From the ever-expanding YouTube, John Piper on the so-called prosperity gospel.

I wonder why there isn’t more teaching and strong responses like this to the prosperity gospel phenomenon.

HT: Deep(ish) Thoughts. Also, read more here.

Worth Saying - Right below my disdain for the ‘prosperity gospel’ movement is those who theologically oppose the so-called prosperity gospel, but still live within the general American practice of personal prosperity and individual wealth. For some, please explain the difference.

Share This

I’ve actually asked myself this question numerous times. Even though I’m open to their being a rational explanation for this, I haven’t yet heard it. Honestly, I have a hard time following all of the anti-abortion soapbox in America without an even stronger adoption message following suit. Plus, I know personally of several Christians that have spent tens of thousands of dollars on fertility options, even as Anthony Bradley reminds us that:

“America has nearly 115,000 orphaned kids in foster care waiting to be adopted.

Some wonder how this is possible in a country with Christian families. Surely, there are 115,000 missional families in America, right? Missional families, for example, embrace the redemptive mission of God and practice “true religion” in their local communities (James 1:27). Missional Christians in America could eliminate the foster care system tomorrow if we would stop “shootin’ up” with the American Dream (heroine) in order to get high on a lame life lived for the sake of comfort and ease.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world,” writes James (1:27). As a matter of fact, the Bible has over 40 verses mandating God’s people to look after orphans and the fatherless for various reasons.

According to the American Religious Identity Survey, conducted by the City University of New York, there are over 224 million Christians in the United States. So, why are there 115,000 orphans in a country that has over 224 million Christians?”

Read the whole article. (HT: DJ Chang)

Share This

Today we visited the ruins for the ancient city of Ephesis, where Paul walked and taught. In its time, it was a port city on the Aegean and the capital of Asia Minor, with a population upwards of 250,000 - a large and glorious city in its time. Walking through the ruins, I could only imagine (more…)

Share This

Whether it is the State Street Locos or other taggers, it happens more in the summertime.

“…they are so fast, Bam! One minute there’s nothing and the next minute you come out and they covered a whole wall.”

For more information about removing unwelcome tagging, call the Graffiti Hotline at (800) 675-4357 - available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Or go online to http://dpw.lacounty.gov/ and click on the “stop graffiti” link under featured items on the right side of the homepage.

Share This

I’m talking about the East LA Coalition meeting at El Gallo Cafe. As John Lewis has discovered, it is a great place to meet, work, rest, whatever. And the East Los Angeles / Boyle Heights Coalition that is starting to meet up is very promising. I’m eager to have other ministries from the area join us in collaborating, encouraging, networking and partnering together to serve East LA, Boyle Heights, Lincoln Height, El Sereno, City Terrace, etc.

Share This

I’m really getting excited about this Fall and heading into Christmas season. Why? Because of what’s cooking up for our new student outreach at CSULA starting in late September through November, and what’s happening with La Fe in Los Angeles - on Nov.16th we’re gearing up for the 5th annualCumbre de Alabanza and in December between Christmas and New Year’s, about 500 Latino students from around the U.S. will meet in Torrance for La Fe ‘07 - InterVarsity’s triennial Latino student conference.

(more…)

Share This

Last week - as we studied the middle section of Mark’s Gospel at our end-of-the-year summer confernce for CSULA - I taught the section in Mark 10:1-16 about divorce. In preping the passage, I did some research about divorce in the U.S. (see below).

But one stat hit closer to home than the rest - the 75-85% of parents of special needs children that divorce - took on a whole new dimension while at Catalina with my students.

(more…)

Share This

The 10th annual Urban Youth Workers’ Institute (UYWI) starts tomorrow. I’m excited about it, especially seeing some old faces & making some new connections. I’ve been working with John Lewis a little bit to organize church & ministry leaders in East LA/Boyle Heights to form a cohort to broaden the kingdom impact of our ministries in the city. We’re hoping this will be a launching pad for meeting other leaders from East LA & Boyle Heights & casting some vision for this network/cohort.

I’m also teaching a seminar on Friday morning on the faith challenges/opportunities that high school grads face in college. Should be fun, though I’ve been trudging through to finishing prepping. Not sure why this has been so difficult to prep, since its about as up my alley as topics go. Maybe that’s why I’m having a hard time focusing in. But I’ll be ready.

Share This

I’m doing some preparation & research for my seminar next week at the UYWI on the faith challenges for students entering college. This quote about the spiritual perspective of the average college student stood out to me:

…most college students… view religion not unlike vegetables—as something that is “good for you” and part of adult life, but not as something all that relevant to their current stage as college students.

As one freshman put it, “I feel like God dropped me off at college and said, ‘I’ll be back to pick you up in four years’.”

Note that this student, like many of his peers, planned to be picked up when he graduated—in the same place and by the same driver.

What do you think?

Read the whole article here

Share This

I’m talking about Jeremy Del Rio’s A Campus Ministry Primer for Cities. Check it out this excerpt:

“There’s this teenage boy I know. He appears ordinary enough, with nothing much to distinguish himself except that he’s studious and works with his step dad in construction. Like many teens he’s struggling to find his place and feels like a curiosity.

Living in the ghetto is hard, especially since he just immigrated to the neighborhood in the last few years. Try as he might, he hasn’t mastered the accent and local customs. And forget the slang; that’s like learning a third language. Worse, the old-timers all seem to know something about him that he hasn’t figured out yet. He gets the distinct impression they’re always talking about his family, reinforced by the overheard name-calling. A few of his schoolmates have teased him to his face, and one punched him in the nose after school. The soldiers occupying the streets find the bullying funny.

Sometimes the mocking gets to him. He wants desperately to fight back, but mom forbids it, promising that someday the rejection will all make sense. He tries to take comfort in her words, but for now his heart just hurts, and the injustice makes him angry.

So he sneaks off to the outskirts of town and hides behind an old sycamore tree. There he remembers what it was like in the refugee camp, and recollects vague memories of a midnight flight from the small town where he spent his childhood. The details are sketchy, but he remembers stories of bloodshed and murder that he barely escaped. Not fitting in has been a recurring theme for him.
(more…)

Share This

Thus says The Economist about Boyle Heights in this article - “Escape from LA: Los Angeles is losing its illegal immigrants. That’s bad news.” The article goes on to talk about the negative impact of the declining number of immigrants coming to Los Angeles. Read it.

Share This

I’m preparing a seminar with Abner Ramos for the upcoming La Fe Training Day next Saturday, March 31st at Harambee. The seminar is entitled - “Redeemed Images: Working towards Latino male wholeness.” about Latino. Abner sent me this link from Christianity Today, of an interview of Robert Lewis. He says:

We compared the first Adam with the last Adam, Christ, and we found four differences. They are our four foundation stones for authentic manhood.

A real man is one who rejects passivity, accepts responsibility, leads courageously, and expects the greater reward, God’s reward.

I usually cringe with cheesy categories and generalities about manhood, but I think this interview has some substance to it.

Share This

This production is being produced by a friend of ours on staff with InterVarsity. The production - Table Setting - is the inaugural show of this new studio - Streetlamp Studio. Come check out their inaugural show, written collaboratively by the company members and directed by Alison Siewert. It features: Phillip Attmore, Jim Cornell, Jenny Vaughn Hall, Anna Klein, John Negrete, and Malika Williams.

The show is playing this weekend only - Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm. Tickets are $10 and since space is limited, you need to make a reservation. Go to the Streetlamp Studio myspace page. There are some quick blurbs about the company and the show, plus a short video they put together to promote the play.

The theatre is located in the NoHo Arts District, one mile north of Universal Studios. It’s a small, forty person theatre. So…think intimate:)

The Actors Workout Studio
4735 Lankershim Blvd.
North Hollywood, CA 91602

Share This

I just read a post-title on a friends blog about “free Starbucks next week.” Before reading the post, I wasn’t sure what the title meant.

Was this a call to rise up in armed revolution in order to set Starbucks free from some type of an enslavement?

Or was it referring to the cover price that people seem obliged to pay in order to utilize a simple table & chair (to which I thought “Starbucks has always been ‘free’…“)?

Then I realized that the freedom of which the post spoke - free tall drip next Thursday, March 15th at any Starbucks - and thought to myself - “If only I enjoyed Starbucks for the coffee…”

Share This

Not that I’m all that “green” or environmentally-conscious, but every Tuesday I’ve been taking the bus to campus for lunch with one of my guys and then our men’s Bible study. Other than my 1-week - public - transportation - for - jury - duty experiment, I’ve never riden the bus for any regular commute before. (Apparently, I’m not alone) So far, this is what I’ve seen:
(more…)

Share This

Yes, its back. The new season of Dancing with the Stars. And with an increasingly high profile “cast” - Laila Ali, Billy Ray Cyrus, Clyde Drexler, Joey Fatone, Shandi Finnessey, Leeza Gibbons, Heather Mills, Apolo Ohno, Paulina Porizkova, John Ratzenberger, Ian Ziering.

My early money is on Laila Ali knocking out the competition and dancing away with the title - good footwork from boxing, famous name, and I think a woman is going to win it.

And since your reading this and secretly you love the show even if you can’t admit it, who do you think will win? And who will be the first one to go home?

UPDATE: In a clear attempt to better attract the male demographic, they have an elimination chart - like March Madness - to track the show.

Share This

Abner Ramos and I are beginning to get our bearings for several La Fe projects we’d like to develop in the coming months. One involves a La Fe network of Latino alumni from IV chapters in the greater Los Angeles, many of whom don’t even know what La Fe is or that they are La Fe alumni. (*La Fe is InterVarsity’s Latino ministry, aka La Fe or The Faith. It also is short for Latino Fellowship.)

So Abner & I are putting out this call on our blogs: (more…)

Share This

I’m meeting John Lewis from the Urban Youth Worker’s Institute (UYWI) tomorrow at El Gallo Cafe in East LA.  It is part of the LA County Community Services.  A beautiful location, I tried going there last week to do some work in the morning - and it was closed!! A coffee shop that was closed in the morning - I was shocked.  Turns out they are open from 11am-9pm, so its more suited for my afternoon & evening habits.  There is also a bakery there, among other businesses, and with lots of tables & chairs, its the ideal location.  I’m looking forward to getting together with John, whom I met last year when I did a seminar at the UYWI conference at Azusa.

Share This

But wasn’t the topic of race the most awkward part of the SuperBowl coverage?  On the one hand, everyone - black, white or otherwise - made sure to make mention (& rightly so) of the historic first - two African-American head coaches in the SuperBowl.  And yet on the otherhand, no one wanted to talk too much about it without mentioning (& rightly so) “they are two just/really good men/coaches/fathers/etc.  It was somehow awkwardkly underplayed & overplayed at the same time.

Why?

It seemed like so much fear - either to fail to appropriately acknowledge the moment and yet also fear “make to much mention of it.”  Maybe it was just me.  Maybe I just watched to many SuperBowl sports shows all last week.  But I’m not sure why either of these realities - of the historic racial moment, and the universal quality of their character or accomplishment - needed to be “claused” or explained by the other.

Share This

VivirLatino.com has a recent post entitled “Tall and pale = more money on the job” about wage disparity. Now I know why I’m bringing home more bacon than Abner.

Share This