The Father Factor
Children in Father-absent home are 5 times more likely to live in poverty, 15 times more likely to have behavior disorders, 5 times more likely to commit suicide, 3 times more likely to have asthma, 7 times more likely to be teen mothers, 7 times more likely to drop out of school, 15 times more likely to end up in prison as a teenager. Today, 24 million children live in a home without a father present. These stats and much more can be found at http://www.fatherhood.org/ and http://lifecoachesla.org/.
Father absence affects our society. What can we do?
1. Invest in these kids. Get involved with a local church, ministry, or agency that works to mentor kids. Talk to local school officials, police departments, etc. about who in their sphere of influence are at risk. One ministry in our area partners community leaders with at risk kids. Check out Life Coaches for Kids and get involved.
2. Connect w/Fathers. Our church recently launched a ministry in our local jail called Malachi Dads. It equips inmate dads to connect and engage with their children while incarcerated and prepares them to be an engaged, Godly father when they get out. Let me know if you’d like to get involved with this ministry as a leader, encourager, or prayer partner.
3. If You’re a Dad, Get Engaged in the life of your kids. They need you. They have needs deep in their hearts and minds that only you can meet.
More later…
Tangible Kingdom Primer
“The call to community is more than just going to church on Sunday. A commitment to community might change the way you think about your Christian friends. Instead of working to impress them with your spirituality or your “edginess”, you might find yourself entrusting them with your struggles. Which might lead to better relationships. Which might lead to you going on mission together. Which is the whole point.” ~ One of my favorite quotes from the Tangible Kingdom Primer.
This summer Bridge Church is working back through the Tangible Kingdom Primer: An Eight Week Guide to Incarnational Community. It’s a simple study designed to challenge us to intuitively live life on mission for others and to lean in on what it means to be the presence of Christ in my neighborhood and community. One of the basic concepts in the study is the idea of posture, which is defined as “the way a person or community expresses itself toward others.” My personal posture and that of churches in which I’ve been a part of, has often been self-centered, inward focused, and closed off to nonconformists and anyone on the outside. What would it look like for us to posture ourselves and be present with those in the world? What honestly is the posture of your life? Toward the needs of others first or personal safety and satisfaction? The study serves as a daily devotional, with projects to do throughout the weeks designed to allow you to experience life on mission as an individual and group. Tangible, practical, simple, reproducible. Love these concepts which are woven into the entire study. Looking forward to tracking with Bridge Church through the TK primer.
Here are a few resources for those doing the TK:
- The Tangible Kingdom book.
- The Tangible Kingdom video.
- Tanglible Kingdom Primer Introduction. 17 minute description and training session led by the Author.
- Order the TK Primer and check out other Tangible Kingdom resources here.
- Follow the TK guys on Facebook.
The call to community is more than just going to church on Sunday. A commitment to community might change the way you think about your Christian friends. Instead of working to impress them with your spirituality or your “edginess”, you might find yourself entrusting them with your struggles. Which might lead to better relationships. Which might lead to you going on mission together. Which is the whole point.
Links I Liked/Learned From this week:
- The Most Important Thing Your Church Will Ever Do. “I believe any definition of fruitfulness for a local church must include the planting of new congregations” ~ Rick Warren
- Moving from “Church Membership” to “Mission Partnership” – by Will Mancini. Our church has been using the word “partner” instead of “member.” I like Mancini’s reasoning here. “Membership is culturally hijacked terminology by its use from country clubs to platinum cards. Partnership is a term that carries less baggage and brings new metaphors biblically.” Also check out Mancini’s Visual Summary to Church Unique.
- 8 Ways to Easily Be Missional. “Missional is not an event we tack onto our already busy lives. It is our life. Mission should be the way we live.”
- 4 Shifts Necessary to Become a Reproducing Church by Dave Ferguson. Church Growth to Missional Movement, Ministry Manager to Spiritual Entrepeneur, Owning to Renting Leasing or Borrowing, Reactive to Proactive.
- Seth Godin on Being Stuck. Seems more and more of my generation of men are dealing with being stuck.
- Dear Church…Go and Multiply. “Church multiplication is a spiritual decision of a church to put the needs of a desperate world before self-preservation.”
What would you get if you crossed
a Saudi Arabian prince, the President of the United States, Socrates, & Mickey Mouse? The wealthiest, most politically powerful, wisest, & most famous person in the world – that describes King Solomon. He reigned for 40 years as King of Israel and his life serves as a case study for FINDING MEANING. He tried it all and spared no expense in search for meaning and found it all useless. His full report is recorded for us in the book of Ecclesiastes. Here would be a good headline for this report:
“Can Meaning be Found in Life? 40-year, Multi-Billion Dollar Study says No”
Join us this Sunday at Bridge Church for week two of our study through the Book of Ecclesiastes called FINDING MEANING.
Home Works of America Coming Back to St Tammany
One of the many great partners we gained because of Hurricane Katrina is Hank Chardos and Home Works of America from Columbia, South Carolina. Homeworks is non-profit organization that empowers youth 14 and up and adults to do home repair projects in their community, specifically for those on a fixed income. I love Home Works because of the BEFORE & AFTER IMPACT. A Home Works weeklong session makes a huge impact in homes and lives. This years session will be July 10-17 and we have about 10 projects in West St. Tammany for this week, including yard clean up, roofing, light carpentry. It can be for four hours, one day, or all week. You could also help provide food for volunteers during their work week or donate $$ or supplies for a project. This year, some of the regular Homeworks volunteers over the past five years are working with Hank to start a permanent chapter here on the Northshore. You can get involved.
- Sign up to Volunteer or help out here.
- Contact Dave Saari – da.saari@gmail.com – about how to help start a permanent session on the Northshore.
- If you or someone you know needs Home Works to help you.
I Guess It Could Be Worse This Morning
Grateful for the sacrifices of a great generation. Remembering D-Day.
“We have as much of God as we actually want” ~ Tozer
“He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things” http://bible.us/Ps107.9.ESV.
“He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him” http://bible.us/Prov30.5.ESV.
What am I hungry and thirsty for? What do I take refuge in? These are the questions that determine how deep we go with God. Do we travel to church hungry to feel good about ourselves, to relieve a sense of obligation, because it’s what we do on Sunday, or out of a deep desire/hunger to know God and have him more active in our lives? Do I take refuge in my ability to provide a safe lifestyle for my family? in my home, behind my privacy fence? in my education? in my possessions? an addiction? or in a God that controls all of the above and more anyway?
The entire Tozer quote found here:
The degree of fullness in any life accords perfectly with the intensity of true desire. We have as much of God as we actually want. One great hindrance to the Spirit-filled life is the theology of complacency so widely accepted among gospel Christians today.
A Few Links I Liked and Learned from Lately
- “Is your church more interested in quality programs or quality people?” Excerpt from On the Verge by Dave Ferguson & Alan Hirsch. Reading this book right now. Incredible. “The promise that church programming alone will make your life better has been exposed. It doesn’t work. Everyday living is where spiritual development is worked out.”
- Learning from the Bible’s Unsung Heroes.
- Church Growth vs. Church Seasons. “Healthy churches go through life cycles of growth, pruning, decline, and blessing.” “You take care of the depth of your ministry; let God take care of the breadth.”
- 22 Ways to Overcome Discouragement.
- Are events killing the church? “If you keep people busy at your events, you may be preventing them from investing in their marriage, their children and their relationships with other people including people outside the faith. They think they’re becoming more Christ-like by going to church, when you could actually be pulling them away from what God has called them to do.”
- The Ultimate Guide to Twitter.
Finding Meaning
A 40-year study was conducted by the wealthiest man who ever lived, of every pleasure known to man, to see what would bring real fulfillment. His full report is known to us as the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. We’ll be studying through this book together this Summer at Bridge Church. Join us for our Worship Gatherings, Sunday’s, 10:30am at the West St. Tammany YMCA. Find the messages on our website here or look us up on Itunes.
Faith In Action Update
Another great Faith in Action Weekend last weekend with Bridge Church, including Friday night serving at the Columbia St. Block Party, then Faith In Action Sunday. Needs met across our area including at Oak Villa Mobile Home Park where our guys installed handicap bars and fixed a leaking roof for elderly residents, and cut problem tree limbs around the park. Some of our ladies completed projects for the Northlake Crisis Pregnancy Center. Then our Celebration for around 40 men, and their families, who completed our Recovery & Re-entry Program at the St. Tammany Jail.
A few things I overheard last weekend:
- from a community leader, “Every time I see Bridge Church you are blessing somebody.”
- from a FIA participant delivering baked goods to public servants, “You should have seen the tears running down her face when we prayed for her and told her how much we cared.”
- inmate family member at the St Tam Jail, “After you guys were here last August, this entire place was changed. I can’t thank you enough for investing in our lives.”
- Party Rental guy, “I think I’m the first person to ever deliver a bounce house to the jail!!!”
Church is a family On Mission together. I enjoyed being on Mission with my family last Sunday. Find pictures and watch for videos from Faith in Action Sunday on our Facebook Page.
Next Faith in Action Sunday will be August 28th and we will be participating in the National Faith In Action Sunday on October 9th.
And of course we topped it all off, with 6 Bridgers taking off on Monday for Chiapas, Mexico on a 10 day mission trip in the Lacandon Jungle. Can’t wait to hear how God will use them.
Lane Corley 