Follow me to VOX

Building a Village

The Pokot are a semi-nomadic people group who because of sparse pastureland and infertile soil move frequently in search of adequate grazing and water for their animals.  Only in the last twenty years has the gospel of Jesus Christ been made known to the Pokot, primarily due to the work of Julius Murgor, perhaps the first Christian national among them.  We will be teaming up with the ministry Julius founded called the Pokot Outreach Ministries and Harvesters International, a U.S. based mission agency that has united with Julius for the purpose of serving the Pokot people. 

Although The Journey is sponsoring this mission team as a whole, we must raise financial support to cover our individual expenses.   The total cost of this trip is $3500/each which includes flight, lodging, meals, transportation, and medical supplies. I invite you to join me through financial and/or prayer support for this mission.  Contributions are tax-deductible and may be sent to The Journey Church, 100 Engelwood Drive, Suite E, Orion, MI 48359 (Make checks out to The Journey church).  Write "Kenya Mission~Mike" in the memo section of the check.  A reply before July 30^th would be appreciated as airlines tickets will need to be purchased in advance.  If you would like to offer prayer support for my team, please indicate in the response section below.

Thank you so much for your consideration in this critical mission. 

 
Pokot children sing for us at an orphanage and school started by Julius. 

”What is this strange round thing?”  Pokot children love our balloons.  Church building in background also serves as food distribution center.  2 bags of maze arrived the day we arrived here.  A welcome site to the moms of these kids.

Many of these young men decided to follow Jesus after a rousing game of soccer with the red faced man on the left.  Afternoon temperature—120.

My friend, Pastor Solomon oversees one of the many well stations owned by Pokot Outreach.  He also leads an incredible orphanage and school, and was our translator for the day.

King of the Hill Goes Church Shopping

Da Vinci: Cracking the Code

Over 46 million copies sold, and when they released it in paperback, it sold 1/2 million copies in 7 days.  The Da Vinci Code has become one of the  best selling books of all time.  It's fast paced, riveting twists and turns makes readers not want to stop reading.  Though found in the fiction section, this book has caused quite a controversy due to Dan Brown's clever use of mixing fact and fiction.  The question is where does fact end and the fiction begin?  Here's an example on page 1:

“FACT:  The Priory of Sion—a European secret society founded in 1099—is a real organization.  In 1975 Paris’ Bibliotheque Nationale discovered parchments known as ‘Les Dossier Secrets’, identifying numerous members of the Priory of Sion, including Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo and Leonardo Da Vinci.”    

Is this Fact or Fiction?  

The truth is, it is totally false.  The Priory of Sion was fraudulently created by a convicted conman named Pierre Plantard in the 1950's.  He forged the documents and planted them in the French National Library, all to which he confessed to before his death. 

And this is just the beginning.  The Da Vinci Code is laden with bad history and false facts.  One historian said, "It's the only book I know that when you're done reading it, you're dumber than before you started."  

So, why all the hype?  Why are people falling for this, and having a crisis of faith?

One reason is, most people do not know history and theology very well.   Someone who can weave fact and fiction together as creatively and cleverly as Dan Brown does can rewrite history for those who do not know it very well. 

As a story--its great.  As history--its bad, and not worth losing your faith over.

BEAUTIFUL DAY

Actually two gorgeous days in a row!  Today is supposed to hit 70!  After a long winter, I'm taking advantage of the sun and warmth.  I'm riding my beast today, and I'm sure I smiled the entire ride in to the office.  I met someone for coffee early this morning, and the temp was about 40--but it still felt good to get the knees in the breeze again. 

Things are hopping around the church right now.  We unveiled our new logo last Sunday.  We're starting a new series this weekend, beginning with Easter Sunday.  Ryan is doing a great job with the arts team, and I've enjoyed getting to know him better.  We learned last week that another church in the area is purchasing the building we are currently renting.  This is actually good news for us, since the other church wants to use the building for outreach.  In talking to them briefly, they were very open to us continuing to rent the building from them on Sunday mornings.  This is definitely an answer to prayer, and a movement of God on our behalf.  We're continuing to pay down the debt on our property.  I'd like to see this debt get paid off soon, so we can begin pulling permits and getting our site plans underway.  It was great to see friends from Trinidad in church on Sunday, and some others who I've not seen for several months. 

On the family front, Caroline is wrapping up her freshman year at U of M.  She's doing great, and has really grown alot this year.  Kristen just finished her last show in "Bye Bye Birdie" and is still recuperating.  I could see the exhaustion setting in at the end of last week.  She did an awesome job!  We rec'd something in the mail yesterday about Senior pictures.  It's hard to believe that's already upon us.  Next week, we're heading to Niagara Falls for a mini-family vacation. 

So--to all my peeps out there--if you're in Michigan, enjoy the nice weather while we have it!  If you're somewhere else, I hope you're getting good weather too.  I also hope your Easter weekend draws you closer to Jesus.

Onward...