Band of Brothers Fall 2014

Band of Brothers was put together to create an environment for Fathers to mentor their son’s in Living life, Learning to follow God, Leading others.   We believe the best place to do this is with a group of like-mined men; in the great outdoors.

Family Fun at Home

“If we teach our kids that fun is something they can only experience outside the home; then when they grow up they will not enjoy coming back.” #itstartsathome

Here are some ideas:

• Power Up- Have each member of the family take a turn sitting in a chair at the center of the room.  Then every takes a turn telling the person in the chair something positive they see in their life.
• Family Talent show- Karaoke, Magic Tricks, Dance, etc.  (Don’t post to social media without your kids/parents consent 🙂
• Game Night- Charades, Board Games, Etc
• Book night- Low Key (alternative to Move Night)

Find more @ http://www.itstartsathome.org/familynight/

What We Want More Than to Know God Exists

“We all want to be certain, we all want proof, but the kind of proof that we tend to want–scientifically or philosophically demonstrable proof that would silence all doubts once and for all–would not in the long run, I think, answer the fearful depths of our need at all. For what we need to know, of course, is not just that God exists, not just that beyond the steely brightness of the stars there is a cosmic intelligence of some kind that keeps the whole show going, but that there is a God right here in the thick of our day-by-day lives who may not be writing messages about himself in the stars but who in one way or another is trying to get messages through our blindness as we move around down here knee-deep in the fragrant muck and misery and marvel of the world. It is not objective proof of God’s existence that we want but, whether we use religious language for it or not, the experience of God’s presence. That is the miracle that we are really after. And that is also, I think, the miracle that we really get.²”

“When we are diagnosed with cancer we don’t want to be able to prove God’s existence, we want him near. When we lose a loved one we want God to be with us. In the midst of our confusion, struggles and questions, the thing that matters most to us is that we are not alone. And when we gather as a church family, the most important thing is to sense God’s presence with us. That is when we worship.”

Frederick Buechner

 

Hebraic Vs Greek Thought Concerning Leadership/Ministry

In this chart below, taken from Mike and Sue Dowgiewiez book Reclaiming the Early Church, they contrast the Hebraic vs the Greek view of living. I can see these two models warring in the hearts and minds of church leaders on how their churches will be lead.

HEBRAIC	GREEK
Active-appeals to the heart	Cognitive-appeals to the intellect
Process Oriented Emphasizes direct participation Emphasizes age, wisdom	Program Oriented Heavy Program Emphasis Emphasizes Education
Biblical Application Doers of the Word Bible-reality that must be confronted	Biblical Application Belief without cost to self Bible-data that must be taught
Ministry Activity Small intimate groups Leader as facilitator	Ministry Activity Large impersonal groups Leader-directed, controlled
Fruit Love, acceptance, forgiveness Transparency encouraged	Fruit Mutual toleration Transparency discouraged

How should a church be lead? Should these to thoughts be merged? Can they be merged?

Removing the Dragon

I will never get over this.

trenidydavis.com

The first time I heard this being read aloud, I got a bit emotional. In it Lewis depicts our (my) self-effort to remove our dragon, which can only be removed by The Lion Himself. Read and Worship J

(Photo taken from http://soulstretchesandsteps.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/peeling-away-my-dragon-skin/)

“The water was as clear as anything and I thought if I could get in there and bathe it would ease the pain in my leg. but the lion told me I must undress first. Mind you, I don’t know if he said any words out loud or not.

I was just going to say that I couldn’t undress because I hadn’t any clothes on when I suddenly thought that dragons are snaky sort of things and snakes can cast their skins. Oh, of course, thought I, that’s what the lion means. So I started scratching myself and my scales began coming off all over the place. And…

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Social Media: Know Your Audience

Before communicating anything, we should always stop and consider who is listening. This is no different when it comes to social media. In 2007 I jumped on Facebook and starting “friending” everyone; even acquaintances. A few years later I realized that my Facebook account had become a running list of everyone I had ever met in person. Not that these aren’t my friends, but there were things I wanted to share that I didn’t want going out to everyone. So instead of dropping Facebook all together (or trying to figure out how to customizing it) I moved to twitter.

On Twitter I went in the opposite direction. I only began to follow leaders, people who were experts in their industry. People whom I would probably never meet and become friends with. I immediately saw the benefit of this approach and began to see these social media outlets as different offices. Most recently I discovered Instagram and decided to make Instagram my smallest circle. This is where I would post things from my life that not everyone would care to seek/know.

So before you give up on social media all together, considering thinking in terms of the audiences and don’t be disappointed when “friends” don’t understand your post.

Your Journey Toward Christ (Bourbon Street)

I highly encourage you to subscribe and start reading Neil T. Andersons, “Daily in Christ” Devotional. You can find it at http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/dailyinchrist/. I’ve read the following Illistration from Neil several times and all I can ever picture is Bourbon Street in New Orelans. So I’ve pasted a picture below and a reading from todays devotional.

YOUR JOURNEY TOWARD CHRIST

John 10:10 
The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy

How do evil spirits interfere with our lives? Let me answer with a simple illustration. Imagine that you are standing at one end of a long, narrow street lined on both sides with two-story row houses. At the other end of the street stands Jesus Christ, and your Christian life is the process of walking down that long street of maturity toward Him. There is absolutely nothing in the street which can keep you from reaching Jesus. So, when you receive Christ, you fix your eyes on Him and start walking.

But since this world is still under the dominion of Satan, the row houses on either side of you are inhabited by beings who are committed to keeping you from reaching your goal. They have no power or authority to block your path or even slow your step, so they hang out of the windows and call to you, hoping to turn your attention away from your goal and disrupt your progress by tempting you, accusing you and deceiving you.

What is the enemy’s goal in having his demons jeer you, taunt you, lure you, and question you from the windows and doorways along your path? He wants you to slow down, stop, sit down, and, if possible, give up your journey toward Christ. He wants to influence you to doubt your ability to believe and serve God. Remember: he has absolutely no power or authority to keep you from steadily progressing in your walk toward Christ. And he can never again own you, because you have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and you are forever in Him (1 Peter 1:18, 19). But if he can get you to listen to the thoughts he plants in your mind, he can influence you. And if you allow him to influence you long enough through temptation, accusation and deception, he can control you.

If I could influence you to believe a lie, could I control your life? Yes. Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus, “the author and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2) and take “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).