Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
GOD USES PEOPLE LIKE DERRICK
In Dayton, Ohio, attorney Derrick Farmer gave a motivational talk to at-risk teens. Derrick is 48 years old and has been an attorney since 1999. Now, what was unusual about this event was that it was picketed by 30 Dayton police officers. Why? When Derrick was 16 years
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Methodist
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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