New Website

We've got a new website folks! For now it is only the bare essentials, but I will be posting more information as time allows. This will become your go-to place for all things Koinonia. I will eventually have all the dates, times, and info concerning any event we are doing, our outreach opportunities including Night Strike, our belief and practice statement, and all that other good stuff up there. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the podcast is up on iTunes. It will be searchable in the next few days. Until then you can either subscribe to the podcast from the website or listen to either of the two links below. That's all for now, I guess.

www.thesbckoinonia.org

The Gospel according to John

Okay, this RSS and XML stuff is incredibly hard to figure out. If you click on the title of this post it will take you to a page where you can listen to an audio recording of the gospel of John. I'm still trying to figure out how to get the podcast on iTunes. Be patient, it'll happen eventually. Thanks.

Audio Recording of the Gospel of John

It's finally here (I hope)! You can now click on the title of this post and be magically transported to a place where you can listen to or download an audio recording of the gospel of John preformed by yours truly. I am in the process of getting this up on iTunes, so be patient as I figure that out. Also, you are more than welcome to bring a data CD/DVD so I can make you a copy of the file for yourself to listen to whenever. I'm new to all of this so bear with me, especially if the file has not yet appeared on the website (these things take time to be approved and such). I hope you enjoy!

Hey guys. For those of you who are still reading this blog I was encouraged by Lisa Leaf to ask the Koinonia for prayer. Right now my life is extremely busy. As you know I've been sick for a while now. I'm getting better, but my life is not getting any easier. I have so many responsibilities right now and I don't want to get stressed out. Would you guys lift me up in prayer? Pray that I would trust God as he provides the lessons I'm responsible to teach on Wednesdays and the two classes I'm responsible for on Sundays. Pray that he would teach me to balance my load of homework at Seminary with all the other things I need to do. And pray that I would have time to spend with Laura and with God, that I would be refreshed out of my relationship with him. I really appreciate you guys praying for me. I REALLY love you all and can't wait to see you again this next week! I was just looking at all the pictures in the hall at church from Winter Youth and thinking about what an incredible group of people you all are. Thanks for all your love and your prayers.

Good Works

Last night during our mock conversation between an unbeliever and a believer there was an interesting question that Greg raised about doing good things. He wondered if he could just not have to deal with believing in Jesus and simply do good things and he would make it to heaven. I'd like to take that question a little further and hear how you guys would respond to such a question if it were raised to you because it is such a common question and it demands a good answer. 

First off, let's just be clear that getting to heaven is not the goal of our Christian faith and practice. Getting people to heaven is not God's goal and therefore it cannot be our goal either. It seems that I have to repeat this fact over and over again because it has been so entrenched in our thinking to believe that entrance into heaven is the goal that it is hard to believe otherwise. The goal is redemption of a messed up creation and created order. Heaven is merely a short stop on the long journey towards the final result of that redemption. So, let me restate the question (assuming that going to heaven is not the goal of being a Christian): if we spent the majority of our time and energy loving others around us and doing good works then why would we need Jesus in any way to experience salvation?

Your thoughts?

Zeitgeist the Movie

The movie Zeitgeist has generated quite a following since its release last year and its subsequent remastering and planned re-release this October. If you haven't heard of the movie that's probably for the better, but since I was asked to respond to its claims by someone in the youth group I will attempt to do so. Rather than a point by point analysis of each of the movie's claims I will instead direct you to a pretty thorough response to its many falsehoods and misleading exaggerations. I hope that this article  helps with some of the more complicated issues the movie brings up. If there is something not covered in the article that you'd like to dialogue about I'd be more than happy to respond to those specific questions. Until then, I hope this tides you over.

The Ordinary Radicals

If you haven't read the book "The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical" you probably should. If the most that it does to you is give you an alternative perspective as to how Christianity can be done than it is worth it. As I read through the pages of this book, I am left thinking about the new way of life (which is actually a very old way of life) presented in its pages and wondering if this is what I've been searching for. I wonder if this life is what Jesus came to freely impart to his followers and if it can be faithfully lived out in the church today. Fortunately, a movie is coming out for those who are hard of reading. The release date is September 4th, until then here is a link to their site. I strongly encourage you all to look into this.