ijourney's Xanga

Follow me to VOX

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 18:12:49 GMT

Hey everyone, I'm migrating over to Voxtropolis for my new blog site.
You can find me at www.ijourney.voxtropolis.com

If you haven't signed up for your new VOX, you should give it a try.
If you're a journey blogger, once you get a vox, come to my site and leave a remark.
I'll add you under my "Journey Bloggers" links.
If you're planning on staying with xanga, still come to my site and let me know that, and I'll list your xanga site on my links.

Thanks!
Mike

Building a Village

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 19:42:38 GMT

I am excited to announce that I am heading back to Kenya this October 7-21^st with 2 other people from The Journey—Tim McCollum and Angele Gerten. The purpose of our visit will be to continue our partnership with Pokot Outreach Ministries by determining a location for a new water well which The Journey Church will make happen. The Pokot area has been under a severe drought for the last 3 years, and things are past the critical stage. Water is desperately needed, and The Journey Church can help by supplying a new well. Our team will also be offering much needed medical treatment, as well as sharing the love of Jesus Christ to the people in East and West Pokot in the northwestern desert lands of Kenya.

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

Mon, 05 Jun 2006 20:16:34 GMT

Whether you a King of the Hill fan or not, you'll get a kick out of watching this clip from one of their shows.
There's some classic lines in here!

Clink here to watch video.

Da Vinci: Cracking the Code

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 21:14:43 GMT

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

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:46:12 GMT

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...

Monday, April 03, 2006

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:53:27 GMT

I haven't blogged anything in awhile. Not sure why, except too busy focusing on other things. Life gets that way sometimes.

Yesterday at our worship gathering, I mentioned that the pace of our lives gets moving so fast sometimes its hard to hear God speaking. After the service, someone pulled me aside to tell me those were the words he needed to hear.

Why is it so hard to slow down?

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 23:48:19 GMT

Kingdom Expansion in Salt Lake City

On Friday, I flew out to Utah to spend a few days with the team from K2 THE CHURCH. This is lead pastor, and cultural architect Dave Nelsen, who two years ago moved to Salt Lake City with his wife Suzie, and children Moriah, Ashlyn, and Caleb to plant K2.

The story gets more interesting when you discover 30 other people from the Detroit area quit their jobs, sold their homes and on faith moved out here with Dave to help him plant K2. I get inspired every time I hear their story!

God exceeded all their expectations. In just a year and a half since the official launch of the church, over 900 people are packing into 2 crowded weekend worship gatherings held in a warehouse on the south side of the city. Lives are changing, people are learning how to follow Jesus, and a sonic spiritual wave is rippling through the Salt Lake valley. Dave's vision is to help plant new churches throughout the western rocky mountains. God is on the move.

Now all we have to do is help him with that UCLA thing he's got going...

Onward...

Help with Message Titles

Thu, 09 Mar 2006 22:37:41 GMT

Hey blogging community, give me your ideas for titles for a message series I'm doing soon.

The theme of the series is based on the game of LIFE (you remember that board game with the spinner in the middle). I'll be teaching on the following topics:

Work
Marriage
Parenting
Setbacks (or detours)
Finishing LIFE well (what does a winner look like)

Give me your creative ideas of message titles.

Thanks!

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 01:01:49 GMT

Arrogance or ?

I’m usually the last one to weigh in on political issues, but I simply can’t resist. Dick Cheaney shoots his friend on Saturday, and he reports it to the news on Sunday, and the presscore are all up in arms because he didn’t share this “vital” information to them earlier. PLEASE! Someone tell me WHY the press thinks the world revolves around them? Come on, the guy just shot his friend. I don’t care if he’s the Vice President or not. If I just shot my friend, the LAST thing on my mind would be “what am I going to tell the press.” Pure arrogance…

…or is it humiliation because a small local paper broke the story before they did?

Am I the only person who feels this way?

Friday, February 10, 2006

Fri, 10 Feb 2006 15:58:52 GMT

Walk of Faith

I've been meditating lately on the meaning of "walking by faith." God wants me to walk by faith, and not by sight. I was reminded as I've been studying I Samuel that we mortals are influenced so easily by the outward appearance of things and people, but it is the heart that God sees. This has me thinking about how closely tied my walk of faith is to the continued transformation of my heart.

Does my new heart hold the key to unlocking the mystery of what walking by faith really looks like?

What do you think?