Apostle David Johndrow - Fire And Grace

Happy Campers We've all heard the song "A Letter from Camp." "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh. Here I am at Camp Granada. Camp is very entertaining. And they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining." What's it going to take to make us all happy campers in church? I think I have a few ideas - so bear with me as I lay a foundation. The song assumes that the "singer," a child, has two parents, one male and one female. But this blog is not about families - no - it's about church. Presently, in most developed countries, the cultural status of the nuclear family is fractured. There is rampant divorce both in and out of the church, resulting in single parent families, and various other aberrations of the biblical family. Regardless of what the world thinks is politically correct, God has a standard. I am assuming that you have noticed there is a difference between the way males and females act? The healthiest families are meant to have...

This is the last blog in my little series about the church. If we are going to solve problems, then some folks need to get motivated to do something different. Maybe that's you! The first "something" we need to do is get some vision from the Lord about how to go deeper and become more effective. But before we get all spiritual about this, don't you think there are some verses that we could make our own; mediating on them, and then putting them into action? Here are two that are paramount in turning around the "mother ship" we call church. Matthew 5:42-44 (NIV)  42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.  43 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Do I really need to list the enemies of God and the church which includes you? Take a ride through Galatians Chapter 5 . And church, ...

I was thinking over life now that a couple of major projects are completed at work, the daughters three are enrolled in school, Yaris 3 is almost repaired and the sun has returned after a Nor' Easter dumped as much as 10 inches of rain on us in 4 days. I thank God is wasn't snow. Today it's St. Patrick's Day. I talked to Mary Anne about living a simple life on a farm somewhere a lot warmer than Boston . We've laid out a retirement plan that hopefully includes not working. ;o) There isn't much holding us here and the cost of living is just plain stupid. Some days I feel trapped by the rats, and occasionally I get a few days off an run one of them over. Rick Warren spent a lot of time writing and teaching on the Purpose Driven Life . I was reviewing those purposes listed below. I am not a huge fan of Warren since his flip-flop on Prop 8 in CA and I find his stuff sort of elementary. It is however; engaging for the average American trying to eek out a Christian...

I was talking to a few friends, coworkers, and even my wife this past week. Each discussion about a current issue seemed to go a little sideways. Here is what I mean. I was talking about immigration, and a friend stated the problem was that illegal aliens are able to show up in the local Emergency Room (or other places) and get care at the expense of working Americans. The facts are that someone is here breaking a law, and yet, we need to have compassion and give life saving medical treatment that they cannot afford. It certainly is a quandary - an ethical dilemma, and there is no clear cut Bible verse that we can stand on without debate which allows us to know what exactly what to do. There isn't and don't gag me by saying, "What would Jesus do?" He would have healed them supernaturally, free of charge. As I thought about this issue and others like it - beyond cable news and the rhetoric of Washington- what I discovered is that the situation at hand was a symptom of ...

As my friendship with Tony C grows, I am jealous-- he just reached his 100th blog, and I am few behind for '09 anyway. Secretly, the more I write, the more I want to be like him. He's funny, relevant, and has the nerve to take his wife to Hooters. Well, he posted 10 issues that were important to him, and I thought I would do the same for my un-birthday celebration. But I needed to out do him, so I have 11. :) 1) Family - I think the greatest life one can have is to be part of a family with a mother and father, children and extended family. It is the model of the church in its fullness. It is great place to learn to love one another as He has loved us. 2) Parenting - I think kids need to be parented until they get married. They need to be taught how to dress, save, tithe, make friends, say no, have fun, work, serve God and be a friend. That's our job if we have kids. Even the kids of divorce need parents that teach. 3) Faith - It is essential that we see our faith in the li...

Over the many years I have spent in, and around church, I have heard the word disciple used many times. Its meaning is as varied as the denominations is was spoken in. "Those that follow Jesus," "Born Again believers," "the crew that became the 12 apostles," and people that had passed a basic class in Christian doctrine or Catechism. I have heard it preached about using the Greek definitions from "learner" (not expert), "follower," and even "witness," to pull out the meaning and depth of the word. But no one has left me with a distinct impression of what a true disciple is, and how we make one. Sometimes is is easier to define a word by what it is not. Discipleship is not about having a spiritual bellhop in the heavenlies at our beckoned call. It is not following a pastor, teacher, denomination, church doctrine or program. If these things are in sync with God, then great. For the better part of 30 years, I have listened to a b...