This is a great piece of work, this Evangelical Manifesto. Why was it written, the writers say:“The two-fold purpose of this declaration is first to address the confusions and corruptions that attend the term Evangelical in the United States and much of the Western world today, and second to clarify where we stand on issues that have caused consternation over Evangelicals in public life. “

Dowload it here evangelical_manifesto.pdf 

This video takes me back to the days when I carried a Bible bigger than me. When I couldn’t wear pants or earrings and when I always felt guilty about something. The worship in Spanish Pentecostal churches. While I would not want to relive the days of legalism, I am totally, unequivocally Pentecostal and you know what, I like that about me. I consider myself Blatino in alot of things…the foods I like, the way I preach and like others to preach, the social aspect of how Blacks/Latinos hug and kiss pre and post service and especially in worship styles. Our church was the closest we found to the style we like, except Metro Life Church in Doral (Miami suburb). We didn’t go there for reasons I won’t share here…this blog is to encourage while keeping it real, but I don’t want to be that “open and authentic”. LOL

But yeah, my roots are pentecostal.

“Pentecostal” Christians may also be described as “Charismatic.” Pentecostals include Protestant Christians who believe that the manifestations of the Holy Spirit are alive, available and experienced by modern-day Christians. These “manifestations of the Holy Spirit” were seen in the first century Christian believers (Acts 2:4; 1 Corinthians 12:4-10; 1 Corinthians 12:28) and include signs and wonders such as the message of wisdom, the message of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miraculous powers, discerning of spirits, tongues and interpretation of tongues. The term Pentecostal, therefore, comes from the new testament experiences of the early Christian believers on the Day of Pentecost.

I like to raise my hands, I don’t like to be rushed in my corporate worship time and I definitely like the worship leader to be sensitive to what I believe is the Holy Spirit. I don’t like to roll on the floor or be doused with anointing oil like some old school pentecostals but I could handle that going on around me. I like my roots. Que me digan lo que sea!

So this is the secret I couldn’t wait to tell you about…my church is hooking up with XXXchurch.com to shine the spotlight on America’s dirty, little secret. Pornography is a world-wide epidemic affecting countless families, destroying the innocence of youth and hurting marriages. I’m excited to have been appointed to lead this event at the church because its just too devastating an issue for churches not to talk about it. I love it that I am part of a courageous church! Go PCC! It’s especially wild that Hiram and I always wanted to bring xxxchurch.com down for our own church and now God gives us the opportunity to do it with another church plant. Is that a coincidence? I don’t think so.

Why is this such a big deal? Here are some facts:

·         The average age of first Internet exposure to porn is 11 years old. That’s my son Sam’s age!!!

·         The largest group consuming Internet pornography is the 12-17 age group.

·         48% of Christian families admit that pornography is a major problem in their homes.

·         The porn industry brings in $57 billion world-wide. Its revenue is more each year than all professional football, baseball and basketball franchises, combined. 

Think it’s only a “guy” thing, think again: 

·         1 out of every 6 women including Christians struggles with a porn addiction.

·         70% of women keep their cyber activities secret ·         1 of 3 visitors to adult webs sites are women

·         9.4 million women access adult web sites each month!

·         13 of women are so addicted to porn they try to get access to it at work

·         Now this is the really scary part….

o   Women far more than men are likely to act out their behaviors in real life! 

The church can no longer pretend it doesn’t exist.

And I am proud to say my church doesn’t have their neck in the sand! 

Just because we pretend it doesn’t exist, doesn’t make it go away. Pastors, ministers, lay leaders and as we have seen government officials have been disgraced because of some type of sexual addiction. Usually porn is at the root of it all. So……….on Sunday, April 20, 2008, Craig Gross, founder of XXXchurch.com, will speak at The Pursuit Christian Church Celebration Service at 10:30 a.m. Craig is a nationally known communicator who has been featured on CBS Evening News, Nightline, “Good Morning America,” GQ and many other news outlets.

While exposing the tragic impact pornography has on people and communities, Craig’smessage shines God’s love onto the topic, bringing freedom and healing from use andaddiction. The message will be appropriate for middle and high school students. In fact, weencourage them to attend. We will also provide resources for parents about how to talk toyounger kids and answer their questions about this issue. The Pursuit invited Craig to present his story as the third in a four-part message series called “Hooked.” Hooked will address the danger of addictions and how God can set us free from them. In conjunction with the series, The Pursuit will provide information and resources about all the topics it addresses, including prayer, counseling, Community Group studies, books and audio/video resources.

If you live near Pembroke Pines and don’t have a home church, come out to the Hooked Series at the Pursuit (PCC) and find out about the stuff that keeps us messed up and far from  the joyous life God intended for us.

If you DO have a home church, see if you can come out to the special April 20^th event.

And finally, if you don’t live near the area but have friends who do, please let them know about the event.  We all have to pull the covers off this dirty little secret.

Please pray that God move in the church and that people bound by porn (or other addictions) will find hope and healing through Jesus through our Hooked Series.

By now, most people who know me know that my husband and I transitioned out of church planting. We are now no longer AG ministers by choice and are credentialed by a international fellowship of ministers. We didn’t want to be denominational any longer. We are post-post alot.  Without getting into things that might depress church planters who read this, rather say that I could have let this church plant lemon in my life make me roll over and play dead. I sure wanted to. For an overachiever that I am (at least that is what most personality tests say I am LOL), this was one of my most bitter failures. The other two were not be able to carry to term having my youngest son at 26 weeks of gestation which led to a whole other journey and that I almost lost my husband (usually its a two person issue so I take 1/2 the blame). The church plant is right up there in third place.  But you see, none of these things (I know now) were a surprise to God although they were a big surprise to me. I needed to go through that journey. Why? Because “the reason for the journey is this: in a journey, discoveries are made.” (unknown, wrote it on a piece of paper four years ago and found it in my binder as I work on my book proposal)

 Could we have continued? Yes. Did we want to? No. Do we miss it? Very much. What do you miss most? Our worship. Why didn’t we continue? That is forthcoming in my church plant adventures from a feminine perspective but bottomline…the third year hurt. It seems like others go though similar journey’s. Some make it through and thrive, others make it through and continue to struggle with 20 people, some like us, decide to “make the bad man stop!” and give it away and others fully merge with another church.

I found this story  by Chris Elrod of Compass Point Church in Lakeland, FL in Next Wave that I thought related to our story in some way. I want to post it here because this points out again that we need to share our stories because we all learn from each other. This is the 2nd part of that story and you need to subscribe to Next Wave to get the 3rd part.

I made many discoveries on my journey so far, here are some:

* I was self-righteous- I thought if I did things for God, God would protect me and never let anything bad happen to me or my loved ones. Wrong. Bad thing happen to good people.

* I was theologically messed up - My Latino Pentecostal upbringing had me believing that you just ask God, and he answers in the affirmative. Wrong. God does answer every prayer but sometimes its a most definite NO! or NOT NOW! I still haven’t got used to any one of those answers but I can handle them better now. I no longer believe in a Genie Jesus.

* I realized some Christians are just as bad as those who don’t know God - I thought those who professed to know God would be more responsible, more caring, more authentic, just more and that they wouldn’t be backstabbing, wouldn’t be jealous,  …and uh, you guess it. I was wrong again (what a bummer). I was near middle age when I figured this one out. So glad I finally got the human depravity thing before I was 80!

and drum roll please….

* I realized that there is absolutely nothing that can hold me back from pursuing God’s best for my life but me! That means that no matter how many lemons I had handed to me, I could always use them to make sweet, sweet lemonade! “It’s a sad day when you find out that it’s not accident or time or fortune but just yourself that kept things from you!” (Lillian Hellman).

It was in DJ’s hospital room, when he almost died on me that God gave me a word right next to his bed. That was when I was beginning to contemplate walking away from the church plant because of my family needs and I just felt God say, “this is why you need to write, to speak, because life doesn’t always turn out the way you plan but nevertheless, one thing is certain, you can always, always rebound. You will rebound from this and others need to know they can do the same!”  You know what verse came to mind when all this was happening? Proverbs 24:16, “No matter how many times you trip them up, God-loyal people don’t stay down long;…”(The Message). The NLT says it this way, “The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again…”

This is how our Rebound Life Architects started and the foundation of it all came from my journey. So you see, we all discover and yes, even birth, many things in our journey. Some will continue to live, others will fulfill their purpose and die but everything, everything in our journey is a lesson if we choose to let it be so. So don’t be afraid of life people! Don’t be afraid of risking because you don’t want to fail at something…that will keep you from EVER accomplishing anything worthwhile. Instead, remember this, “the people who are really failures are the people who set their standards so low, keep the bar at such a safe level, that they never run the risk of failure” (Robert Schuller).

A risk free life is a safe way to fail at life, don’t you think? So yeah, I haven’t succeeded at everything I have attempted to do but heck, I feel great to have attempted great things and I got some more living to do…so watch out world because “(lemons) others can stop you temporarily but you are the only one who can do it permanently” (Zig Ziglar).

Failed at something? Fell? Get back up again…we are internally wired to rebound so says the Word (Prov. 24:16).

At least that is what this article is stating based on a Florida pastor’s campaign. Read it here. Lew emailed me recently saying that (not verbatim) church’s have been copying each other in this area because it has been successful for many. I think he’s right not that its wrong or bad just not original anymore.

Yesterday’s Sun-Sentinelhad an article on U.S Latinos and how immigration (the hot political topic) trends show “a future much like Florida”. That’s right, most of America will be looking alot like us down here and I could already visually see some pastors and leaders sweating this one. This highlights something for the church to consider and I wrote about it back in the Jan/Feb 2007 issue of PRISM, Racial Harmony or Racial Divide…The Church’s Future is on the Line.

Interestingly enough, that new church planter Matt, the one that launched The Pursuit Christian Church (PCC) was already thinking about the same issue, read here. Gotta tell you, I like his thinking people!

I found a great synopsis of why diversity is beautiful, let me share it below:

The Bible tells us that every nation and tongue will be represented before the throne in His Kingdom. “Unity in Christ does not mean uniformity.”

“So why do people differ?

“Racially - because God created humans with the biological capability to produce tremendous variety
and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

“Culturally - because God created humans in His image and commanded them to subdue His varied and complex creation. In so doing, they quite naturally developed a variety of cultures.

“Linguistically (which is part of a culture) - because they didn’t want to scatter around the earth and so God, in a single act, gave men a variety of languages.

“Why do people differ? Because God wants us to. When you think about it, it is really quite beautiful.
Let’s rejoice with God in the riot of diversity.

(Source: Ethnic Harvest)

Lifechurch.tv, the church that was named “most innovative church in America 2008” by Outreach Magazine recently were told by their pastor, Craig Groeschel that this is what they really are. Read more here and here.

I’m in the process of moving. Moving from one house to another - about 15 minutes from each other. The other house is beautiful. The house I am moving from was a nice house too, it was my first house (having been raised in the projects of the Lower East Side in NYC than graduating to apartments and condos). As a first house it has sentimental underpinnings for me.

As I walk around my house today, bare and naked walls, scattered boxes and literally just a plain old mess, it made me think of moving as a spiritual metaphor. In our spiritual journey, I think we “move” theologically many times and not unlike a literal move which has been studied and shown to be a major life stressor, so is a theological move–sometimes even more so.

Raised Catholic and finding Pentecostalism at 10…finding God a little later in my teens and finally growing up and having lived out experiences that rocked my faith many a times, I can surely say I’ve moved. Sometimes the moves have left me mentally exhausted and spiritually at want. Why? Because my embedded theology was uncovered and I realized what I really believed (or not). Recently when articles on Mother Teresa’s doubts about God came to light, I felt better. If a powerful instrument of God can feel doubt than what I feel at times is ok, right?

Like my personal life where I’ve moved to a better location, I feel I’ve moved to a better location theologically and spiritually. I live in a place called “Don’t Always Understand” (God), my neighbors are great but sometimes barge in during unwanted times like “Destiny” who reminds me that I’m on earth for a reason even when all reason goes out the window and doors seem to close faster than open. Then there’s good ol’ “Doubt” who always pokes me with questions, questions that I was usually afraid to find the answer to if it didn’t neatly fit into my theological foundation. Hanging with doubt however has led me to a God that I’ve found is not afraid of questions.

I’ve always hated moving. Packing, unpacking. Moving is stressful because you have the Pre-mess and the After-mess. Isn’t that just like us when we go into a period of questioning, of trying to discern God’s next step for us, trying to figure out if the step we took was the right one to take? My church planting experience has had me in a tale spin since 2005. I have not liked the moves I’ve had to make because of my experiences but they were necessary to make me who I am today. Without those experiences, some painful and some downright disappointing, I would have stayed in a house (belief system) that has outlived its usefulness in my life.

In my life right now, I am contemplating church plant issues as I simulteanously contemplate life purpose and a literal move to a great home. Yeah, I’m moving again, both literally and spiritually, but this time I welcome the move.

It is so much like our religious society to judge people who are wandering –wandering between a world of knowing they believe in God but not knowing exactly  how that should play out in their everyday lives; wandering about how to best express their desire to serve God and love God without having to live to a set of do’s and dont’s (i.e. you can’t wear earrings, pants, you can’t drink wine or any alcoholic beverage NO not even one, etc).

I know its difficult for people not to judge, after all, that is the best way they gauge their own spiritual walk but comparing themselves to others right? Not that I advocate this litmus test for spirituality because I don’t but its the truth that I see live out alot by those in so-called religious circles.

I think I am a bit of a wanderer perhaps that is why I like my spiritual community and really can’t see myself any other place. I am ok with not having a traditional service, I am ok sitting on a sofa rather than a pew, I am ok having wine bottles as decoration and the smell of coffee in the air because to me what matters most is the discussion that takes place, the hearing of the voices that make up our small fellowship and how they are receiving what we are sharing and how they are trying to live the life of a disciple every day.

I don’t know about you and how you are living your life, what questions you are asking, what pressure you are under to conform or reform, but I am liberated. I don’t care how people view me, my theology, my philosophy on life or love, because although I am a wanderer I am certainly not lost.

I was sent an article by Leonard Sweet which can be found on www.leonardsweet.com.

It gave me reason for pause because I have at times in my life been one that has said “I don’t do”. Usually I am convicted and I end up “doing” but its been those who have not said “I don’t do”…that end up changing the world.  I salute those folks. I hope to be one of them someday.

From his article…

The world’s a better place because a German monk named Martin Luther did not say, “I don’t do doors.”

The world’s a better place because an Oxford don named John Wesley didn’t say “I don’t do preaching in fields.”

The world’s a better place because Moses didn’t say, “I don’t do Pharaohs or mass migrations.”

The world’s a better place because Noah didn’t say, “I don’t do arks and animals.”

The world’s a better place because Rahab didn’t say, “I don’t do enemy spies.”

the world’s a better place because Ruth didn’t say, “I don’t do Mothers-in-law.”

The world’s a better place because Samuel didn’t say, “I don’t do mornings.”

The world’s a better place because David didn’t say, “I don’t do giants.”

The world’s a better place because Peter didn’t say “I don’t do Gentiles.”

The world’s a better place because John didn’t say, “I don’t do deserts.”

The world’s a better place because Mary didn’t say, “I don’t do virgin births.”

The world’s a better Place because Paul didn’t say “I don’t do correspondence.”

The world’s a better place because Mary Magdalene didn’t say, “I don’t do feet.”

The world’s a better place because Jesus didn’t sayl “I don’t do crosses.”