Henriet's Blog

ReThink The Future

What do Erwin McManus, Larry King, and George H. Bush have in common?

ReThink Conference

They're three of the 30 speakers at the upcoming ReThink Conference to be held at Garden Grove, Calif., January 17-19, 2008. 

Other headliners include Kathy Ireland, Ben Vereen, Rupert Murdoch as well as John Ortberg, Gary Smalley and Les Parrott. Quite a collection of well known actors, models, TV personalities and pastors. Why are they all gathering at this one conference?

This group of 30 influential global and Christian leaders is rethinking the future at this unprecedented convergence.
When? January 17-19, 2008 at Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Ca. Cost $349 if you register by Nov. 30.

Why ReThink?

The world is changing faster and faster. These 30 leaders in the realms of music, media, art, technology, politics and faith are gathering to let us know how they are thinking and rethinking the future. 

"Why Rethink? Because you'll be better equipped to make a difference in your life and the lives of the people you lead and influence." That perfectly ties into the theme of my blog: "Get involved. God uses those who show up to further His Kingdom and to change the world."

Let me know if you'll be at ReThink.

P.S. Churches can host the simulcast "link to rethink" of this conference--if you can't make it, check to see if any churches host it in your area.

Phenomenon and Sacred Accidents

Have you seen Phenomenon, the NBC show recently launched with Uri Geller and Criss Angel? It's a search for the next great mentalist. People on the show demonstrate phenomena with the supernatural. These phenomena point to the person's mind-bending abilities. Last week they even had a fight...

Contrast that with the sacred accidents Earl Creps talked about at Off The Map last weekend. He called them holy moments or ambushes where sudden and surprising things happen. They appear to be coincidences that on closer inspection turn out to be carefully orchestrated gifts from God. What seemed like an accident turns out to be a God moment. God is the ultimate mentalist.

I prefer God moments to phenomena. How about you? Have you had sacred incidents? Send me yours and we'll share them on the blog. I'd like to make stories of these God moments a regular feature of this blog. Thoughts?

Richard Twiss Rocks

Have you heard of Richard Twiss? He captured my imagination at the Off The Map (Nov. 1-3, 2007 in Seattle) conference in various ways. He's a native American and the president of Wiconi International. Wiconi is pronounced "we-cho-nee." I said it wrong when I asked him about it--oops.

He's an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe. He's fully native and fully a Christ-follower. He's also pursuing his Doctorate in Missiology at Asbury Theological Seminary.

He's funny and provocative. Funny: "The good things for us native people is that we know that when the chips are down the buffalo is empty." I love that.

Provocative: he talks about how Christianity has been put on native peoples and with it a cultural oppression. Do you have to leave the Indian ways to be a Christ-follower? Do you have to accept the cultural bias of Western Christianity and accept the colonial oppressive version of this faith to be a true Christian?

He asked: "Does God have cultural, linguistic, musical, and architectural preferences?" Obviously not. He reminded us that English is not the language of heaven.

We all have a culturally conditioned world view. Is my world view to small? Am I a Christian bigot? I hope not! However, I confessed (quietly to God) some of my pre-conceived notions and biases that surfaced as he spoke.

He wrote "One Church Many Tribes." I'll write a review on my blog of the book. I'm going to be following this guy!

Bloggers Beware

It's a dangerous past-time....

HT: Jane H. my favorite bio prof.

Church Fined For Military Funeral Protests

US Marine Matthew Snyder's family got the right verdict. A verdict against a church. What kind of church? the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church. Led by Rev. Fred Phelps, this church pickets at funerals of fallen soldiers. Why? Because the US including the military tolerates gays.

The Verdict

A court in Baltimore ordered this church to pay 2.9 million dollars in compensation and 8 million dollars in punitive damages for "mental pain and suffering" to Matthew's father, Albert Snyder. He sued the church after they picketed at his 20-year-old son's funeral.

This Baptist church believes that the deaths of soldiers is a punishment from God for tolerating gays including in the military. The church claims to have picketed more than 30,000 times. However, this Baltimore case was the first time that a funeral protest went to trial.

Snyder's Response

The BBC reported that Albert Snyder sobbed when he heard the verdict. He said, 

"I hope it's enough to deter them from doing this to other families. It was not about the money. It was about getting them to stop." 

Fred Phelps also threatened to protest at the funerals of victims of the Minnesota I35 bridge collapse. The BBC did an expose on Fred Phelps' family and what motivates them.

 

Hat Tip to Cindy Patterson.