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Well as I was mentioning a few moments ago, we have been in a prolonged recognition of God's faithfulness over 40 years of ministry together, and it has prompted me on each of our Sundays over the last month or so to look at some of the foundations of our church that has put us in the place where God has blessed us so greatly. We take no credit for it, this is not a work of man, certainly not a work of mine. This is, we believe, a work of God. There are some spiritual commitments that we have made here in this church that really were there at the very, very beginning of this church, even when I came, an eagerness to follow the Word of God. And it is that commitment to the Word of God that has given us unwavering, unaltered, unchanging commitment to a pattern of ministry that is laid out in the New Testament.
I grew up in churches. My father and grandfather being pastors, I was exposed to my own church as a kid growing up in my Dad's church, I was exposed to many other churches, many churches in which we had mutual ministry and shared youth activities and things like that. My college days, even while I was a student, I was speaking in various places in various places. In seminary I was in more churches and exposed to more approaches to churches and how they did their work. And by the time I finished my seminary days, I had pretty much seen every way you could do church at least at that period of time. And I came to the conclusion that I just wanted to follow what the New Testament said as closely as possible.
Setting aside all those things that were traditional or normal or expected, let's go back and see what the Word of God has to say. I couldn't imagine that the Lord would have expectations for His church and not instructions for His church. And so it was that in the months before I ever came here, I was grappling with the Word of God, endeavoring to understand if the Lord ever allows me to become a pastor, what is it that is non-negotiable, critical, essential...what are the mandates for the life of the church so we can be the church of Jesus Christ and bring honor to our Head and have an impact in the world. And so from those earliest days when we first came together in February of 1969, our focus was always upon...what does the Word of God have to say about every aspect of our life as a church?
It has been an incredible 40 years. It has gone by so rapidly. It has been, as I told you a few weeks ago, heaven on earth for me to be in this church. It has been an undeserved gift from God that is so massive I don't even have words to describe my gratitude for this incredible privilege.
And in the process of working out these New Testament principles for the life of the church, some of which I've shared with you over the last few week by way of review, I have grown in my love for the church. You could take...you could take everything away from me in terms of things I do and privileged to do and glad to do, you can take them all away from me, but you could never take the church away. The church is really the heart and soul of my life. It is my love. I love the church.
And it's along that line that I want to sort of close out our fortieth celebration with a few more reasons why I love the church. Last week we started to talk about this and I gave you a couple of reasons why I love the church.
Number one, because God loves the church, Christ loves the church. It is the only institution that the Trinity is building. It is My church, Jesus said, that I will build, Matthew 16:18. I love the church because it is a divine work. It is being built by God. That makes it different from every other activity, every other event, every other institution on the planet. It is unique. It is transcendent. It is the one thing the Lord is building. What a privilege to be a part of that. I love the church because the Lord is building His church. It is His church and I love Him and I love what He loves.
Secondly, I love the church because it is the most precious reality on earth. I know it's the most precious reality on earth because it is most precious to God. And that is evidenced by the price that He paid to purchase it. In fact, I read to you from Acts 20 and verse 28 that God purchased the church with His own blood. The Son of God, the second member of the Trinity, the Eternal One, the Undying One becomes a man and dies. The Holy One pays the penalty for sin on our behalf. We are redeemed not with silver and gold, not with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. He became poor, 2 Corinthians 8:9, that we through His poverty might become rich. He took upon Himself the form of a slave, was made in likeness of a man, humbled Himself all the way down to death, even the ignominious death on the cross, Philippians 2 says, and He did it in order that He might be highly exalted as the head of the church and be called Lord by those who know Him and love Him. He became sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. I love the church because it is the only spiritual organism, entity that the Lord is building and it is uniquely His, and I love the church because it's most precious to Him as evidenced by the fact that the highest price was paid for it.
Those were the points that we talked about last time. They had some implications. The church is so precious, we have to be careful how we treat the church. We looked at Matthew 18, didn't we, and the first thing that strikes you in Matthew 18 is you do not ever want to cause one person in the church to stumble into sin. As a pastor, I am constantly conscious of that, never to do anything or to say anything that would trigger a temptation in someone's life to lead them into sin. Jesus said, "You would be better off if a millstone were hanged around your neck and you were drowned in the depths of the sea, then to cause one of these who belong to Me to stumble into sin." And a little later in Matthew 18, you remember, He said, "Don't disdain them, don't look down on them, don't belittle them, don't think less of them because perhaps they're socially inferior or intellectually inferior. The Father in heaven watches over them and dispatches His holy angels to meet their every need." And that's how much heaven cares about even the least of them. Be careful how you view the church. Receive every believer as if you were receiving Christ, Matthew 18 says, for when a believer comes to you, Christ comes to you who dwells in that believer.
So I understand the church is precious. I understand that it is the Lord's church, that it is the bride of Christ, the precious bride of Christ. The whole story of redemption is the Father seeking a bride for His Son. Every believer makes up that composite bride, therefore every one is precious. The blood of Christ paid for the sins of everyone in the church. Therefore, how you treat them is very, very important because of the value they hold to the Lord. You never want to do anything to cause another believer to stumble, to be thought of as inferior or unimportant. You want to confront them when they sin because you want them to be holy, you want to forgive them when they repent because you have also been forgiven far more.
So the church is precious. The church is God's church. I love it for those reasons. Let me give you a third reason. I love the church because the church is the steward of God's truth...the steward of God's truth. I think we all understand that we live in an information explosion. I wish I lived a hundred years ago, or two hundred years ago, or three hundred years ago, didn't have to deal with so much information. The fact is, we live in a world now where there is way too much information for anybody to absorb, and I just want to encourage you by saying there's still only one book in which God has revealed His spiritual truth. And I'm so glad for that simplicity in the midst of the confusion.
We live in a world of lies and liars. The devil is a liar and those who follow the devil are liars. They are of their father, the devil. And even religious people, Jesus said to the Pharisees,"Y"You're of your father, the devil, who is a liar." Deceit has found a home in religion. Deception has found a home even in quote/unquote Christianity. The church is to be THE steward of God's truth. This is absolutely its purpose in the world...the truth that saves, the truth that sanctifies, and the truth that gives the hope of glory. We dispense the truth. We dispense the Word of God in a world of lies, in a world of ignorance, in a world of confusion and deception. First Timothy 3:15, Paul identifies the church this way, "The church of the living God...comma...the pillar and foundation of the truth." The church of the living God is the pillar and foundation of the truth...the truth about life and death, creation and dissolution, the truth about heaven and hell, the truth about right and wrong, the truth about sin and righteousness, the truth about man, the truth about everything, the truth about salvation, the truth about forgiveness, gospel truth. The church is the steward of God's truth, we dispense with God's truth in the world. We dispense the Word of the living God in the world.
This is so foundational, so basic, that any church that doesn't do this is in flagrant disobedience. I was saying to someone the other day, not a Christian person, "I can't imagine what you think Christianity is by just watching the definitions of Christianity that are displayed before you." Who in the world could figure out what it is? Because the message of quote/unquote Christianity is not a single message, it is chaotic. We are to be the pillar and support of the truth.
And yet if you picked up...I went through about a month of religious articles in the Los Angeles Times, I never one time in a stack of maybe 60 articles on religion saw anything that reflected a biblical view. And it was all some article about something going on in Christianity...from pedofile priests to ordaining Lesbians, and everything in between. I never saw anything that had anything to do with an accurate representation of Christianity.
And, of course, Satan understands this. This is the way to create the greatest deception of all..confuse the issue at its very core. But I love the church because I love the truth and the church is the steward of the truth. You all know that I love the truth, I live for the truth, I exist for the truth. I study to learn the truth. I preach to tell you the truth. And I internalize it in order to live the truth. Truth is everything. There's no virtue in a lie. There's no virtue in deception. Those are destructive. Spiritually they are damning.
Now I understand that that doesn't necessarily make me popular with the world. And even lately, it doesn't make me popular with the church because there is a kind of church today, I'm afraid not the true church, but those who at least claim Christ, who have no interest in the truth...or a very minimal one. From the very beginning here when you walked in the door of this place, you would hear the truth. Through all these years, all the years of this church's existence it was a place where the truth was proclaimed, it will continue to be a place where the truth is proclaimed. That's our stewardship. That's our responsibility. We're stewards of the mysteries of God, the unfolding of gospel truth in the New Testament.
We dispense divine truth. You don't come here to hear opinions. You don't come here to hear ideas. You don't come here to get political information so you know how to vote. You don't come here to hear me harangue about economics or solve the problems of the stock market. If you come in the door, you will always hear the truth, God's truth, God's Word, because that we know is absolutely accurate as Scripture has revealed it. And the Word is alive and powerful and it cuts and wounds and then heals and restores. It is profitable to make a person fully mature, Paul said. That is why we're told to preach the Word in season, out of season, constantly. And you're either in season or out of season, whatever that means, it means that. So you preach the Word relentlessly at all times.
Since it is the Word that sanctifies, "Sanctify them by Thy truth, Thy Word is truth," John 17:17 Jesus said. And since any faithful pastor desires the sanctification of his people, he has to then teach the Word, the truth. In Galatians 4:19 Paul said, "I am in labor," and he used the word for birth pains, "I am in labor until Christ is formed in you. I am in labor until Christ is formed in you." In 2 Corinthians chapter 11 he said, "My desire is to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." I'm pursuing your Christlikeness, I'm pursuing your purity, and all of this is the sanctifying work that comes through the work of the Word. The faithful pastor will not cause his people to sin and stumble, he will not lead them into temptation. On the other hand, he will give them the truth that purifies, the truth that purges, the truth that conforms them to the very person of Christ.
It's not a mistake when Paul writes the pastoral epistles, as they are called. Look at 1 Timothy 4 and verse 6, he directs Timothy and all others in the responsibility of the pastoral ministry to focus on something very specific. First Timothy 4:6, he says, verse 5, "Sanctification comes by means of the Word of God and prayer. Sanctification comes by the means of the Word of God and prayer in pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a noble servant of Christ Jesus." A noble minister is somebody who points out the fact that sanctification comes by the Word of God and prayer. And you will be a noble servant of Christ able to do this if you are constantly nourished on the words of the faith, that is the revealed faith, divine revelation. You nourish yourself on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine. Those are two things tied together. First the words of the faith as revealed in Scripture, and then the doctrine that comes out of those words.
So if you want to be a noble minister, if you want to be used to be the agent of sanctification by means of the Word of God and prayer, then you must yourself be nourished on the words of Scripture and the doctrines which those words affirm. Who would want to be less than a noble servant of Christ Jesus? Who would want to be, for example, a workman needing to be ashamed because he didn't rightly divide the Word of truth?
So we understand that the responsibility before us is to so nourish our minds and souls with the Word and the doctrine that comes out of the Word, that we are the human instrument by which the Word and the Spirit sanctify the people of God, conforming them to the image of Christ, so that they can be presented to Him as a chaste and pure virgin.
I was talking to a lady that I had never met this week, and she volunteered an assessment of my ministry. She...which...it was good, she said, ....she said, "You know, I've listened to you and I've read you and I've watched you on CNN." And she said, "I just want to say thank you to you because no matter where you are, whether it's in a message or on a radio program," she listens to Grace To You on the Internet, "or whether it's on television, you always speak from the Scripture...you always speak from the Scripture. And I don't see other people doing that."
Look, I haven't discovered some deep secret here. This is obvious...the church is the steward of God's truth. How wonderful that when you come here, you're going to hear the truth. It's not about style at Grace Church. If you're looking for a church with a certain style, if that's about as deep as you go, if you're in to style and not substance, we'll see you at Easter...or Christmas. This isn't about style. This is about substance. This is about believing that there's transforming power in the truth. And we believe it very strongly. We believed it 40 years ago and we really believe it now. We have seen it.
So, constantly nourish on the words of the faith and sound doctrine, verse 7, having nothing to do with worldly fables, disciplined for the purpose of godliness, it comes down to verse 16 and says, "Pay close attention to yourself and to your doctrine, persevere in these things." It's about the truth.
In the end of this first letter to Timothy chapter 6 verse 20, Paul says, "O Timothy, O Timothy," and just in the "O" there's a little bit of fear and anxiety. "O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you." What is that? The treasure of truth, that's the trust. Avoid the worldly empty talk, opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge. Just leads people astray.
In the next letter, 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 13, "Retain the standard of sound words." Fourteen, "Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you." And what is that treasure? It's the truth. Then, of course, the familiar words of chapter 4 verse 2, "Preach the Word."
It's always about the truth. As I have told you, the New Testament, of course, ends with the book of Revelation which is the great apocalyptic vision of the future return of Christ, and just tucked in the shadow of Revelation are three little postcard epistles, 2 John, 3 John and Jude. And it's interesting to note that these are the last epistles written in the New Testament. These are the last epistles, placed there in this order certainly by the providence of the Holy Spirit to remind us of what matters. They're little short letters but listen to what their subject is. Second John, "The elder, to the chosen lady and her children whom I love in truth, not only I but also all who know the truth, for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever, grace, mercy and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father in truth and love. I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth."
Third John, 2 John written to a lady, 3 John written to a man,"T"The elder, to the beloved Gaius whom I love in truth, O I pray, beloved, that in all respects you may prosper, be in good health just as your soul prospers for I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is how you are walking in truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth." Of course, that's what a pastor desires. That's his great heart. You must know the truth, understand the truth, walk in the truth, love the truth. There's no other way to build you up than by the truth.
Turn to Ephesians 4 for a moment...Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11,"H"He gave some apostles and prophets, evangelists and pastor/teachers," these are the instructors, if you will, in the life of the church, first Apostles and prophets, historically. And then followed by evangelists and pastor/teachers, "For the equipping of the saints, for the edifying of the saints, for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ."
How do you build them up? Acts 20, "The Word which is able to build you up." So what is the responsibility of an Apostle, prophet, evangelist, teaching pastor? To build up the people of God by means of the one thing that will do that and that is the Word of God, the truth of God. And the end of that is that you come, verse 13, to the unity of the faith. It is a unity, beloved, built on the truth. It is a unity built on the truth, not on some superficial emotion. It is the unity of those who believe the truth. It is the unity of the faith, of those who possess the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man. What we're moving toward in the life of the church is the dissemination of the truth that produces maturity. And we deal with this with our own children and we say, "Well, that kind of behavior is very immature." They need to grow up. They need to know more. They need to understand more. That's immature.
We're working on that on the spiritual level so that, as verse 14 says, "You are no longer children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the craftiness and deceitful scheming, but speaking in the truth in love we grow up in all aspects, into Him who is the head, even Christ."
You become like Christ when you know the truth, embrace the truth and love t he truth. We sing the truth, we pray the truth, we preach the truth, we talk the truth, we write the truth, we are to be the pillar and ground of the truth.
There's a fourth reason I love the church. I love the Lord God, that's why I love the church because it's His church. I love Christ, the one who gave Himself for the church. I love the Word, the truth, these are the reasons I love the church. But there's one more that is so important to me. I love the church because the church is heaven on earth...the church is heaven on earth.
I don't know about you but if there was no church, I'd have a hard time living in this world. This is an unbelievable blessing to come here, isn't it, on the Lord's day? I'm fed up with the world by Tuesday. This is as close to heaven as we're going to get, folks...here. It is the place that is most like heaven.
What's heaven like? Well heaven is all worship, right? Worship of God, worship of Christ...the presence of holiness...that's heaven. It's a place where God is worshiped, Christ is exalted, holiness prevails and worship is incessant...that's heaven. The church approximates that. We come here, what do we do? We worship God. We exalt Christ. We pursue holiness. And collectively we lift up our hearts in as much of heavenly praise as we can muster. This is our heaven on earth.
Turn to John 4 for a minute, let me just give you a little bit of a wider angle look at this. In John 4, verse 20, Jesus having a conversation with the Samaritan woman, and I think she understood something that a lot of people don't understand, she understood that religion is about worship. Religion is about worship. That's essentially what you do when you embrace a deity, it becomes the object of your worship. I don't care what kind of religion you're talking about, you could be talking about somebody in some remote part of the world that bows down to a rock, or a stick, or a piece of wood, or worships the sun or a mountain or a tree or a river or whatever it is, but it's worship. That is ascribing power, ascribing honor to some object...that's worship. I think we may have somehow lost that in this evangelical world in which we live, where you don't hear very often people evangelizing someone by saying, "You're commanded to worship the true and living God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." When you become a Christian, you become a worshiper, one who submits to the glory of the one who you worship, the sovereignty of the one you worship, the power of the one you worship.
This woman understood that. She is a Samaritan, which means she has a convoluted view of God. Samaritans were half-breeds. The Jews who remained in the land of Israel when the rest were taken into Babylonian captivity, intermarried with Gentiles and became the hated, despised, half-breed Samaritans. They developed their own kind of stunted religion, believing that the only divine revelation was the Pentateuch and it stopped there. So they rejected the rest of the Old Testament. So they had a very, very limited view of God. But at least she understood that if you have a God, then it's about worship, it's about bowing to that God, giving honor to that God. And so that's who she casts the conversation.
Jesus comes along, she doesn't have a hard time identifying the fact that He knows things that no man could know and so she surmises that He's got connections to God and He's a prophet who speaks with this inside information. So she's going to ask Him the ultimate question. How do I worship? Where do I worship? She is a woman who wants to worship. And she wants to worship the right God.
So in verse 20 she says, "Our father worshiped in this mountain." This is the historic place where the Samaritans worshiped, Mount Gerizim. "You people, Jews, say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." She understands that to identify yourself with a certain God is to become a worshiper.
I don't think there are people...there seemingly...I just think there are vast amounts of people who in evangelical Christianity have never had that concept that when you become a Christian, you have just signed up for a life of worship. It's really not about you, it's not about God jumping into your life to worship you, give you all that you want. It's about you bowing selflessly in total self-denial to worship Him. She understood the defining reality of religion to be worship and she said, "Where do I do it? Where do I go? How do I get the right place?"
Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father." Giving a little predictive prophecy here? There would be a time in 70 A.D. when there wouldn't be anymore worship going on in Jerusalem. There would be a time when the worship that went on as they knew it in Mount Gerizim would come to an end. You better get away from the idea of thinking that worship is attached to a place.
And then He goes a little deeper. "You worship what you do not know." You worship, but it's ignorant, because, as I told you, they only accepted the Pentateuch, so you worship what you don't know. You have an ignorant worship. "We...the Jews...worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews." That is the divine revelation...the whole of the Old Testament came through the Jews so we have the full knowledge. So you have worship that is ignorant, we have worship that is informed. However, neither one was actually satisfactory, verse 23, "An hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth." And that's very, very important. There were false worshipers among the Samaritans who worshiped without truth. There were false worshipers among the Jews who worshiped with the truth but it was nonetheless a false understanding of it.
What has to happen is, to worship in spirit and truth. Historians tell us that the Gerizim kind of worship, the Samaritan kind of worship was pretty hysterical. They would have been the original Charismatics. They were over the top, highly emotional, exuberant kind of worship. It was worship in spirit, talk about the human spirit being released, it was free kind of noisy worship but it lacked truth. On the part of the Jews, they had the truth but not the spirit. It was cold, dead orthodoxy. The Father wants worship in spirit and truth. He wants all your emotions, all your heart, all your joy, all your gladness, all your exuberance, but He wants it all in response to an understanding of the truth.
"Such people," verse 23 at the end, "the Father seeks to be His worshipers." So when the Father is collecting a bride for His Son, ultimately it is so that they can be worshipers of Him and His Son and the Holy Spirit. He is seeking worshipers. God is spirit, those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth...spirit and truth.
So, where does...where does that happen? Well it happens first in the heart. You worship with the joy of your emotions because you understand the truth. Nobody has to manipulate your emotions. Nobody has to orchestrate your emotions. I don't know about you but my high points of worship personally, individually are with a Bible in front of me and the discovery of some great profound truth. And sometimes I just have to get up out of my chair and move, walk around in circles cause I can't stay there. My spirit throws me out of that little black chair because of the truth which ignites my heart. And then when we come together like this collectively, with all of our hearts ignited by the truth, our worship is enriched and enlarged exponentially as we sing and praise together. This is where heaven comes down.
Turn to Matthew 6 . You remember the words of our Lord in giving instruction on how to pray when the disciples asked Him how to pray, He said in verse 9 of Matthew 6, "Pray then in this way. Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven...your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Bring heaven down.
Now we understand that there is a future time when the Kingdom will come on earth and the Lord will reign supreme. And there is a time after that in the New Heaven and the New Earth where God will reign and righteousness prevail in the eternal glory of the final heaven.
But there's a preview of all of that even now that we pray for. When we say "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," Lord, bring heaven down. Bring heaven down.
What are we saying? Where is that going to happen? Well again, go back to what I said, what happens in heaven? God is worshiped. Christ is glorified. Holiness prevails. And people surround His throne and offer Him praise. Where does that happen in the world? In the church...in the church. This is where heaven comes down. This is where God is exalted. Christ is honored. Holiness is pursued. And praise is offered as we surround the presence of the One who is in the midst of our praise. This is where heaven comes down.
And, folks, the implications of that are pretty profound. I have no interest in designing the gathering of the church to suit non-believers. Why would I do that? This is the church. This is the church. I know when a non-believer comes in, I know they can't identify with the music. I know that. Some people think occasionally they need to inform me. I understand it, I get it. I know the world of music that they live in. I know the largely the junk that most people listen to. I get that. I want people to walk in here and not say, "Wow, this is familiar. I like this. I understand this." I want them to walk in here and say, "This is alien. This is totally foreign. What is this? I've never heard anything like this. These people are doing something that I've never experienced."
Well good. This is a little bit of heaven on earth. And so you would expect if you were an unbeliever and you drifted into heaven, probably not to hear the same thing you'd hear at a rock concert. If you come in here and you see people exalting God and Christ and talking about the importance of obedience and righteousness and holiness and lifting up their voices in praise, the praise that has been a sacred trust from generations and generations and generations passed down as the music we heard sung from Handel. You understand that you're in a foreign place.
Now no unclean person will ever enter heaven. Revelation makes it clear. No unclean person will ever enter heaven. So this is the only heaven people will see. How important is it then that the church be heaven on earth and not another dose of earth on earth? There's nothing to be gained from that.
You say, "Well what about the people? Don't they need to hear the gospel?" They do, and I'll explain that in a moment. But this is the worshiping church. The Father seeks true...what?...worshipers. This is where heaven comes down. I know it's not the popular music the world likes. That's exactly why we do it, because it's lofty, it's elevated, it's majestic, it's beautiful, it's profound, it's biblical, it's theological like heaven...not like a local bar. Not like that, not going to be like that. And there's the obvious sense when an unbeliever comes in here that this is very, very, very different. And we pray that the unbeliever like the one in 1 Corinthians 14 will say, "God is in this place," and maybe fall on his knees. But we also know that unbelievers will come and say, "I can't identify with that place. I'm certainly not in to worshiping God, exalting Jesus Christ, pursuing holiness and offering praise with these people singing these really crummy old songs." You hear people say today, "Oh, people don't like hymns." Of course they don't like hymns. They don't like Christ. Of course they don't like hymns. We understand that. But this isn't for them, this is for us. This is our heaven until we get to the real one.
The church is heaven on earth. I love the church. I love the corporate expression of that worship. It's as close as you can get in this life to sitting around the throne and singing praise to our God.
Well, a final point, and an obvious one, I love the church because it's the starting place for evangelism...it's the starting place for evangelism. I'll say it to you simply, we've always believed this from the very beginning. The church gathers to be edified and to worship and scatters to evangelize. The church gathers to be edified and worship and scatters to evangelize.
We want you to grow up into Christ and then when you walk out of here, conformed to the image of Christ, you give off the aura of Christ and you make Him attractive by how you live and you get the opportunity to speak the gospel of transformation that you've experienced. You're the evangelist. I'm not. Oh well I am on a personal level. The responsibility of the pastor in the church is not to be the evangelist but to train the force of evangelists. That's what's so wonderful about this church. Through the years, Sunday nights after Sunday night, we hear these testimonies in the water or the Baptism, "I met somebody at the office, I met somebody at school, somebody in my family, a friend talked to me about the Lord. I met So-and-so, I met So-and-so. Heard the gospel through this person. I asked them how their life was different." And that's how it works.
And you cannot be effective in evangelism out there unless there's an effective worship here. If this is what it should be and the truth is being drilled into your life and your heart and you're in a place where God is exalted, Christ is honored, holiness is pursued and prevails and you're in a place where praise is lifted up regularly, all of this works because it all embeds the truth in your heart and strengthens you and builds you up so you can have an effective testimony from an effective transformed life. The church is supposed to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, right? That's the Great Commission. That's not going to happen in the church. One of the greatest tragedies is to strip the church of its edification, strip the church of its worship, strip the church of heaven on earth and turn it in to some kind of an evangelistic center where shallow superficial people show up hoping the guy in the pulpit can win over the folks that are sitting out there. That's a sacrifice I would never make. I am called to be a shepherd of the flock, right? I'm not a shepherd of the non-flock.
So we're going into the world. When you walk out those doors, you become an evangelist, you become a missionary to carry the gospel.
One more, I love the church because it's a place where you develop pastors and leaders. I used to ask this question of my Dad, even. Whenever my Dad needed a staff member in his church, he'd go find a guy from another church and bring him over. And I asked the question, you know, if every...if this is like musical chairs when the music starts, everybody shifts and changes churches, where's the new leadership coming from? Who is developing the new leadership? So I determined when I came to Grace that we're going to grow our own. You've got to come from somewhere and instead of me being a pastor and going and finding leaders from other churches and bringing them here, we'd become a center of training leaders that could go to other churches. And that was from the very go.
The first thing we did when we got here, within the first few weeks, started a men's leadership thing on Saturday morning which lasted for seven and a half years and gave guys responsibility for ministry in the church and it went from there. Pretty soon there was a seminary here, now we have a thousand graduates out and 400 students there, and we have 1200 now in our training centers around the world and 1300 graduates there. Got thousands of men that have been trained and it's multiplying, and multiplying exponentially.
Somebody's got to produce the leaders. Well they come out of the church. They come out of a church that is a church. You know, there are some churches that export people that you wish they wouldn't because they're just going to make more problems. But when men have been trained in the things of the Word of God, and when they've been trained consistently with the New Testament, they're going to have a positive impact for the church everywhere they go. What a privilege and joy it is to see these men from this church over the 40 year that we've been here, they're all over the world, all over the globe...more and more, training more and more, and those men are training more generation after generation. I love the church, a place to develop leaders.
Finally, 2 Corinthians 2, just one statement, verse 14, "But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph." Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph.
You know, when I was in athletics, I wanted to win. That's not unusual, what else is the game played for? People used to say,"W"Well, it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game." Nonsense, are you kidding me? They put numbers in the paper the next day, numbers, actual numbers. Nobody cares how you played the game. That's why they have referees. If you don't play the game right, you're out of the game. It's about winning. No other reason. I love to win. (Laughter) That's why I love the church cause He always in the church leads us in...what?...triumph. I've read the end, we win. Let's pray. (Applause)
It's been a joy, Father, to worship You this morning and to share with Your people these truths. It's been a privilege for us. But even more than that over all these years, to see Your hand, Your mighty hand, Your faithful hand in our midst, it's been such a great benediction and grace to us. We are Grace Community Church not because we give it but because we have received it. We know that. Thank You for it. Thank You for Your Word. Confirm it to our hearts, use us for Your glory, we pray. Amen.
This article is also available and sold as a booklet.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information


text:
The Ageas Bowl is the picture-perfect home of Hampshire Cricket and the venue will play host to 39 days of domestic cricketing action in 2019, including seven action-packed Vitality Blast matches.
Eoin Morgan's England also visit the Ageas Bowl next year for what's sure to be a thrilling ODI against Pakistan on Saturday 11th May.
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The centre, boasting a well-equipped modern rehabilitation gym, consultation rooms and a vast amount of outside space to cater for almost any sporting rehabilitation, is open to the public with the specialist team able to assess and treat a wide range of conditions in individuals aged eight and upwards.
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The Ageas Bowl is home to Hampshire Cricket, the new Hilton at the Ageas Bowl and hosts England Internationals, but the venue's offering doesn't end there.
The iconic ground is also home to an elite sports medicine centre, the Hampshire Wellbeing Centre, the rapidly expanding amateur boxing club, Poseidon, the Hedge End Running Club as well as the newly-opened Sanjha Punjabi Cuisine Takeaway Unit.
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Getting Here

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Skip to comments.God "Rejoices" over Abortions Says Episcopal Priestess
Posted on 06/25/2009 1:13:16 AM PDT by topher
Wednesday June 24, 2009
God "Rejoices" over Abortions Says Episcopal Priestess
By Peter J. Smith
DENVER, Colorado, June 24, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Episcopal Church has to clarify God's official position on abortion - at least so says a priestess of the church, who claims that a proposed rite for post-abortive women conflicts with church theology and that the Deity "rejoices" when women elect to abort their children.
Rev. Nina Churchman wrote a letter to Episcopal Life Online expressing her outrage upon learning that her church has developed a healing rite for post-abortion women sorrowful over their abortion that seems to have language alluding to "sin" and "guilt."
Churchman said she "was sickened to discover that the rite for abortion is couched wholly in terms of sin and transgression."
The priestess also took particular umbrage with the words, "I seek God's forgiveness" and the words "God rejoices that you have come seeking God's merciful forgiveness."
"The Episcopal Church, by resolution, has long held that women have the freedom to choose an abortion," asserted Churchman. "It is not considered a sin."
The Episcopal Church's "long held" position permitting abortion dates back to 1967, when the church began to lobby for abortion in limited cases (i.e. rape, incest, fetal deformity, health of the mother), which by 1994 had become a full-blown defense of a right to an abortion. The church's previous position on abortion, had lasted much longer. As late as 1958 the church had expressed an unequivocal defense of over 1900 years of Christian tradition against abortion, stating, "Abortion and infanticide are to be condemned."
"Women should be able to mourn the loss of an aborted fetus without having to confess anything," declared Churchman.
"God, unlike what the liturgy states, also rejoices that women facing unplanned pregnancies have the freedom to carefully choose the best option - birth, adoption or abortion - for themselves and their families."
"The wording of this liturgy focuses solely on guilt and sin instead of the grief and healing that may accompany a very difficult but appropriate decision to terminate a pregnancy," said Churchman.
Instead Churchman expressed her determination that the church should reject the rite at the next General Convention and do away with the references to "sin" and "guilt."
The proposed post-abortion healing service had been the idea of Georgette Forney, president of Anglicans for Life, who had obtained an abortion when she was 16. Forney had asked the church to create a healing service for women like herself seeking healing, and the Episcopal General Convention had approved the development of the project.
The result was a rite addressing "the pastoral needs of women and men and who have experienced miscarriage, abortion or other trauma in the childbearing or childbirth process" in a book called, "Rachel's Tears, Hannah's Hopes: Liturgies and Prayers for Healing from Loss Related to Childbearing and Childbirth."
The 2009 General Convention of the Episcopal Church will consider and vote on the rite when it convenes July 8-17 in Anaheim, California.
See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
"Abortion is a Blessing": US Episcopalian Lesbian Minister Appointed to Head Prestigious Seminary
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.
Until King Henry VIII started killing Bishops over his Divorces (and killing of his wives), I guess in King Henry's time, things were a "long held position" -- if it agreed with King Henry (when he was alive).
For the sake of the Episcopal Church, I pray that this person is not influential, and will break away from that church and form her own "priestess/abortion movement"...
I understand that something can get down to either the life of the mother or the unborn baby, but the wisdom of Solomon says to split the baby down the middle (using that old story)...
Maybe someone on the Theology side can enlighten me on this subject as to when Christians can be involved in abortions...
This person does not worship the God of Christianity
probably not, but she is simply reiterating her denominations stance on the issue
Oh, wait, I get it ..... this is a sendup, right? You guys are pulling our leg, right?
Their deity does. But then again they worship satan!
Oh Yeah
I'm not religious, but I believe GOD has a little something about this in the 10 Commandments—Do not carry GOD's name in vain.
I am an Episcopalian and I have never heard of "Priestesses" in this religion.
The only "Priestesses" I ever heard of were related to Voodoo.
Anyway, it doesn't matter, I attend the Roman Catholic Church with my husband, and have for quite some time.
There are too many issues, this being just another, that keep me from returning to the Episcopal Church.
Uhhh Lady thats not what God says !!!
Proverbs 6:16 - 19...
16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
God hates the hands that shed innocent blood!!!
Does the Episcopal Church leadership make up their own rules as they go along?
Whod've ever thought that priestesses would lead to paganism? /sarc
God rejoices when you kill an fetus??
Lady I dont know what to call you al lot of words come to mind, none of them pretty, but Lady—you aint no minister of the God I believe in.
Priestess ????????
Sounds like an abortion cult, complete with a stone alter where they cut human hearts from the living bodies of their victims.
Thou shall not kill.
Wow, at last, someone who really understands the commandment not to take the Lord's name in vain! Kudos to you.
I'm so sorry. My best childhood friend's father was an Episcopal priest and in no way did their beliefs vary from Protestant orthodoxy as the chimera today masquerading as Christianity.
This woman's statment is simply wicked. There is no other possible explanation.
Job 10:8 'Your hands fashioned and made me altogether, And would You destroy me?
Psalm 63:9 But those who seek my life to destroy it, Will go into the depths of the earth.
Ecclesiastes 11:5 Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things
Psalm 139:15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Psalm 139:16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.
Isaiah 49:1 Listen to Me, O islands, And pay attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He named Me.
Isaiah 49:5 And now the LORD says—he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength—
These people consider themselves Christians ??????
Guess I had better read my Bible from front to back again cause I seem to have missed the section where it stated that God rejoiced in the slaughter of the innocent.
"..."the pastoral needs of women and men and who have experienced miscarriage, abortion or other trauma in the childbearing or childbirth process""
How can they lump miscarriage and birth trauma which are accidental with abortion which is a deliberate sin?
That I had two miscarriages calls for healing from grief, not repentence from sin.
I think the real story here is that the Episcopal Church passed an official position in 1994 to defend the RIGHT to have an abortion.
"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." --Isaiah 5:20
"He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD." -- Proverbs 17:15
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


text:
\When batteries, thermostats, computers, electronics, and other potentially hazardous electronic wastes are improperly disposed, they can pose significant risks to public health and the environment.
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Additional Resources
NRDC: What To Do About E-Waste
Basel Action Network
EPA – Hazardous Waste
OSHA – Hazardous Waste


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Regarding Brian Green's Feb. 14 letter "Homosexuality politicized":
He wrote of weak politicians compromising their morals to allow provocative homosexuals to infiltrate and compromise organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America. He argued this would wound the moral fabric of our society, and he urged other heterosexual men to stand up for what is right and to fight this homosexual assault.
As a proud father, husband and a member of the heterosexual majority of this country that supports rights for all Americans, I would like to explain exactly why I would not stand with Mr. Green but against him.
He and others have elevated the sinful status of homosexuality to something beyond adultery, incest, rape or murder. Where are the letters demanding we defend our children from adulterers? Where is the outrage for heterosexuals who have left their wives for younger girls and abandoned their children?
Where are the demands to keep out of the Scout troops those who made a vow before God to be faithful but chose instead lust and deviance? Why is it that a man who has been convicted of raping his own children is allowed to remarry in any state in the country? Call homosexuality a sin, but remember: There are many others sinners who have the same rights as you and I.
I also find Mr. Green's assertions that homosexuals are forcing their "preference" on others and demanding special treatment to be absurd. Americans are demanding their equal rights - that's all. They don't care if you know they're gay; they just want to have the same rights you do. They have no agenda; they are just like you, but they prefer their own sex. That's all.
Finally, the false idea that being homosexual is a choice is simply a red herring. If no laws have been broken, how do genetics or choice affect the argument for equal rights? If two grown men choose to live together, they should be allowed to. If they choose to be Scoutmasters, they should be allowed. Pedophiles - often married to the opposite sex - and those who protect them in the name of preserving the dignity of their institution have broken the law. They should be prosecuted, and they should be the object of Mr. Green's derision.
There is no infiltration. There is no conspiracy of gays. There are only sound-minded men and women demanding equal rights for all law-abiding Americans.
John Cashin


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Mysterious Sunrise
Sheryl Sturges 6/30/2012 8:42:38 AMEarl, your work is stunning. I love the colors, simplicity of the shot and relaxing quality this has. Your portfolio is impressive too as I took a moment to look through your work. Look forward to seeing more from you. #1472135
Kathy Reeves 7/8/2012 5:29:41 AMAbsolutely stunning!!!!!!!!!! Is the BG changed? #10219411
Earl J. Arboneaux Jr 7/8/2012 6:04:20 AMThere is no BG changes, wouldnot know how on something like this. It an old photography from lake martin. I use to get there ar 5:00am to catch sunrises.It was foggy and mysterious looking, the sunshine gave that pink pastel glow!
Lynn M. Whitt 7/30/2012 11:51:09 AMThis is gorgeous. CONGRATULATIONS. #10250524
Julie Burnett 7/30/2012 12:20:41 PMAbsolutely stunning, congratulations and good luck!! #10250724
Kay E. Mahoney 7/30/2012 3:04:37 PMCongratulations on your finalist, Earl. #10251879
Harriet Feagin 7/30/2012 5:01:41 PMCongratulations on this fantastic finalist. #10252543
David M. Montero 7/31/2012 9:54:29 AMAwesome capture! Congratulations on your Finalist selection Earl. #10255021
Becky J. Parkinson 7/31/2012 12:53:32 PMStunning, surreal sunrise!! Congratulations on this wonderful finalist!! #10255498
The foggy morning and still waters with the sunrise creates a surreal scene on this Louisiana Lake
Exif: F Number: 5.6, Exposure Bias Value: -0.50, ExposureTime: 1/30 seconds, Flash: did not fire., ISO: 100, FocalLength: 22.00 mm, Model: Canon EOS 10D
Uploaded on 6/30/2012 5:14:27 AM
Camera: Canon EOS 40D Digital SLR
Copyright for this gallery photo belongs solely to Earl J. Arboneaux Jr. Images may not be copied, downloaded, or used in any way without the expressed, written permission of the photographer.
Log in to follow or message this photographer or report this photo.


text:
Just a couple of my cute niece and nephew. I never thought I could get a two year old and 2 month old to smile at the same time after only the third picture I took. Wow!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Lincoln & Avery
Just a couple of my cute niece and nephew. I never thought I could get a two year old and 2 month old to smile at the same time after only the third picture I took. Wow!
Posted by kate moss 8 comments
I love it when newborns open their eyes and smile for the camera. It doesn't happen very often. Isn't she so stinking cute!
Posted by kate moss 5 comments
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
stuff for sale
My friend is trying to sell some stuff. Check it out.
Posted by kate moss 0 comments
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Johah & Julia
Posted by kate moss 3 comments
Elsie & Hazel
These beautiful girls were born at 3lbs and 4lbs, and had to spend some time in the NICU. We are glad they are growing and are healthy. I swear those NICU babies are the easiest to work with, they are so use to getting poked and prodded at all the time!
Posted by kate moss 16 comments
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Schedule update
Just to let people know we still have a couple openings left at the end of October for location shots. Or if you are wanting studio shots we still have openings at the end of August.
Posted by kate moss 0 comments
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Olivia, Mya & Lincoln
I had to take some pictures of the kids at swimming lessons today. Olivia is getting pretty dang good. I love Mya's belly flop!
Posted by kate moss 7 comments
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Blanke family
Posted by kate moss 6 comments
Monday, July 20, 2009
Oester Family
Posted by kate moss 6 comments
Lois & Stella
Posted by kate moss 4 comments


text:
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The Article On The E-PARASITE Act That You Need To Read
from the hollywood's-attempt-to-turn-back-time dept
Stripped of their obfuscations, SOPA and Protect IP suggest increasing desperation by media companies. A bill that was to target only the "worst of the worst" foreign Web sites committing blatant and systemic copyright and trademark infringement has morphed inexplicably into an unrestricted hunting license for media companies to harass anyone--foreign or domestic--who questions their timetable for digital transformation.The article is relatively long, but is still worth reading in its entirety, clearly quoting problematic sections of the law, and highlighting where and how it will likely be abused. I'd love for the small group of E-PARASITE defenders in our comments, such as the guy who claims to have worked on the bill and who still (incorrectly) thinks that it only applies to "foreign" sites, to see if they can actually defend against what Downes wrote (without resorting to insults), and actually respond to our concerns directly. Because, so far, every time we've raised key issues, we've been lied to and insulted, rather than having anyone address these issues. It's really quite amazing.
Nothing can change the fact that Hollywood's way of life is transforming once again. The only unknown is time--will a profitable future for digital content arrive in a few years or will it take another decade? SOPA only seeks to delay the inevitable, at the cost of wasteful litigation and overzealous law enforcement.
In the meantime, one other point that Downes raises, which is absolutely true, is that this bill shows the downside to Silicon Valley's general position of ignoring what's going on in DC. That has to change, and if one "good" thing comes out of this bill, perhaps it's that it's so insanely bad that it'll jolt people awake in Silicon Valley, and get them to recognize that they need to speak up.


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Shortly after announcing to the world that they're expecting a baby, a couple of teens are sent to kill each other, as well as a beloved 80-year-old woman and other national heroes, all to distract and entertain the oppressed, disenfranchised masses.
Yet, somehow, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" isn't Woody Harrelson's bleakest movie this holiday season.
And I'm not talking about that animated turkey "Free Birds," either.
"Out of the Furnace" is the fabulously downbeat tale of steelworker Russell Baze (Christian Bale), his damaged younger brother, Rodney (Casey Affleck), and Harlan DeGroat (Harrelson), the loony-from-the-boonies who comes between them.
The crumbling, Rust Belt hamlet of Braddock, Pa., makes "Justified's" Harlan County look like South Beach. Opportunities are as rare as sunny days. So although Russell stayed behind to work in the mill that ultimately killed their father, Rodney escaped to the Army.
After four tours in Iraq, he returns to Braddock, mentally broken from the horrors of war but physically sound. So physically sound that he tries to eke out a living in brutal, bare-knuckle fights run by bookie John Petty (Willem Dafoe).
Petty begs Rodney to get a job in the steel mill and be more like his brother. But Rodney's cocky, stubborn and just foolish enough to get himself into serious trouble — which he does after pleading with Petty to score him one last, big fight run by DeGroat in the hills of New Jersey.
Rodney never returns, and Braddock's sheriff (Forest Whitaker), who moved in on Russell's girlfriend (Zoe Saldana) while he was serving time for a violent DUI, runs into jurisdictional issues with the investigation.
DeGroat is such a sociopath, and he's surrounded by so many of his fellow hill people who look like they've come straight from a "Deliverance" cosplay convention, even the New Jersey cops won't go near him without a SWAT team.
So Russell, an experienced hunter, takes matters into his own hands.
"Furnace's" plot is almost stunningly straightforward. Rodney won't be dissuaded from making horrible decisions, Russell won't be thwarted from finding answers and DeGroat won't be anything less than 10 pounds of crazy in a 5 pound sack.
There are no twists, no turns. There's literally nothing fancy about it. Director Scott Cooper ("Crazy Heart"), who scripted "Furnace" with Brad Ingelsby, just trusts his talented cast to burrow deep into their roles.
Harrelson gets the flashiest part, as DeGroat has "(Expletive) You" tattooed on the underside of his fists, a thing for turquoise jewelry and manages to ruin hot dogs in much the same way Matthew McConaughey forever tainted chicken legs thanks to that scene from "Killer Joe."
Shortly before DeGroat roughs up his date in "Furnace's" opening moments, she warily declares, "You makin' me uncomfortable." She's not alone.
As DeGroat says when Russell asks, during their first icy encounter, if he has a problem with him: "I gotta problem with everbody."
Bale and Affleck don't get anything that showy. They simply convey all the love and despair in the world with glances and body language. The Brothers Grim seem cursed by birth, and Bale and Affleck wear their fates with haunted resignation.
They're not alone in their gloom. When Russell asks his uncle Red (Sam Shepard) how he's doing, Red isn't "good." He isn't "fine." All he can muster is that he's still breathing. In "Furnace" parlance, he's "still this side of the grass."
The only person more miserable would have to be "Furnace's" sound mixer. With Harrelson doing his best Sling Blade impression, Bale's famously raw whisper, Affleck's raspy honk and Whitaker's gruff, croaky death rattle, you'll spend the first few minutes each actor is onscreen wishing you could hand them a lozenge.
You'll also spend the first few minutes after the end of "Out of the Furnace," which feels like half of its 116-minute running time, wondering if that's really all there is.
Refreshingly, in a lean, mean, no-frills, no-artifice way, it is.
Contact Christopher Lawrence at firstname.lastname@example.com or 702-380-4567.
"Out of the Furnace"
116 minutes
R; strong violence, language and drug content
Grade: B
At multiple locations


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[UPDATE 12/12/2012] – Congratulations to BurdaStyle member Justine of Sew Country Chick
Comment on our blog for a chance to win a copy of Alabama Studio Style: More Projects, Recipes, & Stories Celebrating Sustainable Fashion & Living.
In Alabama Studio Style, Natalie Chanin, founder and creative director of the acclaimed fashion and lifestyle company Alabama Chanin, takes readers on a compelling journey of creativity, technique, and inspiration. Picking up where the celebrated Alabama Stitch Book left off, Alabama Studio Style is a craft and lifestyle book all in one.
Here Chanin shares many more of her stitching, stenciling, and beading methods and applies them to twenty extraordinary clothing and home décor projects, each made with organic or recycled materials and designed with "haute homespun" flair. Along with the company's celebrated camisole and tank dresses, the featured projects include skirts, scarves, pillows, woven chair seats, and a stenciled scrap-wood table. Rounding out the book are recipes for three delicious party menus. Alabama Studio Style shows us that true style encompasses not only what we wear, how we decorate, and what we eat, but also how we care for our environment.
Click here for purchasing info on Alabama Studio Style: More Projects, Recipes, & Stories Celebrating Sustainable Fashion & Living.
For a chance to win this fun and creative book, please answer the following question in the comments section below: What is your favorite time of day to sew?
The deadline for submissions is Monday, December 10, 2012 at 11:59 PM (EST). One lucky winner will be chosen.
Good luck!
The BurdaStyle Team


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BRICK, NJ -- Work Out World owner Stephen P. Roma says he's fortunate that a fire last month in his corporate club in Brick, NJ, did not significantly slow down his company's operations.
The fire started in the women's sauna of the 30,000-square-foot club on July 26. Although there were some members working out in the club at the time of the afternoon fire, nobody was in the sauna at the time of the fire, and everybody was evacuated safely from the club, Roma says.
"It's a wooden room, so everything was very combustible," Roma says.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, says Roma, who adds that the cost of the damage as a result of the fire is also unknown. It may take up to three or four months before the club is back in operation, he says.
The 3,500 members at the Brick Work Out World location are allowed to work out at any of the nine other Work Out World clubs in central New Jersey free of charge. Those members were not charged for August dues, says Roma, who also pays a monthly fee to neighboring competitor clubs so that Brick Work Out World members can exercise there at no cost.
The company's operations center, consisting of the accounting and customer service departments, has been temporarily moved to the club's group fitness studio, which sustained only minor smoke damage. The studio is located on the other side of the L-shaped club from where the fire started. Temporary cables were installed to connect the makeshift operations center to where the company's two T1 lines for phone and Internet connections are located. Just a few days after the fire, the makeshift operations center was functioning, Roma says.
Insurance covers the cost of the tables, office chairs, temporary signage, cleaning and other expenses caused by the fire, Roma says
"What's not covered is the stress level," he adds.
The company's membership files consisting of more than 350,000 sheets of paper sustained smoke and water damage. Roma had planned to scan the files digitally by the end of the summer, but now those efforts have been expedited because of the fire. The files were put in an off-site facility and were frozen before going into an ozone room in order to rid the files of contamination.
"It does give us the opportunity to get everything scanned in and stay current with it—350,000-plus pieces of paper is a daunting task," Roma says. "The good news is we're getting the documents scanned. The bad news is we had the fire."


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Sign theft, damage cause for concern in Jay Township
At Thursday's meeting of the Jay Township Supervisors, both residents and officials shared their growing frustration and anxiety over a recent spate of theft and vandalism involving traffic and street signs.Supervisor Murray K. Lilley said the theft of signage is costing the township a fortune. He estimated the cost of replacing a single stolen or vandalized sign at $250. Some residents puzzled over what the motivation for such crimes could be, while the majority shared in the opinion that these crimes are essentially motiveless and that the signs, most likely, can be currently found lining the wall of a teenager's bedroom. Several concerned residents at the meeting emphasized the problem is one of public safety and said with signs missing, obstructed, or damaged, it is hard for ambulances and other emergency personnel to locate those in need of emergency assistance. A meeting attendee shared a story about an ambulance that when attempting to locate a Gray Hill Road resident, mistakenly took Smith Hill Road instead because the signs marking the intersection had been stolen. The ambulance became stuck in the heavy ruts marring Smith Hill Road and had to be pulled out, delaying help for the individual in need. Lilley said, "The Smith Hill Road sign has been replaced five or six times, and every time we put the signs up they disappear."
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One of a few weirdos watching you do your business and laughing all the time.
I'm assuming this is done with the bar owner's blessing, if not cash. If you don't want your bathroom ending up a crazy mess like every other men's room in the area it might be a good idea to hire a street artist to create a trippy space for people to check out during their alone time. As you see above, there are still tags, but nothing like there could be.
Are there other examples of street art/graffiti done with the owner's permission that improved a space or acted as a deterrent to more graffiti?
One failed effort that comes to mind is the piece that was allowed to cover the outside of The Rite Spot, but with immediate complaints from the old school patrons (and apparent dislike by the staff) they painted the whole thing over sky blue. Now it's just hated by confused birds.


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2009-08-26 / Columnists
Pets, Pets, Pets
Balto, the hero Husky who in January 1925 led the last life-saving leg of the six hundred mile diphtheria serum run from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska is immortalized in bronze in Central Park. Just like the Alice in Wonderland statue, Balto's fur shines like gold because of the countless children who have pet off his patina. Yet his biggest fan worships him from afar. Balto's legacy lives on within the heart of a special young man in Florida.
Although Matt Browning, age 33, was born with multiple physical and intellectual impairments, he has a beautiful outlook on life. He's an identical twin and proud of his brother who works at Universal Studios, especially since Matt is a movie buff.The animated Balto is his favorite filmfor two reasons. As Matt says, "#1 the story is true and #2 Balto saves children". He's a participant at Pathways, a day program for independence in Palm Beach where my friend Jeanne Penney is a director. She too has a refreshing perspective about disability, partly because her late father had polio. At softballgames, he'd step out of his wheelchair to hit homers and then barrel by the bases in his braces. She grew up thinking that only the "good people" wound up in wheelchairs. Her childhood was unique. Each night she and her identical twin sister were whisked off to bed either by a rocket ship or magic carpet.
Meanwhile Matt's an innocent, kind fellow who is always thinking of others. Most of Pathways' 15 clients are paralyzed, some quadriplegic; but Matt can negotiate a walker, so each day he gathers his buddies' drinks from their lunch boxes and puts them in the refrigerator. It's the least he can do for them. In addition, Matt is the movie critic for Pathways' newsletter "Wild Wheels". Last year he brought in his Balto tape to share with the gang, but the VCR ate it up. He was beside himself; everyone needed to know about Balto, so Jeanne ordered a DVD replacement tout de suite from EBay.
Jeanne is a native Long Islander. We taught together three decades ago. Her twin sister still lives in East Moriches. Last summer Jeanne, also an RN, was in New York quite often because her cousin from Delaware was undergoing chemo treatment at Sloan. To Matt, "New York" means "NYC" and "NYC" means the Balto statue. Each trip he would ask Jeanne to go to Central Park to get him a Balto photo but her cousin's ordeal was too intense. Jeanne was never able to steal away; Matt understood.
Since 2000 Pathways (www.pathtoind.org) has helped Palm Beach area adults with severe physical developmental disabilities live as independent a life as possible. The clients, presently ranging from 22 to 57 years old, have varying difficulties with communication and mobility. Many have electronic devices that interpret eye or head movement messages, besides using powered wheelchairs. Activities are designed to enhance each participant's abilities and dignity.
Some learn to read or use computers at Pathways, because previously no one tried to teach them. In their "Do You Have the Guts?" support club, members discuss barriers in their lives and ways to obtain individual goals which can range from moving into their own apartment to convincing their parents they are not babies anymore. Pathways clients manage creative micro-industries such as a balloon bouquet business, an online thrift shop, and my favorite- a Flamingo Flocking service. Far from a somber place; practical jokes rule at Pathways. This tiny community combats monumental challenges with a collective sense of humor. However, like many non-profits,budgets are stretched. Not immune from the Madoff mess, Pathways had to sell their only specially equipped van to help them stay open.
Now back to Balto…..but first, since I'm obsessed with the truth behind famous, long dead dogs (including Westminster's Sensation buried in Babylon), time to debunk the Hollywood version. (Skip this paragraph if you don't want to know the harsh reality.) Balto and the sled team did inspire the annual Iditarod race, though there were hard feelings about which lead dog should receive the credit. Thepublic loved Balto's story. In December 1925, Balto attended the unveiling of his Central Park likeness. When his star faded, he and his K-9 cohorts were sold to a vaudeville promoter. In 1927, a Cleveland businessman found the team neglected and in poor health, prompting Ohio school kids to raise $2000 to buy the dogs and return them as heroes to Cleveland. At his death in 1933, Balto was stuffed,and is now on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
Last month Jeanne returned to Long Island, stopping first in Delaware to see her cousin, happily in remission. We spent a day in NYC. Our first stop was Central Park to climb the rock and pose with Balto. The weekend before had been Matt's 33rd birthday. She sent the photos by phone to Pathways. Within moments, Matt (with some help) texted back: "Thanks, for the best BD gift ever." Matt, I'm spreading the word too. Now every Record reader knows about your beloved Balto.
For Adoption at Babylon Town Shelter (643-9270) Lamar St. W. Babylon: This week's poster pups bear a slight resemblance to Balto. The "Old Soul" in Cage 1 is a senior Shepherd mix found wandering Deer Park. Does anyone recognize him? "Sheba" in Cage 41 is an ultra- sweet Shepherd/Retriever mix, tied outdoors and then discarded by people who were moving. Males: last week's featured "Alex" black Pit Cage 12. His loving owner died; "Gotti"- Puggle; Cattle Dog/Beagle Cage 5; "Winston"-wonderful black cat. Females: "Tyra"-Rottie mix Cage 42; "Hallie"-patient Pit Cage 38; "Lucy"-lovely white cat; Siamese mix kitten. Don't Miss Out: Last Hope's musical "Bella Notte" dinner at Sergio's in Massapequa-Thurs. Sept. 3 from 6 to 9 pm. See www.lasthopeanimalrescue.org for ticket info.


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December 28, 1922 - July 14, 2013
Middletown, NY
Anne M. Bellino, a 71-year area resident, entered into rest on Sunday, July 14, 2013 at the Orange Regional Medical Center in the Town of Wallkill, NY. She was 90 years of age.
The daughter of the late Dominick and Dora Farina Mangino, she was born on December 28, 1922 in Easton, PA.
Anne was a medical secretary at the former Horton Memorial Hospital in Middletown. She was a member of the Circleville Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, and a member of the Wallkill Seniors and the Happy Seniors. Anne will always be remembered for standing firm for her beliefs.
Survivors include her children: Doreen M. Garcia and her husband, Joseph of Canyon Lake, TX, Barbara A. Ross and her husband, Brian of Middletown, and Joseph R. Bellino of Canyon Lake, TX; her grandchildren: Luanne Hall and her husband, James, Denise DuPont and her husband, Ernest, Brian Ross and his wife, Amy, Robert Ross and Kristina Bellino; one great-grandson, Justin DuPont, and numerous nieces and nephews. Anne was predeceased by her sister, Grace Gallo and brothers: James and Joseph Mangino.
Friends may call at the Cornelius, Dodd & Connell Funeral Home, 26 Grove St., Middletown, NY on Saturday, July 20th from 4 to 7 p.m. Cremation will take place at the Cedar Hill Crematory, Newburgh, NY.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 511 Mt. Hope Road, Middletown, NY 10940.
Arrangements have been entrusted to the Cornelius, Dodd & Connell Funeral Home, Middletown, NY; to send a condolence to the family, please visit www.connellfuneralhome.com


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8:00 pm
Live From Lincoln Center "Josh Groban: All That Echoes" The multi-platinum recording artist, whose versatility ranges from opera to pop, performs at a special one-night event at Lincoln Center. His concert features selected career-spanning favorites, such as his break-out song "You Raise Me Up" from 2001.G
9:00 pm
The Artist Toolbox "Ramsey Lewis" "Jazz is an expression of the feeling that you have at that moment," says legendary jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis, discussing his art and playing in his Chicago recording studio. The always wise Lewis, with his firm roots in gospel and who studied classical from a young age, has released 80 jazz albums over a 50-year career, making a huge impact on the music world with classics such as "The In Crowd," "Hang On Sloopy" and "Wade in the Water." With such a varied musical experience, it's all about the feeling, expressing the moment. D
9:30 pm
Sun Studio Sessions "The Trishas" The Trishas from Austin, Texas are an Americana band who blend country and southern soul with hints of bluegrass and laced with stunning harmonies. On this episode, the ladies perform several songs including tracks from their latest record "High, Wide and Handsome.". D
10:00 pm
Austin City Limits "John Legend & The Roots" The performance is a mix of mostly 1970s soul covers and a few originals. "Captain" Kirk Douglas has a blistering guitar solo at the end of the Bill Withers cover "I Can't Write Left Handed."G
11:00 pm
Michael Feinstein's American Songbook "On The Air" Decades ago, radio fulfilled the idol-making role across the country. Feinstein traces the phenomenon with archival clips of Bing Crosby, Cab Calloway, Kate Smith and others. He conducts one of the last interviews with TV and stage star Rose Marie, who was also a child radio star. Part 3 of 3G


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So this new rendition of the Miami Heat somehow already managed to make Sports Illustrated's list of "The 25 Most Hated Teams of All Time," a list topped by the 1986 University of Miami football team.
OK then.
Since a Heat team that has yet to play a single game made such a compilation, it got us thinking about the most-hated players over the Heat's first 22 seasons, before LeBron James and Chris Bosh evoked this latest ire.
The difference is we'll go with players who actually have already worn a Heat uniform in competition, actually managed to anger someone while in team colors.
And if you disagree with the selections? Well, then hate on us, since that seems to be the prevailing emotion of the hour.
1. Alonzo Mourning: The scowl, the swinging of Jeff Van Gundy from his foot, the moment of rage against Larry Johnson that seemingly set the Heat's championship hopes back a decade. Understand, the current civic-minded, paternal Zo is not the same Zo who arrived in 1995 from the Charlotte Hornets and bought into Pat Riley's us-against-the-world fervor. When it comes to the Heat, that Zo was the franchise's angriest man ever.
2. James Posey: The defensive presence during the 2005-06 championship season was undeniable. And the flopping drove opponents to distraction. But there also was the randomness of an anger that severely raised the temperature of more than a few Heat- Chicago Bulls games over the years. The 6-foot-8 forward had this nasty habit of not-so-randomly running into opponents on the way down court. At times, Posey had the glassy-eyed look, of, well, a crazy man.
3. Bruce Bowen: Long before his championship days with the San Antonio Spurs, Bowen was stepping under jump-shooters, crowding scorers, flopping with regularity. Like so many defensive stoppers, Bowen had a way of getting under the opponents' skin that wasn't always purely accidental. And Bowen played to the role. He embraced the villain role, while also remaining one of the Heat's most humble players.
4. Kurt Thomas: The 6-foot-9 power forward nearly obliterated Danny Schayes' face with a punch during one practice. Schayes threatened a lawsuit in the wake of the incident, before being talked out of it by Pat Riley. "Kurt hit me and then ran behind me," said Schayes, who called Thomas a "punk." Thomas arrived to the NBA with anger-management issues from his time at TCU and it took a while to filter him down to the eye-popping glares that remain a staple of his enduring career.
5. Keith Askins: The current Heat assistant coach was Bruce Bowen before Bowen was Bowen. It could be argued that Askins set the bar for the Heat's lineage of pesky defensive stoppers. Askins served as Kevin Loughery's designated hit man, often inserted by the franchise's second coach to send messages to opponents. Being the loyal solider, Askins obliged. The 6-foot-8 forward nearly decapitated New Jersey's Keith Van Horn with one hit, was at the center of the Heat's 1994 playoff brawl in Atlanta, and left an enduring elbow imprint on Indiana's Antonio Davis.
6. Jamaal Magloire: We'll cede the floor to Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, who last season so famously uttered of the 6-foot-11 bruiser: "Magloire's job is to beat on people and he's not in there because of his offensive skill. He's like those guys in hockey who come in and beat people up. Some of those guys can't skate, but they have a role. Jamaal Magloire has a role and that role is to beat the hell out of people." If Magic center Dwight Howard was doing the voting, Magloire would be much higher on this list.
7. Anthony Mason: If Mason played for your team, he automatically makes your franchise's all-time "hated" list. The rare player who employed the snort as part of his game, Mason entered not as much with a scowl, as with a sneer, as if he knew he was going to break something or someone. With a barrel chest and upper-body muscles that were decidedly out of proportion, the 6-foot-8 power forward defined the word "menacing." He was all that, and more.
8. Antoine Walker: The 6-foot-9 power forward was the definition of annoying, between those shoulder shimmies after 3-pointers and all that flopping. Undeniable talented. But also undeniable cocky. The type of player who carried himself with an arrogance that surpassed his talents, especially during his waning years, such as with the Heat.
9. Damon Jones: The 3-point specialist affixed himself to Shaquille O'Neal during his lone season with the Heat, carrying himself as if he was worthy of being part of the entourage. He was the NBA's original Donkey to Shaq's Shrek. And those not-so-subtle hand signals after converted 3-pointers hardly endeared him to opponents.
10. Tim Hardaway: The 6-foot point guard just never shut up. Ever. He was talking trash long before Gary Payton ever arrived in South Florida. Long before his ill-conceived comments on social issues, Hardaway was offering up a 48-minute diatribe in opponents' ears on game nights. And when he made his 3-point daggers, which he did quite often, he would let you know about that, as well.
Honorable mention: P.J. Brown (turned Charlie Ward into a human helicopter during the height of Heat- Knicks), Kevin Willis (let his muscles do the talking, and was truly in love with those muscles), Udonis Haslem (sometimes relentless grit rubs opponents the wrong way) and Gary Payton (confronted Dwyane Wade while leaving the court during halftime of one playoff game).
Ira Winderman can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Business School grads aren't struggling to keep up with industry, they're prepared to lead it. That's because our faculty is top-notch, our facilities are technologically advanced and our degree programs are informed by global industry leaders—not to mention we're home to the first academic commodities center in the nation. Add dozens of events and speaker series, and a location that gives our students access and exposure to the Denver business community and beyond, and you'll see why our students aren't just academics who learn only in the classroom, they're future leaders who learn with purpose.
The Bachelor of Science in Business Administration requires a combination of business, liberal arts and science courses for a well rounded education. This degree well regarded in the business community because you get the right skills. Learn more.
Our industry programs have the skills you need to get a relevant job and give employers a better-trained workforce.
We are home to three distinguished centers of excellence – the Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship, the Center for Information Technology Innovation and the J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities. Industry programs include Health Administration, Risk Management and Insurance, Global Energy Management, Sports and Entertainment Management and Sustainability. Learn more.
Get an AACSB accredited MBA and learn from outstanding faculty members, case studies, business projects, and executive speakers. We have flexible schedules—on-campus and online; specializations and dual degrees. Learn more.
Our AACSB accredited school offer the highest quality faculty, relevant and challenging curriculum, and provide educational and career opportunities not found at other business schools. AACSB Accreditation represents the highest standard of achievement for business schools worldwide. Less than 5% of the world's 13,000 business programs have AACSB Accreditation. Learn more.
A Master of Science gives you a specialized skill set for a focused education. This is often the right educational choice if you have specific career goals in a field. You can add an MBA dual to most of these degrees. Learn more.
High profile internship and job opportunities are available through Business Career Connections. Services provided include resume review and strategic career planning, training on the use of social and business networking tools, and access to networking connections within the business community. Learn more.
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Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. All trademarks are registered property of the University. Used by permission only.


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A six-person jury was unable to reach a decision this week about the innocence or guilt of a teenage boy suspected of sexually assaulting his half-sister.
The boy was charged with aggravated incest.
Prosecutors have not decided whether to retry the case, said 6th Judicial District Attorney Todd Risberg.
We plan to sit down with the victim and the family, look at the evidence, maybe talk with some jurors, and figure out the best way to go, he said.
The trial started Monday and concluded about noon Tuesday. Jurors deliberated about eight hours before becoming deadlocked. The trial was overseen by District Judge Jeffrey Wilson.
The boy was accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with his 8-year-old half sister.
The girl reported the assaults July 18, 2012, in a handwritten letter to her mother.
The girl, who is now 9, took the witness stand Monday. She accused her half brother of touching her inappropriately, but she didnt give specifics about the assaults.
The boy denied any wrongdoing. His public defense lawyers faulted prosecutors and law enforcement for failing to collect physical evidence, including a rape examination of the girl.


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Four Eyes Custom XBox 360 and PS3 Stands
Some long-time readers may recognize the past featured works of Dolores and Chris Salomone. Their DIY George Nelson style platform bench using LEGO and Upcycled Floppy Disk Desk grace our archives. They're back, this time focusing their creative efforts upon improving the storage and presentation of gaming consoles in living rooms in a manner Don Draper and Charles Eames would have likely approved...
As avid collectors of retro video game consoles, we thought, "why not give our current gen systems a throne of their own?" The stands are made out of solid hardwood and furniture grade plywood with a hand-rubbed oil finish.
Both offerings are a handsome solution for integrating some of the most popular tech appliances in the home into the rest of the decor with a midcentury flair and handcrafted quality construction. Definitely my pick for most beautiful gaming accessory for the home.
Each design is available for custom order via Four Eyes Furniture.


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- Inside Athletics
- Tickets
- Fan Zone
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- Social
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Fans fill Brooks Gym quad to celebrate the start of a new basketball season with contests and fireworks
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Oct. 28, 2013) – Approximately 1,500 fans were on hand Monday evening for fun, festivities and fireworks to help usher in the 2013-14 ETSU basketball season at Bluenanza 2.0 presented by Johnson City Honda on the quad in front of Brooks Gym.
The night's festivities began with introductions of players and head coaches from both Buccaneer basketball teams. Next, three ETSU students had the opportunity to win free tuition by making a shot in a basketball goal positioned in front of Brooks Gym from atop the building. The students even had the aid of three current ETSU basketball players to make the shot if they were unsuccessful. No successful attempts were accounted for but the students did leave with other various prizes.
"We were very pleased with the turnout of both students and fans tonight," said ETSU Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Richard Sander. "This was a great way to start off the basketball season, and we hope the excitement of tonight carries over to our games inside the Dome and at Freedom Hall."
The event ended with a fireworks display presented by First Bank and Trust Company. The company, who is also sponsoring ETSU's participation in the three-game First Bank and Trust Company Roundball Showcase at Freedom Hall in mid-November, voiced their pleasure in helping the Buccaneer program.
"We're excited about the partnership with ETSU," said William H. Hayter, President & CEO of First Bank and Trust Company. "This sponsorship is our way of reminding the Johnson City community that we're proud of our 34-year history, and proud to be part of this community. We are committed to serving Johnson City, and the citizens and businesses who live and work here."
The ETSU men's basketball team will kickoff action this season with an exhibition matchup versus Milligan College tomorrow, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m. inside the ETSU/MSHA Athletics Center. On Saturday, Nov. 2, an exhibition doubleheader will be going on inside the Dome with women's basketball facing Shepherd University at 1:30 p.m., followed by the men against Mars Hill at 4 p.m.
ETSU fans wanting to receive Buccaneer news, score updates, in-game promotions and much more sent to their mobile device can do so by signing up for "Buc Updates." Click here to sign up today!
For more information on Buccaneer athletics, visit ETSUBucs.com.


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Mark Zuckerberg and various other Facebook personnel have notoriously labeled The Social Network as a work of fiction. The infamous CEO has said aside from his wardrobe, the Oscar-nominated film bears little resemblance to the origins of the company. "Honestly, I wish that when people try to do journalism or write stuff about Facebook that they at least try to get it right. The movie is fiction," Zuckerberg told The New York Times after seeing the movie. But it's possible he might put any resentment aside in the name of Saturday Night Live.
The Social Network star and Oscar nominated actor Jesse Eisenerg (fun fact: Eisenberg has a cousin that works at Facebook), who portrayed Zuckerberg as a socially inept and morally confounded genius, will host SNL this weekend, and rumor has it that the real life Facebook CEO will make an appearance. According to Page Six of The New York Post, Zuckerberg wants to world to know he doesn't take himself too seriously, despite any misgivings he harbors about the film. And hey, it is Oscar time, and even though Facebook insists the movie isn't true, having film's most prestigious award tied to your company isn't the worst thing in the world.
We really hope this happens, but don't get your hearts set on it. An insider told the Post that "They add and throw things out right up to broadcast, so nothing is guaranteed."
Editors' Recommendations
- Epic sci-fi novels you should read before they become blockbuster films
- Some major Facebook investors want to oust Zuckerberg after scandals
- The best movies on Netflix right now (December 2018)
- Privacy is becoming obsolete, but not everyone thinks you should fear its demise
- Time alerts put the brakes on Facebook consumption, are rolling out now