Archive for the ‘Church / The Body’ Category

“Like” The LaGrange District Facebook Page!

May 30, 2011

We are happy to introduce The LaGrange District Facebook Page. Search “The LaGrange District” on facebook + ‘Like’ the page for the latest LaGrange District UMC News, including updates from our District Superintendent. Please forward on to others in and outside of the District! From what we understand, we are one of the first – if not the only - district in the North Georgia Conference to have a Facebook page.

Click Here to find the page. This is another way we’re pushing the envelope to create a community within our district to connect us, from the very north of the district to the south, east and west.

Blogging the Stop Hunger Now Experience

March 12, 2011
Nathaniel Long, John Mattox, and Dan Dixon at the Stop Hunger Now warehouse in Marietta

Nathaniel Long, John Mattox, and Dan Dixon at the Stop Hunger Now warehouse in Marietta

Have you heard that three pastors from our District are participating in the 4 by 40 project by eating 40 packages of Stop Hunger Now meals during the 40 days of Lent?? What an interesting concept. They are Nathaniel Long of Senoia UMC, Dan Dixon of Mt. Gilead UMC and John Mattox of Pleasant Grove UMC. You can follow along with their stories as they are blogging at the links below:

Meet the “Hogfather” of the LaGrange District (Rev. Nathaniel Long) by clicking here

Keep up with “Preacher Dan’s Ponderings” (Rev Dan Dixon) by clicking here

View some of Rev. John Mattox’s posts at the Pleasant Grove UMC blog by clicking here

Rev. Long will be doing an on air interview next Wednesday at 8:00pm for 95.5 The Beat Atlanta. We’ll tweet that from the District Twitter feed to remind you: www.twitter.com/lagrangedist.

“Today, I quit being a Christian”

August 5, 2010

“Today, I quit being a Christian.”

With those words last week on Facebook, Anne Rice delivered a wake-up call for organized religion. The question is whether it will be recognized as such.

“I remain committed to Christ as always,” she wrote, “but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.”

To read the rest of this article by Leonard Pitts that I read in the AJC today, click here.  There are numerous points he makes that we all need to think about.

Young Adult Gatherings at Annual Conference

June 8, 2010

Annual Conference 2010 is upon us! If you’d like to blog or tweet daily about your experience at Conference, let us know!  Here are some things happening at Conference for young adults to take note of:

All young adult clergy, laity, and those who specialize in young adult
ministry are invited to Two Story Coffee House on Tuesday night, June
15, from 8- 10 pm BEFORE AC kicks off for a time of acclimation,
fellowship, and networking. The first 75 guests will receive a voucher
for a free coffee drink of their choice! Two Story Coffee is located
at 1680 S. Lumpkin Street in Athens. Parking is available on the
street or in the lot behind Two Story or their neighbors, Athens
Classic Properties or Home Place. After 9 pm additional parking is
available at Earthfare, across the street. For more information about
Two Story Coffee house, check out www.twostorycoffeehouse.com.
Questions??? contact Margaret Freeman at mfreeman@ngumc.org

Also, during lunch each day of annual conference young adults are
invited to meet just outside the Classic Center Theatre to walk to a
nearby restaurant to eat. Another great way to meet other young adults
from across the conference!

Two opportunities for young adults to be in mission at annual conference:

Stop Hunger Now initiative June 16-17 | Athens Classic Center
Because 25,000 persons die of starvation and malnutrition every day,
the North Georgia Conference is committed to this packaging project
that provides basic meals to the world’s nutritionally deprived poor.
Volunteers must be at least 12 years of age. You will be able to
indicate the times you will help package food when registering. It
would be great to have lots of young adults sign up with the youth
delegates on that Thursday evening shift.

4th Annual 5K Run/Walk June 17 | 6:30am | Athens Classic Center
Pre-registration Fee: $20 before race day
Come join us in downtown Athens for the 4th Annual North Georgia
Conference 5K Run/Walk. The start/finish will be the Classic Center,
located at 300 N Thomas Street, Athens, GA 30601. The entire course
will be run on paved streets in and around downtown Athens, GA.
Proceeds from the race will benefit The North Georgia Housing and
Homeless Council. Participants are encouraged to pre-register prior
to the day of the race at $20. Registration fee on race day is $25.
Help is also needed during the race.

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:

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.’

Christians in Iraq

May 14, 2009

A few months back, we posted a story about the growth and challenges of being a Christian in China. I recently read a few stories that described what it was like to be a Christian in Iraq. I’m telling you, we’ve got it good here. Relatively speaking, we have no excuses. Thousands of Christians in Iraq are fleeing for their lives and safety, rather than deny Christ in cities like Mosul, which we hear so much about. Let’s be in prayer for our Christian brothers and sisters in Iraq, as well as the soldiers.

 A surge in violence against the Christian community has provoked a mass exodus  Photo: AP

A surge in violence against the Christian community in Iraq has provoked a mass exodus Photo: AP

Here are a few articles on the situation:

Thousands of Christians flee Iraq city (CNN.com)
Christians flee Iraq’s second city as attacks increase (The Telegraph)

New North Georgia Young Adult Web Page

February 21, 2009

Both our Conference Youth and Conference Young Adult websites have been changed to new sites –You can check out the North Georgia Conference Young Adults website at www.ngumc.org/youngadults.  Also, the Youth website is www.ngumc.org/youth.

All upcoming events, links regarding our conference young adult ministries and contact information is available. If you have any suggestions or questions about the ministries, send an email to the contacts listed.

“Find Your Path” UMC Commercial

February 18, 2009

I was watching TV a few weeks ago, and low and behold I was surprised by a commercial I saw. It was sponsored by the North Georgia Conference of The United Methodist Church. It was called “Find Your Path”, and had a series of people following signs, arrows, and stones toward a common place. I’m not sure how clear the message was, or if it will resonate with people, but I am sure that this is a sign that our United Methodist Church is reaching out, which is a good thing. See the video below. What do you think of the commercial?

Jesus in China on PBS

January 12, 2009

As I exited church yesterday, I was reminded that I was free to come and go to church as I pleased, and to worship Christ whenever, wherever, and however I wished, for the most part.

I watched an interesting story called “Jesus In China” on PBS Frontline/World on my ipod on Friday, and it really makes you think. The story detailed how some of our Chinese brothers and sisters in The Body of Christ have to worship in underground caves and discreet houses. They interviewed a pastor who was charged with being a counter-revolutionary and disturbing social order. That reminded me of Paul.

While there were some open churches, the story reported that religion is controlled by the government, and there were strict “rules” of worshipping in government-supported churches. One leader of an underground church said that he was told by an official that he “had to worship Jesus following the regulations of the country.” He responded, “If I follow what you say, then I don’t need to worship Jesus, I should worship you!”

The beautiful thing is that The Gospel is being spread, and new believers are coming into the kingdom, and we know that God will “bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 13:47), (Isaiah 49:6) One pastor said, “The next 30 years will be the age of The Gospel [in China].” Let’s keep our brothers and sisters in China lifted up.

Check out the full nine minute video here. What would you do in this situation? Would we be willing nowadays to risk years in jail and persecution for worshipping in what we consider to be in Spirit and Truth? I had to really ask myself this question. What are your thoughts?


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