Author Archive

Willing to Lay down Your Life? – Missions Part 1

December 29, 2009

For our next feature series on the blog, we’ll be taking a look at missions. There was a story in today’s AJC about a missionary who is described as “unusually serious” about his Christian faith, and focused on North Korea. I wonder if we realize how much danger can be involved when God leads us on certain mission assignments. Recently, there was a story about a youth group from Georgia that was in Honduras when political fighting broke out. If God was leading you into a place like North Korea, what would you do? The story, which is linked below, is about Robert Park, a Korean-American who has been detained by North Korean officials. Park’s pastor said this about him:

The Rev. John Benson, the pastor of Life in Christ Community Church in Park’s hometown of Tucson, Arizona, said Park’s devotion is exceptional. “You have to understand that for this guy, when it comes to the Lord, he’s very, very serious,” said Benson, who led weekend services to pray for his safe return. “Unusually serious.” Park’s father, Pyong Park, described him as fearless and said he was willing to lay down his life. “He was not afraid to die,” said the elder Park, who lives in Encinitas, California. “What he wanted was the whole world to know of North Korea’s situation.”

U.S. missionary Robert Park, a 28-year-old Korean-American (AP Photo/ Freedom and Life for All North Koreans, Seo Suk-gu)

You can read the story at this link. We hope to have some reports and tweets from people in our district on mission trips.

Rethink Church Christmas Ad

December 4, 2009

From time to time we have featured commercials in our Movies/TV Category. I just learned of this ad that will be airing a new Rethink Church Ad in North Georgia over the Christmas season. The TV spots will air during the Army/Navy football game Dec. 12, the Sun Bowl Dec. 31, and during the Gator Bowl on New Years Day. Additionally, CBSatlanta.com will run our 15-second spots before news videos and Radio ads will air on a variety of stations during drive-time. The UMC’s national advertising includes CNN, Google, YouTube and Good.com. For more, check out 10kdoors.org and for Rethink Church resources and information, visit www.rethinkchurch.org. See the ad below. What do you think?

Joke of the Day – Guard Duty

November 22, 2009

Here’s the joke we used this morning in our service:

The new army recruit was given guard duty at 2 a.m. He did his best for a while, but at about 4 a.m. he went to sleep. He awakened to find the officer of the day standing before him.

Remembering the heavy penalty for being asleep on guard duty, this smart young man kept his head bowed for another moment and looked upward and reverently said, “A-a-a-men!”

Jesus and The Kingdom – Kingdom Living

November 5, 2009

This evening, a parking lot attendant let me in the lot for free and told me not to tell anyone, but to pay it forward to someone tomorrow. I did a search on Youtube a little later for “The Kingdom” and I found this video by author Brian McLaren discussing our purpose on this earth – and how we in essence change and edit the Lord’s Prayer to fit our limited thinking about the Kingdom of God.  Check it out:

Georgia school district bans Bible verse football banners

October 25, 2009
Image: Ajc Blog

Image: Ajc Blog

I read an article in the ajc a few weeks ago about a high school football team that was banned from running through a banner quoting a Bible verse before football games. The image above is of one of the banners in question. I thought this was very interesting?

The AJC also blogged about it here: http://tinyurl.com/ybj9zzk

Got a thought about it? Leave a comment below.

Joke of the Day – Last Respects

October 24, 2009

Three Christian men were standing around talking after church. One of them asked the question, “What would you like people to say about you as they come to pay their last respects?”

The second man said, “I hope they say I was a respected doctor in my field, a good family man, and had lots of friends.”

The third man said, “I hope they say I was a well spoken attorney, helped my fellow man, good citizen, and played a mean round of golf.”

The first man said, “That’s probably what will be said of the two of you.” My hope is that when they look down in my coffin they say, “Look…he’s moving”!

Got a joke? Please share it with us.

How Selfish?

August 11, 2009

My cousin just sent me this email, and it really speaks to how selfish we are as a society. To make it more personal, I’ll say I realized just how selfish I AM in my thoughts after reading this:

A Holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, ‘Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.’

The Lord led the holy man to two doors.

He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.

In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man’s mouth water. The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it impossible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful. But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.

The Lord said, ‘You have seen Hell. They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one.

There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man’s mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.

The holy man said, ‘I don’t understand.’

‘It is simple,’ said the Lord… ‘It requires but one skill. You see, they have learned to feed each other. The greedy think only of themselves.’

LaGrange District Live at Annual Conference

June 17, 2009
Annual Meeting 2009 Logo

Annual Meeting 2009 Logo

Annual Conference has been very interesting so far. As a first timer, I would refer to it as a learning experience. You really get to see the many workings of the UMC, and the many opportunities as well. We’ve run into some great people from both inside and outside of our district. Hopefully, they will share some words with us on the blog soon. In the meantime, keep track with us session by session at http://twitter.com/lagrangedist, and also streaming live at www.ngumc.org/ac2009. Later.

Follow K-M on Twitter

June 11, 2009

You can now keep up with the LaGrange District Young Adults on Twitter.  At http://twitter.com/lagrangedist, you can keep up with Annual Conference happenings as they occur next week, and news from our district.

Prodigal

June 10, 2009

For our next feature in our We Want You series, we’re spotlighting some of our home grown talent from the LaGrange District. Formed in 2003, the band Prodigal was birthed during a few jam sessions in band member Greg’s basement. The band is comprised of members of Cokes Chapel UMC, Cornerstone UMC and Newnan First UMC. Prodigal strives to offer a message of God’s Boundless Love to all of creation through music and witness. All members of Prodigal believe that humanity has fallen short of the life God intends for us; and much like the Prodigal Son, we all need to return home to our Father and ask for His forgiveness. Need a live Christian band? Now you know who to contact! Is there any more talent out there in the LaGrange District? We want to hear from you and give you the spotlight on the blog!! Here are a couple of samples of Prodigal:

Prodigal – Anointed Ones

Prodigal – How Beautiful You Are


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