July 2008 Family-to-Family Shipment... 17 boxes of food and school supplies

imvotingrepublican.com

A number of the people in my life that I love dearly are republicans and up until just before this last primary so was I, but this video made me laugh... a couple of things made me sad too!

Missional in Suburbia Seminar

“God always shows up in the most God-forsaken places.”

—Alan Roxburgh

In some ways, it doesn’t get any more God-forsaken than suburban America. This “Missional In Suburbia” seminar will take a look at two important topics: Suburbia and the Church. For some people, there is a sentiment that its impossible to really be the church in the ‘burbs. But for others, we believe that this is the place that God has called us. If we are going to stay, we need to ask what it means to “be the church” in a culture that is defined by comfort, consumerism, isolation, wealth, strip malls and hidden poverty.

This one-day seminar will focus on the development and culture of suburbia and the opportunities and challenges that this context presents the Church. We are honored to have Al Hsu, author of The Suburban Christian, lead the discussion along with some other local pastors and thinkers.

This one-day conference is open to all and will be helpful for pastors, lay leaders, and members of congregations. Our goal is to have some substantial discussion around practical issues that relate to the everyday practice of the Church and the Christian life.

Event Details:

    * Location: The Well (Feasterville, PA)

    * Cost: $25 (includes lunch)

    * Dates: August 9, 2008 (On Friday night, August 8, there is an optional “open house”/”meet and greet.”)

    * In Partnership With: Philly Emergent cohort, Ecclessia Network, and C4ML at Biblical Seminary

Register online now at: church.thewellpa.com

2 Corinthians 12:9 (The Message)

7-10Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,
   My grace is enough; it's all you need.
   My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

It's My Blog And I Will Post It If I Want To... (not trying to stir up trouble, just saying what has been on my heart, as well as acknowledging that I most definitely do NOT have all the answers!)

Over the past couple of days I have really had the debate about the place of women in ministry on my heart and mind... I have always had my own personal opinion on this, which I have felt in my heart was correct.  I have done some research on scripture dealing with this subject in the past, but I will fully admit that I never really made a serious effort to take the time needed to be sure that there is solid material to back up what I believe in my heart to be true.  I am now feeling this push that it is time to take my view, which I believe in my heart and mind is supported by the God I have a close personal relationship with, and make sure that I have solid biblical material to back it up in conversation.  One thing that I am realizing is that it is all about interpretation and this is a debate that will continue forever. 

I am enjoying reading some thoughts on different interpretations of various verses, but if for right now we simply focus on taking the various usual verses that are cited during this debate and reading them in there most literal sense... their are most definitely verses that when read very literally directly oppose the place of women as leaders, but there are definitely other verses that when read literally do support the role of women in positions of importance and authority. (Please excuse the fact that I am not taking the time to include the scripture, but if you have an interest or opinion on this you most likely know what the usual verses are.) I as a woman who was raised to believe that I could do or be anything that I wanted (an artist... an art teacher... or even a stay-home-mom), choose to acknowledge that their is scripture that literally seems to go in both directions of this debate, but in a day when a woman and an African American man can run for president, I believe that the logical way to go is in the direction where women are not restricted from ministry on any level.

A friend had introduced me to Eugene Cho's blog awhile ago and it is great!!  This morning I came across a post from back in May on "Supporting Women in All Level's of Leadership"  It is a great post and many of the comments are extremely interesting and thought provoking also!

Quakertown Family-to-Family

I have been meaning to do a post about Family-to-Family for awhile now and just haven't gotten around to it. I know that this blog is not exactly widely read these days (why read something that barely ever changes, right), but I thought that it was worth posting in case someone happens upon it and would like to be involved. If you would like to become involved or would like more information please contact me at quakertownFtoF@verizon.net.

Here are the notes that I used for an announcement that I made at our church about Family-to-Family:

Jesus has called us to serve the world and I believe that it is a good thing for us to become aware of different ways in which we can do this. When I think about the fact that God is calling us to serve the least of these as Jesus did, but in the world as it is today. I think about the fact that there are people living in poverty throughout our entire world… right here in Quakertown, throughout the United States and in each country on this planet. I believe that it is important for us to be doing what we can to help those in need locally, nationally, and globally. Today I would like to tell you about an opportunity to help some of our neighbors within the United States in the small town of Montrose, Arkansas.

6 families here in Quakertown recently came together to create a chapter of Family to Family, which is a non-profit hunger relief program. Family to Family matches families with more up with families in need. The six families that at this time make up the Quakertown Chapter have each been paired with a family in Montrose… each month they shop for the family that they have been paired with and fill a box with specific non-perishable foods. The idea is that they are supplying the family that they are paired to with about 7 meals for each month. Each Quakertown family packs their box up and delivers it to my home where it is picked up and shipped to their family free of charge. The boxes are shipped around the middle of each month so that they arrive in time for the last week of the month when the food pantry runs low on food and food stamps begin to run out.

The especially great thing about this organization is that the families are encouraged to build relationships with each other… letters are exchanged, stories are told and lives are, even over this great physical distance, bonded. My family has been paired with a single mother and her 5 children… 4 boys and the youngest is a girl. I love the time that we spend on this as a family each month… We shop as a family, we pack the box as a family and we write the letters as a family… I really like that my kids know that each month we need to buy a bag of cookie mix because Kenyance, the little girl, really likes cookies.

As I mentioned, the Quakertown Chapter sponsors the town of Montrose, Arkansas. Montrose is located North of Louisiana and according to the 2000 census had a population of 526 people. Montrose has a predominately African American population at 71.9%. It is a rural, agricultural area where jobs are few. There are no supermarkets, libraries, barber shops or gas stations.

• Per capita income in Montrose in 1999 was $10,363; for Little Rock, the State Capital, it was $23,209.
• 80% of Montrose homes are valued at $50,000 or less. The median house value in 2000 was $31,400.
• 48.3% of the adults over the age of 25 do not hold a high school degree.

So as you can see this is an area of our country that is very much in need. There are more families there that could use our help and I would like to invite you, if you feel that you are able and willing to help out a family and form a lasting relationship to please contact me, my contact information is in the bulletin. The Quakertown chapter is only about 3 months old right now and each month I love seeing those 6 boxes sitting in our family room while they are waiting to be shipped. I would love to see many more boxes there in the future.

The many families involved with Family to Family share the sentiment of anthropologist Margaret Mead, who once said: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world." This is what Jesus has called us to do and I hope that you will prayerfully consider whether or not this is something that your family would like to be a part of.

"A Transformational Moment"

Check out this post in which Jim Wallis shares his feelings about Obama as the Democratic nominee.