Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
IT'S OK TO CLAP
In 1989, I was an intern pastor at Boston Avenue UMC, a 8,300 member church in downtown Tulsa, OK. Let me give you an image of our worship service. We wore full robes and vestments, we processed with a choir of more than 60 people with the the cross leading the way. We sang hymns
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
PRAISING HIM WITH LIFTED HANDS
I attended a Conference in Overland Park, KS. The host pastor stood up before the opening worship service and said, he grew up in a controlled, dignified and domesticated worship service. He said no one in that church raised their hands in praise. But then when he
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
AVOIDING THE ROCKS
Alan was my prayer partner at a previous church and he tells the story of going white water rafting on a Christian retreat. He said he always got stuck being the captain of the boat and sure enough for the 4th year in a row, he was named captain. So his job was to direct the men
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
EVERYONE WANTS TO BE A WINNER
You want to know how bad it was to be a New Orleans Saints. Derland Moore, the Saints nose tackle from 1973 to 1985, once was asked what it was like to be a Saint, and said: "We were the league's doormats. When I went out and people would ask me if I played for the
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
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THE CHRISTMAS SCOUT
In spite of the fun and laughter, 13 yr. old Frank Wilson was not happy. It was true, he had received all the presents he wanted, and he enjoyed the traditional Christmas Eve reunions with relatives for the purpose of exchanging gifts and good wishes but Frank was not happy.
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
THE MIRACLE BIRTH
Mike Hermanstorfer was clutching his pregnant wife's hand in a Colorado hospital on Christmas Eve last year when she stopped breathing. Mike’s wife, Tracy, went into cardiac arrest during labor. Doctors told him, "We're going to take your son out now. We have been unable to
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
DOING CHRISTMAS DIFFERENTLY
Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz, tells of his pastor in Portland Oregon at Imago Dei Community. He and some his friend decided they wanted to do Christmas differently. So he stood up in front of his congregation and challenged them not to go into debt that
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
PEALE: A SIMPLE CHRISTMAS IN AFRICA
Norman Vincent Peale writes of spending Christmas in Africa with his wife, children and grandchildren. He was hesitant but his wife told him he would love every minute of it. And yet, as Christmas day approached he was troubled because everything Christmas was
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
WE NEVER THOUGHT WE WERE POOR
Eddie Ogan
writes:
I’ll never forget Christmas 1946. I was 14, my little sister Ocy was 12 and my older sister Darlene was 16. We lived at home with our mother, and the four of us knew what it was to do without many things. My dad had died five years before,
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
BUY LESS, LOVE MORE
Shane Claiborne writes:
I am incredibly hopeful this Advent, because there are so many signs of Christians who are longing for new ways to celebrate our Savior that are not cluttered with the noise of shopping and infected with the myth that happiness must be purchased. On the
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
THE STORY OF FAITH HOPE
Myah Hope was given the news that she was pregnant. Like most mothers to be, she dreamed of what giving birth to a child and raising them would be like.
But when she was 19 weeks pregnant, she was told that something was wrong with her baby's head. The doctor said that
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
PEACE IN THE STORM
Adam Hamilton tells the story of leading a team down to Bay St. Louis to help gut houses after Katrina. They were assigned to a woman who brick house was completely inundated and they were asked to gut a two-story garage. In the room above the garage were literally hundreds and
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
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BLESSING PEOPLE
Reggie McNeal tells the story of one man who decided to bless the baristas at the Starbucks he frequents. When he asked them the question, “How can I ask God to bless you?” they were somewhat taken aback. Slowly but surely, they warmed up to him and the employees started to come
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
THERE WILL ALWAYS BE WEEDS
Jesus described another kind of soil which is filled with weeds and thistles and torpedo grass and other kinds of things. When Giovanna and I moved into our house, it had been vacant for a year. It’s built in an old flood plain of Lake Pontchartrain, which means that
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
IMAGINARY JESUS
Matt Mikalatos has written a fictional story entitled, "Imaginary Jesus." In that story the main character encounters a wide variety of people who claim to be Jesus, but who actually represent our diverse and ever-changing depictions of who we want Jesus to be and the roles we want
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
FAN OR FOLLOWER?
Kyle Idelman writes:
It was a Thursday afternoon, and I was sitting in our sanctuary where 30,000 people would soon be coming to one of our Easter services. I had no idea what I was going to say to them. I could feel the pressure mounting. I sat there hoping that a sermon would
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Methodist
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LIVING WITHOUT HOPE
There was one TV spot which we leased and in my opinion crossed all barriers being the most thought-provoking. It pictured a man sitting in a room by himself with the camera coming up from behind him slowly. As the picture slowly panned past the man to show his dejected face,
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Baptist
Contributed by Noel Atkinson on Mar 16, 2011
THE JESUS FREAKS ARE HERE
I remember doing street ministry a few years ago. I was with an organisation called Drug Arm in the city. We would set up a van and give coffee and doughnuts to drug addicts along with contact phone numbers for the local drug rehabilitation centres.
I remember one night
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Baptist
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