Josephine but we were a little too busy to have actual quality time. If you are their friend and you want to go to spend time with them, I would not recommend doing LEAP.
I hope that our church sends a team again next year. I think it would benefit everyone in our church to experience the London Evangelism and Prayer Conference. I also want to add that our team was a lot of fun and it was great to get to know these friends better.
Posted by Kirk Ward at 10:54 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack