Gaters were out in full swing last night as we gave out just over 500 cans of Pepsi at a traffic light in Columbiana where Routes 164 & 46 merge.  This time was a little bit different for two reasons: we had the most participation ever (15 people) and the participants provided all of the pop!  This is the first Give we’ve done where not one can of soda was purchased from The Gate church account.  This is truly Gaters giving of their time and money to people in this community.  And, it went so well we’ve decided to plan another Give; most likely at the end of September.  To date we’ve given out over 2,200 cans of cold pop in Jesus’ Name!

 This provides a great launch for September’s series on the need for Christians to be involved in the community.  We’re calling it “American Idle”.

 Tomorrows is a big day for The Gate.  It is our first Baptism service!  At least four people will give the outward sign of the commitment they have made to Jesus and to give testimony to what change He has made in their lives.  All Gaters and Gate supporters are welcome to attend the Baptism and cook-out to follow to be held at the home of a fantastic couple from our church.  Sign up at worship tomorrow or give me a shout to let me know if you’re coming so that we’ll have enough grub!

Fall is by far my favorite time of year.  This is the time when parents, particularly those who work from home to even the least extent, celebrate the newness that fall brings.  The crisp coolness of the evenings.  The bright colors of the leaves indicating that the trees are preparing for their wintry slumber.  The bitter heat of the summer gone south till it rages its torment again next year.  The anticipation of football and getting back into the swing of things.  And . . .

 The house is empty during the day!

Don’t get me wrong.  I love my kids to death.  As Vanda would say, they are very like me in this way: they don’t do well staying at home with nothing to do for any significant length of time.  This does not make for an atmosphere conducive to study and planning for a new church.  Especially because I am so often tempted to play with them.

So, every year as the new school year approaches I’ll spontaneously burst out in song with the memory of a commercial that says it all, much to the dismay of my offspring!

So few commercials speak so directly to the heart of the human condition.

Finally.  Pictures of our vacation in Hocking Hills this summer.  We rented a cabin in south-central Ohio in the middle of nowhere.  We had to travel twenty minutes to get to anything.

It  . . . was . . . awesome!

The cabin was fantastic.  We were surrounded by cliffs and trees.  The hot tub was a real bonus.  Lots of hiking in caves and swimming in lakes and pools with little need to spend lots of money.  The train ride went over particularly well with Zach.

I really enjoyed waking up before the kids and spending time with God out on the porch in the cool of the early morning.  There’s something about being in nature that helps me to connect with God.  If I were more of a poetic person I could describe it to you better.  Alas, I am not.  So, here are some pictures instead.

A couple weeks back I went golfing with Todd Oshiro, the man who at times almost single-handedly sets up and tears down the equipment at the High School for worship on Sunday mornings.  He golfs in a league that meets every week at a golf course way up in Hubbard, OH, and he invited me to join in with them.  After our first drive one of the guys walked up to me and said “I think I’m your neighbor.”  Silly me.  I thought he meant his golf ball landed near mine.  It should have occured to me sooner that this guy is much better than me and that there’s no way my drive would be near his.  As it turns out, he’s literally my neighbor.  He and his family live a couple of houses down from us.  We’ve lived here almost three years and have never met them.  Again, I feel quite silly.

We’ve been golfing again and even chatted in our yards a couple of times.  He is a Christian man and is supportive of what we’re doing in this whole church plant thing.  He’s just a couple houses away, and if Todd hadn’t invited me to golf with them we may never have met.  Pastors by nature are people who find is easy to meet people, right?  Not always so!

This meeting was a God-thing.  We’ll be talking about what it means to be a neighbor at The Gate the 2nd Sunday in September.  Jesus has a pretty sweet take on it.  And, I have lots of neighbors still to meet.

The new school year is quickly approaching.  The beginning of our second year as a church is also quickly coming up on us.  Surviving the first year of a new church is a major victory.  God has done far more than that at The Gate.  I can’t help but believe that He’s got even more in mind for us as the vision begins to take hold in our community.  It is almost unheard of for a new church to sustain worship attendance during the summer, much less see an increase!

 Jesus told the disciples that if they did thing correctly as He instructed them, they would be unstoppable for God’s purposes in the world (Matthew 16) and there’s nothing anybody can do to prevent it (I suppose that’s implied by the word “unstoppable”).  That promise is for us too, and we aren’t planning on missing out on one bit of it.  So, for the next three weeks we’ll look at what it means to be an unstoppable force for God’s Kingdom, bringing His hope and joy to our friends and neighbors in terms they can understand.  It will be a powerful reminder of what Jesus has called us to from the start so that we will be true to our calling.  Friends, this is preparation for real living.  I hope to see you at The Gate!

A friend of mine who has had a significant impact on the strides made in the quality of worship at The Gate responded to my last post about The Chronicles of Narnia film.  The approach offered of the movies was that they contained similar themes to pagan mythology and posed the appropriate question “We know the difference between mythological creatures, but how will the children know?”

 The simple answer is: “We tell them.”  To be honest, most adults may struggle with the difference.  A link was attached leading me to a hard-line approach to the evils of C.S. Lewis’ (and the Tolkein books that the Lord of the Rings movies are based on) amalgamation of Scriptural truths with mythological concepts resulting in heresy.  There’s no room to go into the debate here, but from what I read it’s clear that even smart adults can struggle with the difference.  So, do we just avoid Prince Caspian in an effort to be pure?  Or, even more obvious, do we burn our Harry Potter books and throw away our Star Wars DVD’s because of their “evil” influences with seemingly anti-Christian or New-Age concepts?

 This brings up two more important questions than this particular debate.  How much do we separate ourselves from the world so as to be a clear Light of the hope of Jesus Christ, and, how do we prevent our differences within Christian circles from further preventing the clarity of this Light?

The first is tougher than the second, by far.  Jesus did say that He is not of this world (John 8:23), and yet we have biblical records of Him attending weddings and hanging out with “sinners”, a man fully in the world to be sure.  A close study of Scripture will show that even Jesus rewarded immature faith based on improper theology that was motivated by a pure desire to know the Truth (i.e., the woman who touched Jesus’ cloak for healing in the book of Luke).  Whatever gives people a better glimpse into the True Jesus, he was all for it with the understanding that the immature faith would refined by the Truth He offers.  Also, I believe God loves a creative approach to understanding Him.  After all, don’t we refer to Him as “The Creator”.  We need to strive for purity to be sure, but complete separation is counter-Christian.

 The second question is easier but certainly as fundamental to our success in being His Light in the world.  Is there anybody out there as sick and tired as I am of theological and philosophical arguments getting in the way of our ability to really live life to the fullest extent?  Jesus had little time for those who thought they knew it all.  Whenever He got upset with anybody it wasn’t with those who were searching for truth, it was always with those who seemed to think that they had the Truth all worked out on their own.  There is Truth that is worth fighting for, and we’ll fight for it the same way the very Source of this Truth did.

It’s our hope that these blogs will be a forum for disagreement from Christians and anybody else who has a question or point to make about Jesus or the church.  As our web site says, we are a place where people can disagree.

I’m a cheapskate.  We finally went to see the Chronicles of Narnia movie since it is as the dollar movie place.  Actually, it was 50 cents each today!  I loved the first movie, but I was willing to wait a few months to save some dough.  Besides, if you think I’m cheap, you’ll have to say that our bass player, Stephanie Harker, is cheap too.  At least her husband Tim is.  We were surprised to see Tim and their kids at the theater and sat with them during the movie.  I’m cool with that.  If I’m cheap, at least I’m in great company!

The movie was fantastic!  It was a bit more preachy than the first (that’s not all bad, by the way), but the Christian overtones were well established and not overdone.  I’m a sucker for the great music, especially when it lines up with the determined and heroic people of God advancing to what they think is their certain doom for the sake of a God they haven’t yet seen (at least in this episode).  Oops, I think I’ve said too much.  Don’t want to spoil it for y’all who haven’t seen it yet.