Monday, May 19, 2008
A pastor friend sent me this picture and I just had to share it with everyone. So I'm looking for the best caption for this picture of our Senior Pastor, Mike Baker. Post your captions by clicking by the comment balloon below.
Kidsview on Revelation
Thursday, May 15, 2008
One of the things I love about our children's ministry is the awesome commitment to teaching the Bible to our kids. Kidsview isn't babysitting. They are intentionally developing godly character, Biblical knowledge and a love for the glory of God in our kids.
I just wanted to share this video. It's the last video in their two-year curriculum that walked our kids from Genesis to Revelation. If you have 5 min., take a look at this. It's a great example of what awesome teaching our kids are getting each and every week.
Selective Bible Study: The Red-Letter Christians
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
I lifted this from a blog I read and it's a great quote from DA Carson in the latest Southern Baptist Theological Journal about today's Bible teachers who mis-use the scriptures in order to emphasize their own particular belief. I've pasted the relevant portion below, but you can check out the original article here...
One highlight from SBJT is often D.A. Carson's contribution to their Forum. In this issue he is asked "What are the most common errors that people make when it comes to understanding and proclaiming the kingdom?" He lists several, the final one being the tendency to make "'kingdom' an adjective that blesses whatever I want blessed" (e.g., "kingdom ethics"). In particular, he applies this to the so-called "red letter Christians":
A particularly virulent form of this approach is hidden behind what Tony Campolo now approvingly calls “red letter Christians.” These red letter Christians, he says, hold the same theological commitments as do other evangelicals, but they take the words of Jesus especially seriously (they devote themselves to the “red letters” of some foolishly printed Bibles) and end up being more concerned than are other Christians for the poor, the hungry, and those at war. Oh, rubbish: this is merely one more futile exercise in trying to find a “canon within the canon” to bless my preferred brand of theology. That’s the first of two serious mistakes commonly practiced by these red letter Christians. The other is worse: their actual grasp of what the red letter words of Jesus are actually saying in context far too frequently leaves a great deal to be desired; more particularly, to read the words of Jesus and emphasize them apart from the narrative framework of each of the canonical gospels, in which the plot-line takes the reader to Jesus’ redeeming death and resurrection, not only has the result of down-playing Jesus’ death and resurrection, but regularly fails to see how the red-letter words of Jesus point to and unpack the significance of his impending crosswork. In other words, it is not only Paul who says that Jesus’ cross and resurrection constitute matters “of first importance” (1 Cor 15:3), and not only Paul who was resolved to know nothing among the Corinthians except Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Cor 2:1–5), but the shape of the narrative in each canonical gospel says the same thing. In each case the narrative rushes toward the cross and resurrection; the cross and resurrection are the climax. So to interpret the narrative, including the red-letter words of Jesus, apart from the climax to which they are rushing, is necessarily a distortion of the canonical gospels themselves.
Some of the gospel passion accounts make this particularly clear. In Matthew, for example, Jesus is repeatedly mocked as “the king of the Jews” (27:27–31, 37, 42). But Matthew knows that his readers have been told from the beginning of his book (even the bits without red letters) that Jesus is the king: the first chapter establishes the point, and tells us that, as the promised Davidic king, he is given the name “YHWH saves” (“Jesus”) because he comes to save his people from their sins. Small wonder for its first three centuries the church meditated often on the irony of Jesus “reigning” from a cross, that barbaric Roman instrument of torture and shame. And it is Matthew who reminds us that, this side of the cross, this side of the resurrection, all authority belongs to Jesus (28:18–20). These constitute parts of the narrative framework without which Jesus’ red-letter words, not least his portrayals of the kingdom, cannot be rightly understood.
How's the series hitting you?
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
I'm really curious how you're receiving this series so far. (If you haven't heard the sermons, please click here.) God's call for us to unplug and sabbath is so counter to our lifestyles and culture. I've had a few people who felt like calling people to sabbath seems out of touch with the demands that people have in their lives. Others have said that it has actually caused them more stress, now that there's a new thing on their already full to-do list.
I'd love to hear how the series is hitting you in your life...please click the number in the talk bubble below and leave me a comment or drop me an email and let me know.
What is RSS?
Sunday, May 04, 2008
One of the blogs that I follow posted a very a helpful primer for blog readers who have not yet discovered the Internet tool known as 'RSS'. This is the way you can follow blogs without having to check them every day...You can find the step-by-step guide here.
Once you've read that, you're ready to subscribe to this blog at this address:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/dougrutter
Small Group Resources
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
I've had some requests lately for past small group resources be made available on an ongoing basis. So we've added them to the Eastview website. Click on Connecting to Eastview :: Small Groups...
Hope it helps!
Thanks for staying, FIrst Hour!
Monday, April 21, 2008
If you weren't in first hour this week at Eastivew, you probably don't get the title of this blog. Here's the story.
I was "hosting" the end of the service. I basically had four service elements to lead the church through: offering, announcements, baptisms and a closing video. Well we were coming out of a awesome worship time and I was just feeling it...so I come out and pray for offering...I do my announcements while the offering is being gathered and then I pray and say "have a great week!" And start to walk off pretty juiced about what God did in our church this week. And then the cold reality of ran down my spine....THE VIDEO!!!
See, we began the service with the video of Tom Brady saying that although he seems like he has everything, he has a deep sense that there has to be more to life than what he has...And the plan was to end with a video about a disabled and blind kid who is a musical genius and even though he seems like he has nothing...he has found God's purpose for his life.
So I'm walking off and I have two choices...keep walking and let everyone leave and just deal with not showing the video or take one for the team...admit I totally screwed up and try to get everyone back in their seats so we can do the video...
Well that's what I did. I just owned how stupid I was and I practically begged everyone not to bolt.
So I wanted to say to everyone in first hour...Thanks for staying. The video really had a powerful message and I'm glad that everyone got to hear it!
Middle Seat Mission Field
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Do you want an easy way to make a real impact each week on people who are just trying out Eastview?
Just sit in the middle.
You see each week we have people who come to Eastview for the first time. They are intimidated by the size, the are skeptical and looking for a reason not to come back. On excuse they might have is that they struggled to find a seat.
In both services we have people every week who are wandering around the back of the auditorium trying to find a place to sit. The reason is that the seats on the aisles always fill up first. So that means that in order to sit down they have to step over people.
It's so easy for us to take away this irritation for them. If you're an Eastviewer, would you commit to sitting in the middle of the section? Can you make the aisle seats a sacrifice to new people seeking an experience with Jesus? Wouldn't it be awesome if we were all so "passionately engaged" that it determined where we sat?
You may also get an opportunity to minister to them as well...
Eastview Medical Missions in Dominican Republic
Eastview sent a team to the Dominican Republic to do medical work with a local church. I found this video that was put together by Go Ministries, the mission agency we partner with in the DR.
I think it's so awesome to see Eastviewers allowing the "Kingdom to Come" through them...
