Author Archives: Steve

Tabatha Lamb – Back from Vietnam

Tabatha and BikeTabatha Lamb spoke briefly at Anchor this morning. That’s her on the left. Anchor supports three Taylor University-Fort Wayne graduates, all girls, who now serve on the mission field–in Azerbaijan, Haiti, and Vietnam. Tabatha spent a lot of time at Anchor doing volunteer work during her college days. Last summer, she went to Vietnam–to Hanoi. Tabatha is one of my heroes.

The work is very difficult–very few Christians, deep cultural opposition to converting to Christianity. She told me of one young woman who had become a Christian and was involved in Bible studies, growing in her faith. But because of opposition from family and friends, she gave it up, renounced everything, and will now state sincerely that while she used to be a Christian, she is not anymore. Stuff like that must be highly discouraging.

Tabatha spoke for only a couple of minutes, and then showed a nine-minute DVD, a collage of photos from her time in Vietnam (she’s going back, by the way). I viewed those photos through two filters, which I should explain first.

1. I grew up during the Vietnam War, and the constant barrage of information from the government and media implanted, deeply, certain impressions of the Vietnamese, especially those in the North with whom we were at war. They were barbaric, psychotic even. No regard for human life. Cruel, primitive, fearless. No hint of being civilized. Attacking with reckless, wild-eyed frenzy. As an adult I know those descriptions aren’t accurate. But that’s what I picked up as an impressionable, patriotic kid.

Tabatha with 3 others
2. A few days ago I finished the novel “The Sorrow of War,” written by a former North Vietnamese soldier. The author, Bao Ninh, entered the war in 1969 as part of what was called the Glorious 27th Youth Brigade. Of the 500 who went to war, only 10 survived. Bao Ninh’s novel tells the story of a soldier. It is a bit tricky to read, since it jumps back and forth from pre-war, to post-war, to the present, to the war years itself. The book is non-partisan, neither pro-Vietnamese nor anti-American (actually, they do much more fighting with the South Vietnamese than with American troops). The book stirred controversy in Vietnam, since it didn’t portray Vietnamese troops as heroic and noble. But the book achieved international acclaim because of its honesty. The protagonist, Kien, deals with family issues, a girlfriend, the post-war effects of years of bloodshed, fear, despair, hopes and dreams, earning a living, and much more which left me feeling a kinship with Kien. He was just a normal person and a normal soldier (neither bloodthirsty nor particularly heroic), a man who survived the war and had to get on with life. At heart, Kien wasn’t unlike me.

So I watched Tabatha’s photos with a eye for the everyday humanity of the Vietnamese people. Most of the photos were of young people. The Vietnam War ended in 1975; they fought in Cambodia in 1978 to remove the Khmer Rouge from power, and then fought off an invasion of nearly 100,000 Chinese soldiers. But all of that was nearly 30 years ago. Most of the people in Tabatha’s slides appeared younger than that. They smiled a lot–much more than even American kids smile, I thought to myself. They played games, danced, ate, dressed up, mugged for the camera, and laughed.

Tabatha - party

Tabatha labeled this photo “No Electricity Party”

I looked at some of the young men in her photos, and thought of news reports from the 1960s and 1970s showing American soldiers herding captured Vietnamese soldiers. These guys in Tabatha’s photos, so full of smiles, could have been those so-long-ago POWs, whom I viewed as barbaric, uncivilized, bloodthirsty, and hateful. What was I to do with these pictures of young men who seemed wholly likeable?

I’m not passing judgment on the war and our involvement. That was an entirely different time. You can’t lay the present over those years and render analysis. The Vietnamese did horrible things, and American soldiers did horrible things. That’s what war does to people.

But in Tabatha’s photos, I was looking at peace. As I watched these fun-loving people with the ready smiles, I mused that this was the natural state of people. To laugh, to enjoy each other, to live in peace. Whether they are Asian, African, Palestinian, Russian, or American–young people yearn to smile. We are made for peace. We are made to smile. But we are also made to love Christ, and that’s the crucial element that the Vietnamese are missing. I’m glad Tabatha’s trying to do something about it.

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Paula Jo – She Got All Growed Up

Tom and PaulaPaula got married today. That’s my brother Stu’s daughter, the second of four kids (the others all guys). Of my six nephews and nieces on my side of the family, Paula Jo is the first to get married. Now she’s Paula Merkle, wife of Tom. And this new guy, Tom, has now invaded our family. Fortunately, Tom is a great guy; I liked him from Day One. He and Paula have dated for a couple years now. Tom’s a solid guy–talented, hardworking, a great sense of humor, smiles easily. He’s far more than a welcome addition to the family. And he’ll take real good care of Paula.

Stu and Joyce.jpgMy Dad and my brother, Stu, both conducted the ceremony. Mostly Stu. That’s him on the left, with his wife, Joyce. Stu walked Paula down the aisle, and when Dad asked who’s giving away Paula, Stu did the usual “Her mother and I.” Then Stu walked around the groomsmen (five of them) and took the center place while Dad moved aside. Tom then brought Paula onto the stage, and the ceremony continued.

Stu did a great job. Others said they thought he struggled in a couple places, but I didn’t detect it. He joked later that the trick was to not look at Paula. He would look down, up, between them, around them, but knew that if he looked at Paula and their eyes met, that it would be all over.

So this was a big day in the Dennie family.

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The 1300

Yesterday at the ChurchMedia.Net conference, I heard an amazing message which, even now, chokes me up. A guy named Paul Clifford, a techie who says he speaks in public probably three times a year, talked about developing a passion for evangelism. Paul is a skinny guy with long gray hair and sincere eyes. I sat in an earlier seminar in which he spoke for a bit, and I glimpsed a man with a real heart for God. As Paul began this keynote, I shot up a quick prayer, asking God to inspire me through Paul. My goodness, did God deliver on this one.

Paul mentioned that he spends Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at the church or doing church-related things, and then comes to church on Sunday at 6 am and doesn’t leave until 2 pm. He’s working behind the scenes. That’s where you find the techies. The “Men in Back.”

Paul said, “People ask why I follow this kind of schedule, why I give so much time to my church.” He said he produced a little video which explained why.

The video was entirely text, no pictures. It began with a brief message saying that Quest church, during its seven years, had seen 1300 people come to Christ. Then the screen changed, and all you saw was the month. I think it started at “June 1999.” Then it switched to “July 1999.” Then “August 1999.” At some point–I don’t remember the month–a name flashed horizontally across the screen. That was a person who had found Christ. This continued, month by month, and while there were still months with no names, they became infrequent, and the number of names in a single month might be 20, 30, or more. The names would quickly cross the screen, both left-to-right and right-to-left. Month by month, year by year, we watched‚Äîspellbound, in my case‚Äîas we saw the names of people who had come to Christ. Sometimes it was just a first name, usually a whole name.

By the time we came to 2006, scores of names were flashing across the screen every month‚Äîjust a big blur of names. In March, during two Sundays, over 100 people found Christ. We finally came to “June 2006,” and the video ended. We all looked at Paul. He was choked up, but after a few seconds he got control of his voice and told us, “That’s why I do what I do. It’s such an honor to be part of something like that.” Paul told us that 89% of their converts are adults. Wow.

Even as I write this, my eyes are watering up, and I could probably just start bawling without much effort. Who wouldn’t want to give everything they had to be part of something like that?

FYI, this is Quest Community Church, in Lexington, Kent. They describe their passion as “transforming unconvinced people into wholehearted followers of Jesus.” The website says, “Today at Quest you’ll find people at all points along their spiritual journeys: cynics, skeptics, seekers, and followers of Jesus. Most are attracted by several things: authentic relationships, people who live beyond themselves, creative communication, and a ‘come as you are’ spirit. Do these things appeal to you as well? Welcome to Quest.”

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The People in the Background

This Church Media conference can be a crack-up. It was supposed to begin at 10 am with a worship band, but the event leader said, “In true media ministry fashion, we’ll start a little late because some new songs are being added at the last minute.”

This is a conference of techies, guys who really know their stuff. But they had sound hiccups, some video issues, a guitar that didn’t want to connect with the sound system. I even spotted a misspelling on a PowerPoint slide.

But I tell you–we had a great time of worship. I loved it. The bass guitarist reminded me a bit of Adam Clayton, the way he moved. And speaking of moved–I was. Moved, that is. It’s nice, occasionally, to be in the audience.

Pam and I both love this conference. Today was superb. I heard three messages dealing with using metaphor in worship. Just outstanding. We’ll head back down to Indy in the morning for the final day. Again, it’ll start with worship, and I’m really really looking forward to it. The band wasn’t anything special–I’ve heard better. But there’s something about it….

A thread I’ve heard several times from speakers concerns servanthood. These tech guys serve behind the scenes, out of the limelight (unlike us musicians, whom they make sound good). They emphasize having the right attitude, doing it for the ministry, not for recognition. Several have told about how they get to church at 6 am and don’t leave until 2 pm. And hardly anyone is aware of the time they put in. These are extremely capable people, volunteering gobs of time out of passion, and not caring about getting credit. What a wonderful example.

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Skyline and White Castles – Tastes of Heaven

Yesterday Pam and I ate at Skyline Chili before leaving Indianapolis. Today, we stopped in Anderson on the way home from Indy and got a ten-pack of White Castles. Life doesn’t get any better than this.

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Mixing It up with the Techies

This week Pam and I are attending a church media conference in Indianapolis, sponsored by ChurchMedia.net. Pam runs the sound at Anchor, handles DVDs, and often pinch-hits with song slides. I do our websites and Powerpoint slides. The idea of spending time together in a learning environment, particularly when the learning will benefit our church, appealed to us.

The discussion forum at ChurchMedia.net, henceforth to be known as CMN, is known as being technical oriented. This sure came through in their seminars today. The presenters threw around techie lingo with reckless abandon. It’s kind of amusing when people do that. Do they feel a need to impress, or are they just oblivious to the fact that they’re speaking above people’s heads? (In this case, an innocent case of the latter.) They flaunted acronyms, referenced web technologies without explanation, used technical terms as if everybody knew what they meant…you get the idea. My coworkers contend that I do exactly the same thing, with equal oblivion, around them.

Despite our occasional cluelessness, Pam and I enjoyed ourselves and learned some things which may prove useful at Anchor. We attended the same seminar at the end of the afternoon, on “Blogging and Podcasting.” Pam’s been turning Tim’s sermons into MP3 files, and I’m administering five blogs at present. That was a good session. Pam attended sessions on Easyworship and using projectors. My other seminars were on digital photography (a very poor start) and doing websites (ah, now we’re talking my language!).

We’ll go back down tomorrow. The afternoon features two seminars on running sound, so that’s where Pam will be. I’ll take a seminar on using metaphors in worship (try to make that technical!), and I forget what the other two are about. But it’ll be fun. These techies are good guys (and let me repeat: guys). And may I add that they are cheap. They don’t like to spend money, but always recommend open-source software which they can get free. My experience is that open-source software is rarely easy to get up and running unless you’re a techie. Me–I go for user-friendly. I can figure things out, but I’d just as soon not have to.

Meanwhile, some of you are wondering, “What’s open-source software? Why doesn’t Steve explain what he’s talking about?” In my case, I’m just trying to impress.

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DQ Depression

I ate at Dairy Queen today. Haven’t been there in many months. I like their chicken strips basket…and the Pecan Cluster Blizzard. I thought I could muster resistance, but alas, I succumbed and must now repent in dust and ashes (preferably with a cherry on top).

About five people–one adult, the rest teens–were working. As I waited for my order, I watched them with some amusement. Everyone wore a bored expression. They even looked a bit grumpy. It was obvious that none of them enjoyed working there. It was just a job–a summer job, probably. They were just going through the motions, and forcing a smile as they said “Have a nice day,” since they obviously weren’t having one.

I realize it’s Monday. But hey–perk up! Working around ice cream can’t be that bad!

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Does Your Christian Life Require an Explanation?

Jordi has an insatiable appetite for being outside. If we are home, and there is an ounce of daylight, he believes he is entitled to be outside. And he meows incessantly until we (usually I–Pam’s tougher than me) give in. Jordi cannot be allowed outside unattended, because he will wander into neighbors’ yards, or run full-speed into them in pursuit of a rabbit or chipmunk. So we put a purple collar on him, with a bell which alerts us to his movements, and then go sit on the patio or in the grass to watch him while he stalks innocent animals, occasionally ushering him back within the boundaries of our property.

Thanks to Daylight Savings Time, we spend enormous chunks of time outside watching Jordi. A thunderstorm is a welcome treat, because he detests getting wet and shows no desire to go outside. But those are rare treats, it seems. And besides, I actually enjoy watching him. I grab a book and pen and go lay in the grass out back.

I spent a big piece of Friday outside with Jordi. Pam gets off at noon on Friday and I get off at 1 pm, so that’s nice. The temperature was in the 90s, too hot to do yardwork. So, with Jordi following me around the house, meowing and rubbing against me–not so much marking his territory as trying to subjugate it–I chose a new book, located a pen, and headed outside. And whiled away much of the rest of the day there, just laying in the grass. (Jordi, by the way, raced into the neighbor’s yard and caught a robin, which we convinced him to release after he had proudly carried it into our yard. It appeared unharmed.)

The book was Jim Wallis’s Call to Conversion, a 1981 book which he updated after 9/11. I read the whole thing on Friday. Now, I’m not gonna give it a ringing endorsement. The first chapter, the foundational chapter, didn’t totally click with me. And neither did the last two chapters. But in between was some great stuff, particularly as Wallis addressed poverty, injustice, peace-making, and the church in general. I’ve always appreciated Wallis’s writings. He founded the Sojourners community in Washington D.C., a “commune” type thing which focuses on social matters while remaining doctrinally evangelical (though many evangelicals dismiss them as liberals). He’s good on TV news shows. I’d much rather have him representing Christians than Dr. Jerry.

His second chapter deals with how Christians and churches have conformed to the world. And he takes this to an extent which would make most United Brethren either uncomfortable or guilt-ridden. Walls says what we’ve all heard countless times–that the lifestyle of Christians isn’t much different than that of nonChristians. He then calls for the church to be a community of believers that is noticeable to outsiders, noticeable because they are different–different enough to require an explanation. We notice the Amish; people ask questions about how they live, and the reasons behind their lifestyle must be explained. But who asks questions about how Christians live? NonChristians can look at the typical evangelical church without ever thinking, “These people are different. I wonder why?” Very little about us cries out for explanation.

It would be easy to gang up on the larger, richer churches, pointing to them as having conformed to the world. I certainly felt the world’s seductions (materialism, status, pride) more strongly at a large church. But I admit–very reluctantly–that there’s nothing special about how people at my smaller, poorer church live. Nothing about us that hints at a “peculiar people.” I doubt that unsaved visitors leave our doors wondering, “What makes Anchor people so different?”

Wallis says, “Modern evangelists must go through endless contortions to convince people that they are missing something that Christians have. Without the visible witness of a distinct style of life, evangelists must become aggressive and gimmicky, their methods reduced to salesmanship and showmanship.”

Wallis isn’t calling for Christians to adopt legalistic rules or for everyone to form communes. He’s more interested in Christians emulating the love and community of the early Christians, who “were known for the way they lived, not only for what they believed.” At Anchor, we’re probably known for being friendly and accepting, but I doubt that we as a people are known for how we live. Walls says our contemporary worship includes God, but also includes other “gods” with which we’ve made Christianity compatible, particularly the pursuit of wealth (which you do see more in some churches) and a sense of being culturally relevant. “We want God’s life, but we want the good life, too. We seem to believe that we can pay homage to our many cultural idols and still retain our integrity as God’s people.” I don’t know about you, but that cuts deep in my niche of the world.

In our quest for converts, we water down the gospel, make it easy and attractive. But Wallis points to the conversion of Zaccheus, who immediately made reparations to the poor. Zaccheus obviously heard, from Jesus, more than “accept me into your heart and you’ll go to heaven.” He turned his life over to Christ, but also radically changed his lifestyle. And for years to come, people no doubt asked, “I’ve known Zaccheus for years. What made this change in his life?” An explanation was needed.

Do people ask why I’m different? Why my church is different? Is an explanation needed?

Well, that was among the best chapters in Call to Conversion. I can’t begin to describe the power and prophetic nature of his chapter on injustice.

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The Non-Tortured Confessions of a Weenie

One of the great surprises of my life is that my country has become a champion of state-sponsored torture. I know my wording makes you grimace. But the USA is a world state, we do commit or allow torture (while denying it), and our top leaders oppose legal restrictions on torture, so what can I say? Our wimpy allies in other Western nations are disturbed and dismayed, failing to see the redeeming qualities of torture, a practice with a long and distinguished history. I’m proud to belong to a country unafraid to buck world opinion and do what it feels is right.

But at the same time, I’m having bouts of guilt, inexplicable difficulty accepting the obvious merits of torturing foreigners. As much as I fight these impulses, desperately trying to follow the moral leadership of Cheney and Rummy, I find myself too often succumbing to feelings which can only be described as those of a bleeding-heart, raghead-loving, weak-kneed, misguided moralist. So many of our great religious figures, like Jerry Falwell and Tom Delay, fully support the application of torture. And where are the Christian voices speaking out against torture? Nada. My misgivings obviously betray a faulty conscience.

I remember a quote from one military officer who said, “After 9/11 we opened the door to a little torture, and a whole lot of torture walked through.”

To defend torture, people always trot out the “burning fuse” argument: if a nuclear bomb will explode in an hour and a guy definitely knows where it’s located, shouldn’t you be able to torture the information out of him? My response: yes. On that I agree with Cheney et al.

But this is an extreme scenario which, as far as I know (and what do I know?), hasn’t occurred. Yet we’ve tortured a lot of people, and create secret prisons in other countries to facilitate it. Are all of these people sheltering atomic bombs? Well, no. We are torturing for lesser reasons, sometimes just going on fishing expeditions to see if the poor bloke does, indeed, know something useful, which the interrogator discovers upon finding the proper mixture of question and electrical stimuli. If we only tortured people when there was an imminent threat, hundreds of shadowy CIA patriots would be out of work. They need to ply their trade, to keep in practice for when a true burning fuse situation arises. And so they round up hapless Iraqis and Talibanis who might know something about somebody who might know something about something else…or might not. How can we know without the use of creative coercion?

Fortunately, our enlightened Administration determined that we’re exempt from the Geneva Conventions in this case. Astute legal rationalizers like Attorney General Alberto Gonzales determined that the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters don’t technically qualify as Prisoners of War, so we’ve got our butts covered. When some ignoramus (like me) offers an objection about how the Geneva Conventions forbids the torture of POWs, Cheney or Rumsfield will set them straight about the true legal status of these detainers. “They aren’t technically POWs,” Cheney says. And the proper response is to nod and say, “Oh, okay.”

I, on the other hand, being wimpy and unenlightened, find myself asking, “Therefore…?” Therefore…we can string them up with piano wire and attach electrodes? Apparently so. Therefore…all morality constraints are out the door? Yep. Since they aren’t technically POWs, we are excused from humane treatment. “Get the pincers out! These guys don’t qualify!” If the Geneva Conventions doesn’t apply, torture is obviously justified. Why can’t I get that through my skull?

Then there’s the “rendition” program, where we secretly send victims to Egypt or Syria or Saudi Arabia and let them brutally extract the information we want, thereby keeping our own hands clean. Because of unenlightened world opinion concerning the valuable role of torture, our Administration feels compelled to wrap itself in multiple layers of deniability, but it’s easy to turn up information about the rendition program. The New Yorker, Time, and Newsweek have all carried stories about it. I’ve read lots of documented stories on the internet. Amnesty International can tell many such stories. Cheney and Condi will look you in the face and say, with carefully parsed words, that we don’t do this kind of thing. And how can anyone not believe Condi? I mean, she’s a concert pianist! But the evidence is overwhelming. We just can’t openly fess up as a nation, and I understand that.

The New Yorker (some of the best reporting in any magazine; a publication renowned for its fact-checking department) ran an in-depth story about a year ago which told story after story about rendering Arabs to other countries. American officers (speaking off the record) bragged about the efficiency of the Egyptians. They could give the Egyptians a list of questions in the morning, and by evening they would have written answers. And suddenly, Tom Ridge is raising the color threat level due to “reliable” information. A few people, innocent or not, happened to die while in foreign prisons. I realize that, hey, that’s just the cost of Freedom. But my defective conscience plagues me.

The Clinton administrative started the rendition program. But lacking the moral backbone of the Bush Administration, they used it only with people already under indictment. The Bush Administrative is less inhibited. Just about anyone is fair game. They’ll say, “This fellow isn’t a bad guy, but we think he might know something about a bad guy. So let’s abduct him, spirit him away to Egypt for a few months, and let the Egyptians see what they can find. If it turns out the guy doesn’t know anything after all…well, sorry about that. Water under the bridge?” Again, it’s a matter of fishing expeditions, torturing people to learn stuff that has nothing to do with a burning fuse.

Sometimes it’s not technically “torture,” but just plain cruelty. That’s what we saw at Abu Ghraib. That’s what seems to have happened in the early days of Gitmo. Just plain, unadorned, gratuitous cruelty. That’s what my country does nowadays, and I’m sure it’s somewhat of a “trickle-down” consequence of allowing actual torture. Oh, I’m not so naive as to think it didn’t happen in the pre-9/11 world. But the open defense of torture (while denying that it happens) is a new wrinkle in our national conscience. And shame on me for doubting the wisdom of our leaders, all of whom talk shiningly about their faith in God, and no doubt force themselves to refrain from using the F-word when they pray.

What would Jesus do? That’s always an interesting question. Jesus would probably say, “Sure, douse him in water and hook up the electrodes. But let’s build a secret prison in Thailand and do it there. Don’t want to pollute my Most Favored Nation.” Of course that’s what Jesus would say. When he looks down on a 19-year-old Talibani, laying naked on a stone floor in a dank cell in some east European country, hungry and alone and scared, taken from the cell twice a day for lengthy interrogations with the added bonus of torture and general physical abuse–do you think Jesus is bothered by that? Of course not. Jesus is a patriot. Jesus loves the USA. He would support our president, who talks to Him regularly.

Nevertheless, while my mind understands why torture is necessary and good, I find myself inexplicably embarrassed by my country’s embrace of redemptive torture. The na√Øve wimp inside me argues that, as the only remaining superpower, we had the unprecedented ability to assert moral leadership in the world, but that our embrace of torture has sacrificed that ability in the eyes of the world. I’d like the other nations of the world to know, “Hey, we’re better than this.” But shame on me. I’m just a hopeless idealist, totally removed from the Real World.

I realize that we evangelical Christians are supposed to follow the Republican lead in taking a hard line against terrorism and supporting our Christianese-talking President. That’s why our evangelical leaders remain silent about the use of torture (silent, in fact, about anything the Bush administration does which may seem questionable). Sure, John McCain has spoke out against torture, but he was probably brainwashed during his years in North Vietnam, so you can’t really trust him. All things considered, I should just shut up.

I know that Jesus would support torturing people who might (or might not) know something that could lead to someone else who needs their own dose of pain infliction until they cough up another name just to “Make it stop!” I realize that Jesus would support the secret detention centers, that he would fly the plane to Cairo himself to unload some anonymous dude with a hood over his head. I realize that Jesus doesn’t care how we treat children of God if they have embraced Islam. I realize that Jesus, like George and Rummy and Cheney, believes that these fellows don’t qualify for humane treatment under the Geneva Conventions, and that we can therefore torture them to our heart’s content. I realize that our spiritual leaders agree with Jesus on all of this.

I guess I’m just a carnal, sniveling, unspiritual excuse for a Christian. I need to try harder.

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Prayer and Community on a Hot Summer Night

We suspended our Wednesday night activities for the summer, but Mark and Tami, two of the original core group members at Anchor, felt led to start a Wednesday night prayer time. We started last night. Pam and I joined them.

A young single mom with a difficult story I don’t know yet joined us, along with her baby son. She moved up from Florida a year ago, sometime recently walked over to the Friday night youth center to see what was going on, and found community. I don’t know that she’s a Christian yet. One of the teen guys was there. He really wants to grow. I appreciated the chance to get more acquainted. Good guy.

Eight of us total. We talked around a table in the sanctuary for a while, then broke up to pray individually for ten minutes, and then regrouped for some corporate prayer. It was a quality time. Pam and I will be in Indy next Wednesday, but on the way home, Pam said she felt it would be important for us to be there, so we’ll make sure we get back in time.

I’m no prayer warrior. I stink at prayer. As an elder I should be setting this wonderfully disciplined example, but I don’t. There, I said it. I’m tired of acting more spiritual than I am (and let me tell you–I’m good at it). But last night…that was really special. Pam and I both felt it. We connected with God, but also connected in community with some other neat people.

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