David Whiting Live

Penn Jillette Talks about Proselytizing

Penn Jillette Talks about Proselytizing
Penn Jillette (of "The Penn & Teller" magician/comedy team) talks about witnessing (proselytizing). This REALLY will be worth five minutes of your time. Penn is an atheist and his perspective of a Christian witnessing to him is REALLY amazing!

As always, if you receive this blog by email - you will need to click HERE to see the video.

Foundation's Complete!!!

We have reached a BIG milestone in the building time line of our project - our foundation is now complete! If you remember, very early in our project it was discovered that because of sandy soil it was necessary to drive over 69 steel pilers approximately 30 feet into the ground to reach bedrock.They were then filled with cement and capped.

The next step was to pour grade beams around the entire perimeter of the building and parts of the interior.  What is amazing to me is that the weight of the entire foundation rests completely on the pilers that were pounded into the ground. A city inspector told me that all the ground could wash away and our building would stand because the foundation is sitting on the pilers, not the ground.  We had a total of 30 cement trucks that poured our foundation (300 cubic yards).

 

 
In the picture above, you can clearly see the outline of the worship center.

The company who did the foundation (Pooler Associates) have been great guys. Almost every Thursday we've enjoyed meals with them and the chance to get to know them. We will miss seeing them as they move on to their next job.  They worked in a lot of snow and cold!

At this point, we are on a little bit of a hold. Our next step is to put the soil back up against the grade beams and level the area so that we can begin to build the walls with the blocks. The frost needs to be out of the soil before that phase can begin so we may not see outdoor activity for several weeks (gotta love Rochester winters).

Our blocks have been made and are curing (I think that is the word).  So in a few weeks, our block order will be delivered.  Our project manager is working to line up many things to happen simultaneously in the Spring.  I look forward the progress that will then happen quickly.

How to Crack a Rib

 

I mentioned in my blog yesterday that I cracked a rib while on our cruise. This short video (24 seconds) wasn't the time that I cracked the rib, but it shows you how it can happen. As always, those receiving this by email will need to click HERE to see the short video. Or simply click on "David Whiting Live" above - and it will take you to the video.

Is this what getting old feels like?

I turn 40 years old in three weeks.  Age doesn't really bother me.  I spent much of the first 15 years of my ministry life wishing I looked older. I'm in a profession that age is an advantage.  What bothers me is not a number... what bothers me is how it "feels" to get older.

• A few weeks ago I fell hard in the driveway and bled profusely from my head. Did I have better balance at 30?
• Two weeks ago I cracked a rib (see pictures below for a clue of how I cracked a rib). I've taken more Advil in the last two weeks than I have in the last two or three years combined.  And I hate taking medicine.
• On Sunday - in the middle of the third service (right in the middle of my sermon) - I had a gall bladder attack (haven't had one in 13 months).  I thought I was going to DIE in the middle of speaking.  So if you attended the third service, let me know what I said. I'm not sure what I said.  I was just trying to get through it. My attacks last about two hours - so I slipped out immediately after the final prayer and Sue drove me home and I waited it out.  By 2:30 - I was fine, but I hate the feeling of gall bladder attacks.
• Over the weekend, my left knee started swelling (I've had two surgeries on it - swelling happens on occasion).  Then on Tuesday I was kneeling in my office looking in a drawer and when I got up - I spent the next several hours limping because something didn't feel right in that knee.

All that to say - I just FEEL old.

But - how am I doing? Better than I deserve!!  I am SO thankful for God's mercy and grace!!!
 
 

Good Abraham Lincoln Quote on Criticism...

I came across this quote recently on criticism.  Good stuff!!

"If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best i know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angles swearing I was right would make no difference."

- Abraham Lincoln

I have the worst time not answering every criticism.  I want to defend each letter, email or comment that comes my way. I've been told that the larger a church grows, the more criticism you take, and I'm discovering that is true.  I haven't yet figured out when to respond and when not to, but I'm trying.

John Calvin said THAT?!?!

I'll never forget the first time I read this quote. It truly surprised me, and was a great joy to read again and again. It is a quote by John Calvin on the topic of culture, change, and the church (frankly, not the type of thing I would expect to hear from John Calvin).  I love John Calvin, but wouldn't expect "us" to agree on the issue of culture, change and the church.  But, according to this quote, we do:

The Master did not will in outward discipline and ceremonies to prescribe in detail what we ought to do (because he foresaw that this depended on the state of the times, and he did not deem one form suitable for all ages)... Because he has taught nothing specifically, and because these things are not necessary to salvation, and for the upbuilding of the church ought to be variously accommodated to the customs of each nation and age, it will be fitting (as the advantage of the church will require) to change and abrogate traditional practices and to establish new ones. Indeed, I admit that we ought not to charge into innovation rashly, suddenly, for insufficient cause. But love will best judge what may hurt or edify; and if we let love be our guide, all will be safe.

- Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 2, John Calvin, edited by John T. McNeill, trans. by Ford Lewis Battles, [Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960], p. 1208.

Valentine's Day Cards... Don't Forget Guys...

Saturday is Valentine's Day.  I think I created a small problem with my "Valentine's Day Card" illustration a couple of weeks ago.  Remember? I showed all the women four or five options for Valentine's Day cards and have them pick which one they would want to receive?  Almost all of them wanted the hand made card (except for a few strong environmentalists in the first service) :)

BUT - I want to make a disclaimer here. First, I rarely have ever made a homemade Valentine's Day card. Maybe twice... that's it.  And I made the one pictured here for the purpose of the illustration.  And she loves any card that I've given her... homemade, fun, or serious.

So - it really isn't about the handmade card.  Guys, whether you buy a card from Hallmark or make you yourself, just make sure you show your wife she is the love of your life.  Do it in some special way...  the card won't matter...  Do the dishes... Cook her dinner... Tell her the reasons you'd marry her all over again... The type of card doesn't matter... Making sure she KNOWS you love her - that's what matters.

I also think if I give my wife the handmade card that I made for the sermon - I'd be in trouble... So I need to go shopping for a card.

"No Vertical Worship" Video

No Vertical Worship on Super Bowl Sunday
This video was used to remind our church that there would be no Vertical Worship service on February 1st. I wasn't at church that day, but I heard people enjoyed it. I thought people at North might want to see it again, or people not at North may want to see it for the first time. Thanks, Josh, for putting this together at the last minute!

Remember, those who receive this by email must click on "David Whiting Live" above to see the video. Or simply click HERE.

A Missionary or a Liberal?

I've been thinking recently about Cal & Carol Clark. They are missionaries from our church who serve in Brazil. I've been there to visit twice. 

North was part of sending them to Brazil many, many years ago. While there, they speak Portuguese, they dress like Brazilians, they eat like Brazilians, and - as much as possible - they become Brazilian by taking  on their culture. In fact, I would guess that their children are much more Brazilian than American in their culture and preferences.

When we went to visit them, they held their church services based on the time schedule that fit the culture best... 6:00 PM - not 11:00 AM.  In that city - the people they were trying to reach sleep in on Sunday mornings - even high-end executives.  It is part of the culture. To have church at a traditionally American hour wouldn't have worked. 

In every way they became Brazilian. And what do we call them? Most call them missionaries; I call them heroes! I remember the first time I attended a church service with them. I think there were approximately 150 or 200 there. I asked Cal how many of those at the meeting came to Christ through the ministry of that church. His answer... approximately 80%. That was SHOCKING to me!  I'd been part of very "churched" cultures all my life.  Every church I've ever been a part of was primarily made up of those who had grown up in Christianity.  So to see a church where the Great Commission was lived out and not just talked about was one of the most moving experiences of my life.  It was truly a ministry-changing moment for me.

We send people to Brazil to do that and we call them missionaries (heroes). It is cross-cultural missions.

Well, it seems to me that these days in America, there is a HUGE cultural divide between people who have grown up in church all their lives and those who haven't. It seems to me, more than any time in our nation's history, reaching people with the Gospel IS cross-cultural missions.

So the Clarks have gone to Brazil and have adopted as much of the Brazilian culture as possible that isn't sinful. They dress like them; speak like them; listen to Brazilian music.  As they planted the church - they used the instruments of the Brazilian culture. They sing songs at church using the language and words that Brazilians can understand. 

But what if they did this in the United States? It seems to me, if you want to be a Great Commission Church in the U.S. - you have to make some difficult, deliberate choices to span the cultural gap. When the Clarks do that in Brazil, they are called missionaries; if they did here - would they be called liberals?

Why are we SO generous with contextualization as long it happens somewhere else?  Just thinking...