If you have subscribed to my feed, I strongly recommend you use my Feedburner feed located at http://feeds.feedburner.com/ScottsMorningBrew

Once the move and design is complete, I will transfer the feed over. As long as you are using that feed, there should be no interruption of the articles coming through.

I am still not sure if I will be using WordPress or not. With the latest release there are some major issues that the developers did NOT fix with the first subversion out. I am not happy with WordPress at this point.

More news to follow as well as updates here.

Technorati Tags: web hosting, Scott’s Morning Brew, WordPress, bloggers, blogging,

UPDATE: My wonderful wife just informed me that she had Sea-Monkeys when she was young. Said she bought the package out of the back of a HIGHLIGHTS magazine.

She doesn’t recall if they grew and then died or never grew at all. I told her that Sea-Monkeys are guaranteed to grow and that she should contact the company for a replacement package.

Ok. How stupid is that? You can actually search the web with GOOGLE if you want. But there are a couple of entries announcing May 15th as National Sea Monkey Day.

Now there are some that read this blog that have no idea what a Sea Monkey is, or when they were popular.

I remember them. Advertised in the backs of magazines and comic books for about a dollar or so.

AMAZING SEA MONKEYS! Watch them grow and have many babies!

I always wanted my own little circus of Sea Monkeys but my parents would never let me have them. I don’t know if they knew something I didn’t or just didn’t want to be bothered with mail order. Because you couldn’t get them in the store. Which made them all the more desirable.

Well, when I got older and figured out what a Sea Monkey really was… Formally, Artemia nyos. Brine shrimp. Of course it is neither monkey nor shrimp, in fact its a type of krill called a branchiopod.

I used to grow my own… to feed my aquarium fish. But by then they had lost their luster. I knew too much about what Sea Monkeys really were.

But mark you calendars for May 15th. And raise a glass of your favorite beverage in honor of the Sea Monkey!!!

Remember these ads?

I had been to Atlantic Shores Baptist for several years, went through the membership classes and became a member. I found a great ladies class with Pam Ainsley being the teacher. Great lady, she was a studier of the Word and did an excellent job of relating it to this day and age, how to be a Christian and what we’re supposed to look for in how we live our lives. Fortunately for some Californians, she ended up marrying a gentleman who got a church in California, and went there to minister with him. After that, there wasn’t a lot of reason to stay at the church. I missed the solid teaching and the sermons became gimmicks. The last one had to do with Fishers of Men. The stage was decorated with nets, boats, etc. For me, I got tired of the props, I felt like I was in play rather than the focus being what was taught. It was Christianity Lite, rather than trying to teach me to grow more in the Word. So I left.

I ended up at Harvest Assembly. I found out that they’re an Assemblies of God church. However, in a couple of years attending, I had one case of someone speaking in tongues, one person who was “slain in the spirit”. The teaching was a lot better than at ASBC, at least for me. The adults pastor, Pastor Brad, introduced me to E-Sword, this wonderful free Bible software on the net. Man! This tool has Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Spanish, and various versions of the Bible, including Strong’ and Thayers’ concordances. Even a prayer list organizer! This really made a huge difference in my life, I started to grow more often. Mercedes’ Bible class, where we started at the beginning of the Bible and read and discussed what happened, was outstanding. I was really happy.

Then … “it” started.

This is NOT a discussion on the emergent church.

A flag bearer for the group made the following statement. What is your opinion of it? Is he right? Wrong? Let me know how you feel. Do some research on emergent churches and let me know. I know where I stand.

The Church has been slow to recognize that missions isn’t a program the Church administers, it is the very core of the Church’s reason for being. - John Franke, 2006

Technorati Tags: church, emergent+church, theology, Christianity

Enjoy the history and landscape of Williamsburg along a scenic route that starts and ends at Quarterpath Park. All are welcome to ride, whether beginner or expert!  Ride as much or as little of the route as you like.

The 33-mile route takes riders through Colonial Williamsburg’s historic district, past scenic country pastures and back roads, and along the tranquil York River.  All net proceeds from the ride benefit the foundation’s Commonwealth Youth Conference for Leadership Effectiveness (CYCLE). 

In addition to enjoying great exercise and the spring weather, the purpose of this ride is to raise awareness for our CYCLE program, a week-long youthleadership program for rising 10th graders from all over Virginia.

Even if you can’t ride in this spring event, your donation is still appreciated and very much needed to fund this important program for Virginia’s teens. Prizes will be awarded for pledges turned in! Registration fees and donations can be made by cash, check, or credit card.  Registration fee of $40 for adults and $25 for students includes a commemorative t-shirt. lunch, and snacks.

Additional information about the ride, registration forms, and pledge sheets, can be downloaded here.

VPCF has always offered CYCLE at no cost to the teens or their families.  Instead, we rely upon the support of businesses, concerned citizens, and public and private grants to fund the program.  Much of CYCLE’s success would not be possible without the support and cooperation of private donors.  The Virginia Police Chiefs Foundation is a 501(c) 3 charitable organization and contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.  If you would like further information on the foundation or the CYCLE program, please visit our website atwww.vapolicefoundation.org.

If you have any questions about the bike ride, please don’t hesitate to contact me at (804) 285-8227, or by email atJulie@vapolicefoundation.org. We hope to see you on April 26 in Williamsburg!

Need more information?

If you would like more information about the upcoming bike ride, or to obtain a registration form, please contact Julie Gigante at (804) 285-8227, or by email at julie@vapolicefoundation.org.

Do you volunteer to greet?  Offering?  Serve Communion?  Work on the Production Staff?  Lighting?  Sound?

Leave me a comment and let me know.

My family serves a couple of different ways.  Video Imaging, singing (NOT ME), Multimedia, greeting…  And we love it!!!

Once in awhile a really wild idea gets into your head, ferments, grows and if
powerful enough has the power to transform your thoughts into actions.
Tommy Neeson, husband to Elaine, father to Shelby and parent of a child
lost to cancer (Randi) has a passion for running and a passion for helping
others in need.

In 2007, Tommy raised thousands of dollars for the Ronald McDonald House
Charities of Norfolk, VA with a world record setting 50k treadmill run (see
video). And now, Tommy’s energy and enthusiasm for running will merge
with his leadership and passion for helping others into a very unique event
that will culminate with a single step. -=SOURCE=-

Some of you probably remember me blogging about Tommy when he set a new world record for the 50K Treadmill run last year.

Please consider a donation to this incredibly worthwhile cause!!! Donations can be mailed to:

Four Million Steps
c/o Donna O’Banion/Towne Bank
297 Constitution Drive
Virginia Beach, VA 23462

The webpage, Four Million Steps, has many features and information on the run including a tracking chart and map documenting Tommy’s location during the run.

PRESS INFORMATION:

On August 28th, 2008, 39 year-old Virginia Beach resident, Tommy Neeson, will depart from the Ronald McDonald House in Bangor, ME and run over 2300 miles to the Ronald McDonald House in Miami, FA. He will make stops at various Ronald McDonald Houses along the way (see The Route).

Four Million Steps, the number of steps taken on this journey, is aimed at raising not only money for the Ronald McDonald House Charities, but awareness as well. Ronald McDonald House provides a home away from home or families with children facing medical challenges and support programs that directly improve the health and well being of children, as well as providing grants to nonprofit organizations for programs that enable children to live happier, healthier lives.

The first Ronald McDonald House opened in Philadelphia in 1974 as the result of the perseverance and dedication of Fred Hill, then a Philadelphia Eagles football player. After his daughter Kim, was treated for leukemia at the local children’s hospital, Hill became determined to help other families faced with the same situation. Very few institutions at the time provided sufficient accommodations for such families. Dr. Audrey Evans, a pediatric oncologist at Children’s Hospital, suggested that a “home away from home” was needed. Hill enlisted the help of his teammates and the local McDonald’s restaurant franchises to raise funds to purchase and renovate the first House.

There are now over 269 Ronald McDonald Houses in 30 countries. All told, more than 3,000 bedrooms are available for families every night.

The journey will end 75 days later at an average of over 30 miles of running per day. To make the things just a little harder, the event will be done without the assistance of a support vehicle. Tommy will cart all of his supplies in a baby jogger. Want to read more about how an idea like this comes about, start from the beginning.

WordPress 2.5, the culmination of six months of work by the WordPress community, people just like you. The improvements in 2.5 are numerous, and almost entirely a result of your feedback: multi-file uploading, one-click plugin upgrades, built-in galleries, customizable dashboard, salted passwords and cookie encryption, media library, a WYSIWYG that doesn’t mess with your code, concurrent post editing protection, full-screen writing, and search that covers posts and pages.  WordPress › Blog » WordPress 2.5

I installed 2.5 on three sites this morning in a matter of minutes.  Yes MINUTES!!!  It was a piece of cake! 

The new admin interface is incredible, I was able to get rid of two different plugins that I use to make the admin panel more user friendly.

And speaking of plugins…

If a particular plugin that you are using is hosted on the WordPress site in the repository (maybe elsewhere too), you can do a 2 Click upgrade of that plugin right from the control panel!  AWESOME!!!

Great job guys!  Absolutely stunning!

Creating more of a carnival atmosphere and bringing displays and presentations from many units within the Police Department.

This year’s event will be held at North Landing, (the old PortSide site) at Crawford and North Streets.

Please contact 757-393-8093 for details.

I believe sponsorships are still available and being sought!!!

Technorati Tags: Portsmouth Police Department,Portsmouth,Virginia,Hampton Roads,NEAT Summit,NEATFest

Technorati Tags: botanophobia

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we’re kids? If you’re less than 10 years old, you’re so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

‘How old are you?’ ‘I’m four and a half!’ You’re never thirty-six and a half. You’re four and a half, going on five! That’s the key.

You get into your teens, now they can’t hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

‘How old are you?’ ‘I’m gonna be 16!’ You could be 13, but hey, you’re gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life …

You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There’s no fun now, you’re Just a sour-dumpling. What’s wrong? What’s changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you’re PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it’s all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn’t think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You’ve built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it’s a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80’s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30 ; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn’t end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; ‘I Was JUST 92.’

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. ‘I’m 100 and a half!’

May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

She’ll be off her feet and in a cast for about 4-6 weeks.  She is really really disappointed.  Tryouts for the varsity cheer squad are this summer so we’re praying she’ll be back on her feet and able to catch up before then.  If not there is always next year and she needs to worry more about healing properly than gymnastics class and cheering. It’s hard for her to understand though because her heart is so much into cheerleading and tumbling.  She finally fell into a good sleep, praise the Lord for Vicodin, about 2:30 am this morning.

The rapid growth of mobile broadband is set to make Wi-Fi hotspots irrelevant, according to an Ericsson executive.

“Hotspots at places like Starbucks are becoming the telephone boxes of the broadband era,” claimed Ericsson’s chief marketing officer Johan Bergendahl, speaking to delegates at the European Computer Audit, Control and Security Conference in Stockholm. -=SOURCE=-

They simply aren’t needed any longer. With smart phones and other devices that use mobile broadband, it seems that “hot spots” are a thing of the past.

Several years ago, people were paying top dollar to access WI-FI hotspots at Starbucks, Truck Stops and other places including hotels. Now the expectation is that the WI-FI is free.

I frequently attend conference on Information Technology, mainly geared toward Law Enforcement applications. Several of them are held in Greensboro, NC and invariably at the Sheraton Four Seasons Conference Center. Great place. Lots of room for vendors and educational tracks. And of course, free WI-FI. Good thing to have when you have 2000 computer geeks running around.

The last one I attended was in August at that very location. What I found, more often than not was I was using my Verizon AirCard more than the hotel’s WI-FI. The download speeds are comparable to DSL and the reliability was better. I could connect with my ToughBook and Aircard, and walk around, open it up do what I had or wanted to do and close it back and keep walking. Never once losing connection. The same could NOT be said for the WI-FI.

And of course now, with the preponderance of smart phones, especially like the Blackberry and iPhone, why carry a laptop? You have everything you need in a package the size of a Pop Tart. Or smaller.

Yes… I do believe WI-FI hotspots are history. They simply don’t serve a purpose any longer. Even free ones.

Technorati Tags: WI-FI Hotspots, technology

The ICC Discussion forum #21519.1

What actions did you take immediately after the HKL in order to self-examine your teachings and beliefs?

What actions did you take to insure that nothing in the HKL could possibly happen again?

What additional training (outside of any ICOC influenced, related training) did you take to make sure what you were teaching was correct?

Explain why when you were God’s anointed before the HKL proved you weren’t, why you are now?

In other words, what did you DO after the HKL to prove you should be in a position of leadership over people’s spiritual lives?

The ICC Discussion forum #21519.1

Henry Kriete Letter (HKL)

Technorati Tags: ICOC,International Churches of Christ,cutl,Kip McKean

We cannot be controlled by the past. The abuses of authority may have been in the hands of the few on occasion in over organized and controlled groups or in the hands of the many on occasion where autonomous churches function with little or no input from any outside their local church.

No, you can not be controlled by the past. But you should learn from it. But it is apparent by this statement that you have not. I believe you have the situation reversed. A more correct statement would be:

The abuses of authority were in the hands of many in the over organized and controlled organization called the ICOC or possibly in the hands of a few autonomous churches who operate with little or no input from any outside their local congregation.

Positions of authority reveal hearts, they do not by themselves corrupt. If as the common proverb says "absolute power, corrupts absolutely", then how is Jesus explained if he is truly man. He was absolutely powerful but not corrupted.

He was absolutely tempted but without sin. I know we should use Jesus as a benchmark for what we strive for. But I also know we are incapable of reaching it. When we fail, we get up, repent, ask for forgiveness and move forward. Based on what I am reading on the Unity Pact Tour, you are not moving forward. You are relying on the past to configure the future and trying to re-build what once was. Here’s a newsflash, what once was has proven to be corrupt and abusive. Why would you do the same thing again? And the "different leadership" argument isn’t cutting it.

Positions of authority only reveal hearts - thus there were good kings as well as bad. It was the role of king that was the problem; it only revealed the heart. This is not advocating a King(we have one - Jesus), but it is encouraging us to empower leadership rather than being paralyzed by what might go wrong. Things go wrong in every setting. -=SOURCE=-

Positions of authority reveals hearts, and the heart of man is black and sinful in it’s nature. Why would you subject men who are deceitful (the heart is deceitful above all else) by nature to a position of authority like this? You are setting yourself up for failure.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein

I had confided in my assigned discipler, that I felt the "Top Down Leadership" of the ICOC was wrong. One group of men, thinking and acting as one, or acting under the direction of one, controlled the ICOC and all subordinate churches. When one man (or group thinking as one) has that much power and control over that many people, his heart is past being revealed. It was revealed long before the problems surfaced.

I watched as one of my brothers questioned the leadership of the church about money. Salaries. And I watched as the elders of that church told him to leave until he repented. I spoke with that brother prior to his questioning the church. I told him to make sure his motivations were for the glory of God and not personal pride. He made the decision to question it and was asked to stay away. I don’t know what his motivations were.

What did he ask? Why certain leaders were getting paid certain salaries. Then the elders get together and like a pack of dogs, vote to excommunicate the brother until he repents. Repents from WHAT? Being Berean and asking questions that should be answered openly?

No, I see disaster on the horizon for the ICOC. Again. The sad part about this is that there are good, honest, God loving people in that church that are blinded to the control. I thank God every day that we decided to leave.

Please reconsider this elitist pact you are trying to create. It smacks of corruption and its not even fully formed.

Technorati Tags: ICOC, International Churches of Christ, Unity Pact, Church, Christianity, Elitism, Abusive churches, cults

I Can’t Hear God Anymore is an instructive example of how normal people can be vulnerable to the psychological manipulations and spiritual abuse of a skilled cult leader. It is also an inspiring story of hope, as the author details her struggle to regain her psychological and spiritual health after leaving the group, and explains how others caught in similar circumstances can do the same.

The book describes the author’s vulnerabilities to the spiritual and emotional manipulations that kept her bound to the group, and offers hope to those with similar stories by showing how they can find their way back to spiritual and psychological health. -=SOURCE=-

Ms. Duncan paid a visit to my site in response to my Can churches be abusive… yes they can article. I’ve read a couple of page on her site and find some incredible similarities between Trinity Foundation and the old ICOC and in the local church I belonged to.

I am going to order the book. I encourage you to do the same.

Technorati Tags: ICOC, International Churches of Christ, Unity Pact, Church, Christianity, Elitism, Abusive churches, cults

This is a realization I came to this morning!  Isn’t it grand?

At one point, and still in the back of my mind, I dreamt about living on a boat. Traveling up and down the east coast and into the Gulf of Mexico.

To me that would be a great retirement. Me, Katie and a couple of cameras. Maybe even a small wood saw to frame the prints after I take the photographs. Who knows… maybe someday.

Katie’s not to keen on that. I think she dreams of a home that the kids can come back and visit. Which isn’t a bad thing at all… as long as they visit.

Who knows, maybe we can do both. I’ll have to go play the lottery a little more seriously however.

This photograph is of the marina in downtown Portsmouth, VA. Right on Crawford Street within sight of the Naval Hospital. The skyline in the background is Norfolk.

Technorati Tags: photography, nikon, marina, Portsmouth Va, Virginia

Let me narrow it down.

What would drive an otherwise moral person, to the point where they use God and the church for their own personal gain?

I don’t have a problem with someone being blessed by God and given great things. But when deception and criminal behavior is involved… this is what I am talking about, it really angers me.

I have not been personally exposed to this kind of thievery. No church that I have been involved with is like this, including the one previously written about.  Deception, maybe but not outright stealing.

What are your thoughts?

First, I can only base this on my experience, not that of hearsay or word of mouth. I refuse to sit in judgement of those that I know nothing about and I refuse to question the motivations and spiritual well being of anyone I don’t know. It is not my place to do so. God will have the final word when the time comes.

I can, however, question the practices, procedures and actions of an organization as a whole.

I was once told that just because the Bible doesn’t tell us to do it, doesn’t mean it’s wrong to do it. Whatever “it” is. Conversely, I say, just because the Bible doesn’t tell us it’s right, doesn’t always mean it is.

My family and I used to belong to a church that was part of the International Churches of Christ (ICOC). It is fairly well known, throughout the Christian Church Community that the ICOC was considered the “bad guy” within that community. Some considered it a cult, others abusive, and still others think that it is near perfect. I believe they were all of the above.

I believe several other things about the church as well. The people there, by and large are sincere and sold out for Christ. They are charismatic and love praising God. They truly do want to evangelize the world and until February of 2003, were well on their way. I believe when this article is published, my family and I will probably be “marked” by the church as divisive and members of that church will no longer be allowed to associate with us in any way, further emphasizing the elitist and separatist dogma of the church.

A real fast history:

The ICC movement grew from the “mainline” Churches of Christ. Traits typifying the mainline Churches of Christ — the largest branch from the 19th Century Restoration Movement — included their goal of “restoring” the First Century, New Testament church; their sola scriptura (Bible only) emphasis; their teaching of adult baptism by immersion for the forgiveness of sins and their aversion to formal creeds of belief or practice.

The ICC also rose from an era of Christian “shepherding” churches, which during the 1960s and 1970s used the practice of putting personal spiritual overseers (shepherds) in the lives of their members. Certain Charismatic (e.g. Pentecostal) groups used shepherding techniques until the idea fell out of favor in the 1970s after repeated problems with authority abuses by shepherds.

Mainline Church of Christ doctrine and shepherding techniques were blended at a Gainesville, Florida church, where a Church of Christ launched an initiative “to penetrate the Campus of the University of Florida with the Gospel of Christ.” The man most responsible for this innovation, campus minister Chuck Lucas, implemented “discipling” techniques such as “prayer partners” and “soul talks,” with an emphasis on evangelistic recruiting and the spiritual accountability of members to other members. Among Lucas’ reported influences were the US Campus Crusade movement, and a book written by evangelical Christian author Robert Coleman called The Master Plan of Evangelism. (Coleman in an interview has since opposed the Crossroads/ICC interpretation of his book.)

Discipling techniques and mainline Church of Christ doctrine proved to be an explosive mixture. Lucas’ campus ministry grew rapidly. By this time known as the Crossroads Church of Christ, the Gainesville church also faced intense criticism from the media and former members for alleged spiritual abuse. Crossroads’ sphere of influence increased nonetheless, as it began training campus ministers for deployment around the United States.

The Crossroads Movement’s most notable convert, future ICC founder Kip McKean, was baptized April 11, 1972 as a 17-year-old college freshman and was discipled by Chuck Lucas.

Source: RightCyberUp - About the ICC

For the purposes of this article, shepherding and discipling are the same thing. From the same author quoted above:

International Churches of Christ leadership requires that every member has a “discipling partner” or “discipler” – a person to go to for “advice”, confession, and guidance toward spiritual growth.

Many churches besides the ICC have used some form of discipling or “shepherding”. The ICC practices mandatory, assigned one-over-one discipling – mandatory because every member is required to have one, assigned because leadership chooses who disciples whom, one-over-one because disciplers are “over” members “in the Lord,” with authority inherent in the relationship. Each discipler is a link in a hierarchical chain leading from the bottom rung of membership to the top leader.

Rather than sitting here quoting works already done, I encourage you to read ICOC v. Bible.

Now for my own experience.

I met my wife in the spring of 1999. We began a relationship that was not spiritual nor biblical. In the late fall of 2000, my wife was invited to church by a co-worker. We were living together at the time. She moved out and into the home of another person who was now going to that church.

We eventually quit seeing each other except for the occasional run by me to see her in the parking lot of her employer, attempting to re-start the relationship. She was advised to break off the relationship entirely, by the church leadership through her discipler.

During one of these visits, she invited me to church. I went.

Then I was invited to a “bible study”, disguised as a “let’s sit down and talk about the Bible” and “have a meal”. It was the start of an indoctrination into the church. I never saw it coming. But that is an entire post by itself.

Several weeks later I was standing in the Atlantic Ocean getting baptized into my salvation. Even at this point I questioned the “point of salvation” that was being taught but figured it was a disputable matter. My teachings up to this point were that once decided you wanted Jesus to be a part of your life, acknowledge His incredible gift, and believed with all your heart that He died on the cross as atonement for our sins you were in possession of the incredible gift of salvation. Baptism was the outward, public expression of that decision. The church that I talk about here, believes that the point of salvation is the immersion. My argument is that my criteria for salvation was met before the immersion so their interpretation of the point of salvation was not a concern. Some may disagree.

At that point in June of 2001, my wife and I were not really “seeing” each other and in fact had been told by our church disciplers to stop seeing each other and date other people in the church.

That didn’t happen and we hid our relationship from the church. That deceit led to other transgressions against God. Finally, we decided that regardless of what the church wanted, or felt was best, we were going to get married. We truly loved each other and wanted nothing more than to be able to spiritually and physically be a couple. In May of 2002 we got married, as Katie says, “AKA”. Against kingdom advice.

Within the church, seeking advice was a huge thing. You had to do it in all aspects of your life. If you were going to change jobs, move to a new house, have a baby, you were strongly encouraged to seek advice. I had always argued that it felt like I was seeking permission. Though the leadership repeatedly said, “No, you are free to choose whether you follow the advice or not.”

I am NOT saying that seeking advice is a bad thing. It is not. It is a GREAT thing to do, and having consult with your spiritual leaders is a huge part of making sure your life is as spiritually correct as it should be. But the church made it “feel” like it was permission, mainly due to the reaction of the leadership if you chose not to follow the advice.

“Advice has been viewed as law, leading to untold interference in many personal areas of your lives, from dating to finances to living situations and much, much more.”
Orlando Apology Letter — Spring 2003

Since we were married “AKA”, the church leadership never acknowledged our marriage publicly. This hurt Katie and I a great deal. We were included in “marrieds” events, and of course no one questioned our legal right to be married but we could tell they were not happy with our decision. But it was done.

About this time in my spiritual life within the church, I started questioning some of the practices of the church. The “Top Down” leadership with someone other than God dictating (Kip McKean). I questioned the amount of money being sent to the “Mother Church” in Los Angeles. I questioned “discipling partners” being assigned by the church. (Please understand that I fully believe in other believers holding each other accountable…) I questioned the tracking of how much money I gave. I questioned the requirements for attendance at events. The mandates. It would not have been outside the true realm of probability that I would be involved in a church function four to five days of the week. Sunday Service, Tuesday Bible Talk, Wednesday Mid-week Service, dinner, visit, lunch a couple more times during the week. Add teen events to this and your week was FULL to overflowing. And if you missed something, be prepared to explain why.

“Coercive giving is practiced, wide-scale. Of course there are may sincere and generous disciples who love to give, but the fact remains, our entire scheme for collecting the contribution is not based on the heart, or about love offerings, or true concern about the spiritual impact our system of ‘getting’ has on the rank and file Christian. That is not what is most important. Accountability, intense scrutiny and follow up and man made pressures are the order of the day. When a Christian is cajoled into a ‘multiple’, tracked down for their tithe, categorized on official spreadsheets for everyone to know so that sector leaders ‘can be on top’ - all to maintain budgets that we have created, this is coercive.”
Henry Kriete Letter — Spring 2003

I was told that I should just ‘pray about it”. This effectively told me to stick my head in the sand and sooner or later my line of thought would “come around” to the right way of thinking. I was told to repent and trust the leadership God had provided for me. I had a hard time with this. I questioned everything and checked everything against the Bible. I was told I was not being submissive to the spiritual leaders God had provided for me. I simply quoted Acts 17:11 - Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

In February of 2003, my friend Henry Kriete, former evangelist at our local church wrote a letter that rocked the world of the church. Henry was in London at the church there after not being allowed to re-enter the United States on his visa.

Within a day or two I was getting telephone calls from friends within the church asking if I had read the letter. I had not at that point but was told by someone I respected and still respect to “avoid the I told you so” mentality. I have to admit, once I did read the letter, it was gratifying to know I wasn’t the only one thinking this way.

Over the next few years, things chugged along and I was “ok” with what was going on in the church. I saw some changes made based on the “revival” and saw some things stay the same. But all in all, it was worth it to stay connected with the church. We had dear friends there and didn’t want to leave, we were being fed spiritually.

During the summer of 2006, one of our daughters decided she did NOT want to become a disciple (devote her life to Christ). While this saddened my wife and I a great deal, we respect the fact that it is a decision that she must make.

Once she made this decision, and made it known to the leadership of the church, they told us, and her that she could no longer participate with the other teens within in the church. She couldn’t sit with them, go to devotionals with them or basically fellowship with them. She must sit with us during church. She would be allowed (graciously???) to talk to them before and after service.

By doing this, the church has created an elitist and separatist group. Rather than trying to use their life’s testimony as a reason for my daughter to come into the embrace of our Lord, they created a situation where they used her desire to belong as coercion to get her to do something she did not want to do. If she would have followed through with it, it would have been the epitome of hypocrisy. We know of SEVERAL TEENS who went through the motions just to belong.

When I brought this up to another parent who was having similar “teen troubles”, I was told by the leadership of the church that I was being divisive. I explained that I was discussing it with another parent who was facing similar issues and I was again told I was being divisive.

My wife and I spoke with numerous other church members, both inside our congregation and out and without exception, they all said this was a poor decision on the part of the leadership. That excluding a teen from activities that are Christ oriented and Christ centered was NOT the way to encourage them to make a decision to live for Christ.

When the church leadership found out that I had sought advice outside of them, they got upset with me. When I explained that they were the odd man out on all the advice, they disagreed and told me I was obligated to trust and pray for the leadership of the church. Stick my head in the sand.

What was interesting, is the previous Fall (October 2006???), we attended a large conference in Virginia Beach called One Body, One Spirit. Promoting the one church (Body of Christ) biblical truism. Yet when I conferred with another member of the body who did not attend locally, I was going outside the church. That other member was a well respected member of the ICOC, held leadership positions within the ICOC (employed by ICOC until 2003), well educated, trusted expert, experienced teacher and author. Though prior to this writing, I have never referenced him directly. We decided to leave the church.

We left the church in the early spring of 2007 due to this issue. Shortly thereafter, I was contacted by the leadership and invited to lunch. My response to the invitation was that I would love to go to lunch with him, providing we did not talk about the church (congregation) or our decision to leave.

His response even surprised me. He said there was no reason to get together. I find it incredible, that two Christians can not get together for a luncheon, and discuss anything but my family’s decision to leave a church. What would we have talked about had we not left?

Technorati Tags: ICOC, International Churches of Christ, Unity Pact, Church, Christianity, Elitism, Abusive churches, cults

DEKALB, Ill. - A former graduate student armed with two handguns and a shotgun opened fire Thursday in a large lecture hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University, killing five students and wounding 16 others before killing himself, authorities said. -=SOURCE=-

You are in our hearts and prayers…

Technorati Tags: Northern Illinois University, Virginia Tech

Today’s selection came out and I found a great new free them called Uncrufty by Azmeen at HTNet.

I have been looking for a theme that was plain, minimalistic but had a header image I could change quickly and on a whim. Uncrufty meets that need PERFECTLY!!!

I had installed the theme earlier today but hadn’t had much of a chance to play with it. This evening when I came home I started tweaking it a little bit and found that when you went to a specific post, the right hand sidebar went away.

While I understand the functionality of this set up, I don’t particularly care for it. So I dropped a quick note into the author’s blog about the theme and the idea of releasing a version with the sidebars remaining in place throughout.

Exactly 40 minutes later, Uncrufty2sb was released!!!

Thank you Azmeen!!! That’s incredible service for a FREE WordPress Theme and I appreciate it!!!

Technorati Tags: WordPress, Themes,, WordPress+Themes