So, what are you watching these days?

So I went to one of these huge electronic stores the other day looking to buy a memory stick. Like a kid in a candy store I was fascinated by the electronic gadgets on display. My eye caught a huge sign in the store which read, “Home Entertainment Section”. That section had every TV imaginable. Big ones, small ones, flat screens, you name it… it was all there! It wasn’t long before I began fantasizing about how I would someday buy a particular television that matched a certain home theatre system. Salesmen soon noticed my hankering and chose to periodically interrupt my fantasies seeking to make a quick sale.

Looking at the entertainment systems on display, I was reminded of a sermon I heard where the preacher likened a television to a sewer disposal pipeline. “That’s rather harsh”, I thought, but the preacher went on to ask the congregation to imagine themselves going to city hall and asking the city council to hook a sewer disposal pipe into their living/family rooms. What is more is that you would have to pay the city for the “service”. According to that preacher, TV does more harm than good to a person/family/community because it promotes values that are contrary to God’s Word.

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What generation are you living for?

In Coleman’s’ book, The Master Plan of Evangelism, he asks the question: “What generation are you living for?”  If you are like me, it will cause you to pause and think.  Where is your focus … really?  What are your priorities … who/what do you care about? The here, now, me and mine … or do you desire to look beyond yourself in order to give of yourself to others. I believe that the later is the desire of the majority of us. So, do we understand the biblical implications and responsibilities of reaching beyond ourselves to the ones who come after us? In an article written by Mark Steiner, he states that “In this generation as never before, cultural gravity relentlessly pulls Christian children down – and they are drowning. 

Statistics warn us that eight of every ten Christian kids are drinking in the world’s value system.”  Can we honestly say that we are concerned about the generation that is currently flooding the hallways and classrooms of our own church?  Namely, kids?  Noisy, messy, bouncy, happy and sometimes grumpy kids!  Scripture confirms that kids are valuable, so valuable in fact that Jesus uses children to illustrate the way each of us need to come to Him. “Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” And in another place Jesus adds, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them.  For to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”  God has placed kids here to carry on His plan, long after we are gone. Children believe easily but God does not want us to be unaware of the importance He places on loving, caring and training of these children.  It needs to be intentional; kids must be taught to obey, to respect God and others, to praise God and to serve. 

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6 Reasons Abbotsford is Cool

I have noticed a lot of negative talk about our fair city in the papers and on the news lately.

We have a rising gang problem, a lot of grow-ops, a new sex trade, a $2 million video board for our new really expensive arena, and a park (Albert Dyck) built around a manmade lake with lots of goose droppings and beer cans (OK, nobody is writing about that last one, but I still have yet to see the merit in that particular park just yet). So, I thought I would try to counterbalance all the negative with some positive.

Here are six reasons why Abbotsford is cool…

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God is Big Enough to Ask

I spent this morning meeting with some of the most godly men I have been around in a long time. They are all leaders of different ministries in British Columbia whom God has burdened in some way or another with the plight of unreached people in our cities.

One of the guys told us about a pastor in the Middle East who caught a vision for his city and began praying about ways he might reach people there with the Gospel. He has spent the last number of years leading a church that built its “worship centre” into the walls of a cave. It seats nearly 12,000 people in an area that is almost entirely Muslim.

When my friend met this pastor, the pastor grabbed his hand firmly, looked straight into his eyes, and with deep conviction said, “Brother – Agree with me as we ask God for the transformation of my city!” My friend really had no choice, nor did he want one. “Of course I agree with you,” he said.

For some reason, the picture of a Middle Eastern pastor introducing himself to another minister with his soul-stirring vision for his city has convicted me today. Here is this guy living in one of the most populous cities of the world where many are openly hostile to the claims of Christianity.

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Exploited Teens

Did you happen to catch the Sept. 15, 2009 edition of “The News” (Abbotsford)? 
Front page story on “Exploited Teens”. 
http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/59277932.html

I’ve written a couple of times about the sex trade overseas but let’s not fool ourselves into thinking it only happens “over there”. 

The first line of the story says, “Abbotsford youth are increasingly being targeted by recruiters looking to lure them into the sex trade”.  That’s in our quaint little city folks!  Keep reading and you’ll find that the average age of those currently involved is around 14 years old.   

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