It is coming up on the first anniversary of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, the worse massacre in modern U.S. history.  This tragedy has held a special place in my heart for many reasons. One reason being that the first church that God had me plant was [nlcf] at Virginia Tech. Those thirteen years serving the campus shaped my life deeply and many of the people and memories are ingrained in my heart forever.

By God's grace, I was able to make it down to Virginia Tech the same day the massacre occurred, because the Lord already had me on the East Coast.  While I was there, I took the time to blog about what I was seeing and feeling at the time, so that others might be able to get a larger view of what was happening, beyond the common media.  The whole week is captured on one entry I entitled: Remembering Virginia Tech: The Week in Review.

In light of this tragedy and others that have happened since, one of the pastors from our church at Virginia Tech [nlcf] was asked by Zondervan to write a book.  Matt Rodgers is not just a great guy, but he is a deep thinker and a heart felt writer. And as the publisher says, "Many books have dealt with the theological and intellectual question, "How can God be good when the world isn't?" But when tragedy strikes, and the pain passes from theoretical to personal, answers can feel hollow and empty."

My friend Matt writes, "There is a level of grief in life which, as Rich Mullins observed, 'would not hurt any less, even if it could be explained.'  I'm a pastor; I know how to reconcile a god God with an often evil world.  I could give those answers in my sleep.  But what should I do when simple solutions fail to satisfy?  When the sadness is heavy and sinking, and answers aren't enough?  How do I find peace in a messed up world?  I believe God is good.  But how do I experience him as good when grief is raining down?

The book is entitled: When Answers Aren't Enough: Experiencing God as Good When Life Isn't.  I would encourage you to order it from Amazon today - the official date of its release. (The book has already hit #359 in Amazon's sales ranking, as of 11:43 Pacific Time 4.1.08)  It will be a helpful book to read and to pass on to people. By getting it now, you might be able to pass it on to people you know who have experienced a tragedy in their life and give it to someone who may be reliving this tragedy on its anniversary. 

  Ways of seeing 
  Originally uploaded by monoglot

I have appreciated the interaction with this topic thus far.  I finally had a chance today to respond some to your comments in part II, so if you are engaging in this conversation, please check it out.  If this is your first entry you are reading on this topic, you will probably benefit from read the intro and part II, prior to reading this one.  Now for part III. 

How Modernity Affects the Congregations I Serve and Visit
Those who live under the spell of modernity tend to view truth and reality in more black‐and‐white terms instead of color and often limit “the gospel” to the death of Christ, which gives them access to heaven. It is easy for those who live under the meta‐narrative of modernity to slip into the idea that the gospel is a set of objective facts for an individual to “believe” and a sinner’s prayer for individual’s to pray, instead of an invitation to “switch stories” allowing God’s reality to re‐shape them, so that they might partner with Him to bring more of heaven to earth.

The problem I have noticed in the congregations I serve and visit is that when individuals shaped by modernity limit the gospel and/or consider their understanding of the gospel to be the universal timeless “objective” truth, contextualization becomes unnecessary and the gospel becomes a proof text. The idea of "objective" truth has taken such a hold of some that their view of the gospel cannot be questioned or examined. The obvious implications for those who hold this viewpoint are that humility goes out the window and conversation is inessential.  It it just a matter of sharing the "objective" truth.  When this view is taken to an extreme, contextualization becomes demonized because the message is transcendent, and the incarnation is often forgotten.

This narrowing of the gospel tends to separate personal morality from social justice and justification from sanctification in such a way that the good news becomes irrelevant for this life and ineffectual for their own transformation. In other words, the gospel is not experienced as good news, so why share it with others?  But modernity is not the only story affecting people’s view of conversion. In the next post, I want to take a look at how postmodernity has affected people's view of conversion.

  Ways of seeing 
  Originally uploaded by monoglot

So now we move on to Part IV.  A look at how postmodernity has shaped people's view of conversion.

How Postmodernity Affects People’s View of Conversion 
Postmodernity is showing its influence as well. Postmodernity has done a  good job at deconstructing the myth of objectivity, in part with Derrida’s suggestion  that the entire world is a text that needs to be interpreted (Smith 2006:54). Yet its emphasis on deconstruction and its suspicion of how the powers that be have used  meta‐narratives and language games to push its agendas, have caused some  Christians to slip into a “vulgar relativism” and/or syncretism.

The prevailing view for many today, including some people in the 
congregations that I serve, is expressed well by Leslie Newbigin when he says,  "To maintain in this new situation, the old missionary attitude (the scandal of exclusivity) is not merely inexcusable but positively dangerous.  In a world threatened with nuclear war, a world facing a global ecological crises, a world more and more closely bound together in its cultural and economic life, the paramount need is for unity, and an aggressive claim on the part of  one of the world’s religions to have the truth for all can only be regarded as treason against the human race.  Even if it is granted that this exclusive claim has been the claim of the Church through nineteen centuries, we must face the fact that it is not now tenable." (Newbigin 1989:155,156)

Now, while Newbigin does not hold to this view himself, there are many self‐identified Christians who do.  And while at first glance it seems like a loving  approach because we all desire unity and its corresponding blessing – peace – we  quickly discover some huge roadblocks.  We soon realize as Newbigin aptly points out that “every program of unity has implicit in it some vision of the organizing principle which is to make this unity possible” (Newbigin 1989:159).  Along with this, we start to understand that “we want unity on our terms, and it is our rival programs for unity which tear us apart.  As Augustine said, all wars are fought for the sake of peace” (Newbigin 1989:159).

So where does this leave us?  We are left in a pluralistic world with various stories, each vying to be the saving narrative.  Some stories look to the state as  savior; others hold promise in globalization, a new global village that transcends  “nation‐state‐centered pathologies of modern politics” (Cavanaugh 2002:6)  Yet,  others look to develop a new narrative that somehow becomes the story of stories.

  Ways of seeing 
  Originally uploaded by monoglot

I have appreciated the conversation on this series thus far.  Please continue to share your thoughts, push back on something or share what you like or add some thoughts of your own.  If you get the chance, read back through some of the comments they are rich.  Now on with Part V.

How Postmodernity Affects the Congregations I Serve
The difficulty that this poses in the lives of people in the congregations that I serve is that some people hesitate to fully trust and live in the story of God for fear that if they do, they will end up like the arrogant bigots who tend to beat people over their heads with their Bibles.  They would rather slit their wrists than to become “one of them.”

Yet the problem is that some people unwittingly start to hold onto to a form of what Hauerwas calls “vulgar relativism.”  This is "the view that combines a relativistic account of ethical terms with a non-relativistic principle of toleration, fails to deal with real confrontation, since it assumes the impossibility of pointlessness of choosing between options that do not matter to anyone.  The problem with vulgar relativism is it treats all moral convictions as if they were only notional commitments." (Hauerwas 1981:104)

So when one narrative considers human trafficking to be profitable and another story considers it to be diabolical, the vulgar relativist is hung out to dry. Hauerwas concedes to holding to a kind of relativism and does not consider it the task of the church to “deny the reality of the multiplicity of stories in the world or to force the many stories into an artificial harmony” (Hauerwas 1981:91).  Yet he does not hold to a “vulgar relativism” that would make him incapable of making judgments or unwilling to seek to change someone else’s mind or tradition. (Hauerwas 1981:101).

So, on the one hand, postmodernity has exposed the myth of objectivity.  But on the other hand, those under the influence of postmodernity sometimes fall sway to a relativism that disenables them to take a stand against real evil.  Where are we to go from here?  Well, Smith notes that scriptures “give us good reason to reject the very notion of objectivity, while at the same time affirming the reality of truth and knowledge” (Smith 2006:43n). And while you are thinking about all of that, in my last two parts to this series, which will probably come next week, I have some advice for those who consider conversion a four-letter word, be it because of modernity or postmodernity's influence.

“How can dogmas, rendered static, finished, absolute, recover their
dynamic and be reformed other than by critical subjection once again to
the church’s originating, self-identifying story? Whereas the purpose
of doctrine is to preserve that story, there are times and instances
when it is necessary for the story in turn to critique and reform the
church’s doctrine, thus exercising its own priority as God-given Word
over the reflections, conceptualizations, and formulations of the
church.”  (Lewis 2003:140-141)

“For theology is the servant, not the master,
of the story, and as we have said above, although doctrine can and does
vitally safeguard the story by giving it conceptual precision, it may
also blunt and betray aspects of the gospel, or allow it to stagnate
and ossify within the bounds of absolutized dogma, rigid orthodoxy, or
cultural conditioning. The reality, veracity, and power of the Word
itself is confirmed when the story breaks free of those chains,
subjecting our axioms to critical judgement and creative refinement. “ (Lewis 2003:65)

HT: Jim Robertson

  .cristaleira. 
  Originally uploaded by !markmark

Tim Keller at Google and Berkley's Veritas Forum
Tony and Sets N Service shares some videos of Keller speaking at Google (there was a full house) and at Berkley's Veritas Forum.  I have heard a lot about Tim Keller, but his talk at Google was the first time I heard him speak. It was a great talk.  I ended up buying one of his recent books as a result - The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism.

Radical Hospitality
Brad over at Missional Church Network gives us a little taste by way of a quote from Daniel Homan and Lonni Collins Pratt book on Radical Hospitality.  It is worth checking out.

Everything Must Change or Everything Has Changed?
David Fitch at Reclaiming the Mission poses questions to Brian McLaren about his most recent book Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope, as Brian begins his tour around the country.  It is a post worth reading.

  Ways of seeing 
  Originally uploaded by monoglot

Now we are coming to the last two parts of this series.  Wednesday's post will be the final one.  I would love to hear from you on what you have thought about this series.  Are you finding it beneficial?  What have you liked, disliked, question or affirm?  On with today's installment.

PART III – For Those Who Consider Conversion a Four-Letter Word
“The Christian gospel has sometimes been made the tool of an imperialism, and of that we have to repent.  But at its heart it is the denial of all imperialisms, for at its center there is the cross where all imperialisms are humbled and we are invited to find the center of human unity in the One who was made nothing so that all might be one.  The very heart of the biblical vision for the unity of humankind is that its center is not an imperial power but a slain Lamb.” (Newbigin 1989:159)

As we have seen, both modernity and postmodernity, in their own ways, have contributed to conversion being a four-letter word by many people today. Yet how we view conversion, the particular lens through which we view it, and the places where we stand to view it are all critical if conversion is to become desirable once again.  I believe the issues in this paper are best handled by becoming a language teacher.  As a language teacher, I intend to embody the language of faith and teach the grammar of faith to others, whether it’s through public preaching, personal encounters, or group discussions.  In this way, whether one is under the spell of modernity or postmodernity, as he learns the language of faith, he will re-engage in God’s mission with a sense of vigor.  To get specific on how I would do this, I have provided a couple of personal grammar lessons. Listen in.

Advice for Those Influenced by Modernity
If you have a hard time letting go of the concept of “objective” truth, love to argue people into the faith, and only view the gospel as your ticket to heaven, then I have some good news for you.  First, while you may believe that absolute objective truth is what our culture needs, I would suggest that what our culture needs is a church that believes the truth so absolutely that she actually lives it out (Fitch 2007:57).  We need to move from an apologetics of argument to an apologetics of embodiment.  We need to move from getting people to assent to four spiritual laws or points-on-a-bridge diagram to inviting people to switch stories, so that they might enter into the kingdom of God in all its glory. 

This is a kingdom where the life and teachings of Jesus give discipleship real teeth - where we learn to follow the Liberator of those who have been oppressed by the system, the Lover of those who have been rejected by society, and the Deliverer of those who have been seduced by consumerism.  Our story is not just a private one dealing with personal morality but also a public one dealing with powers and principalities that need redemption.   Our story is centered on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  Our story in not limited to the death of Christ and the hereafter, but it is also about the kingdom that is at hand.  Our story doesn’t end with the annihilation of the earth, but a remade heaven and earth.  Because of Jesus’ resurrection, we can be confident that there will come a day when our cries for justice will be heard, our thirst for God will be quenched, our connection with each other will be deep, and our longing for beauty will be realized. (Wright 2006: 225-240)

The Good News is that “It is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfill in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the church.” (Moltmann 1977:64) We are not required to be salesmen for God, but rather journalists, proclaiming to the world that God’s reign is at hand (Hunsberger in Hunsberger 1996:23).  And as we proclaim this good news, we must embody it as a community.  In the words of Bryan Stone, “the church does not really need an evangelistic strategy.  The church is the evangelistic strategy.” (Stone 2007:15).

"A cheerful heart is good medicine."  Proverbs 17:22 NLT

  Ways of seeing 
  Originally uploaded by monoglot

So by way of recap, here is the complete series of posts on the topic: Is Conversion a Four-Letter Word?

Here is the outline.  You can basically click on any section that interests you, but it is best to read from beginning to end.  Feel free to make comments or give thoughts on any section.  As you notice, I have provided a bibliography at the end.  I have also linked all quotes to the book from which I found them.  I hope you enjoy the read.

Part I
Introduction

Part II
How Modernity Affects People's View of Conversion
How Modernity Affects the Congregations I Serve
How Postmodernity Affects People's View of Conversion
How Postmodernity Affects the Congregations I Serve

Part III
Advice for Those Influenced by Modernity
Advice for Those Influenced by Postmodernity - Conclusion and Works Cited

  Ways of seeing 
  Originally uploaded by monoglot

So we have come to the conclusion of this seven-part series.  I hope that you have received something from it.  I know I have benefited from your interaction.  In this post, I will continue as a language instructor, teaching the grammar of God to those more influenced by postmodernity. 

Advice for Those Influenced by Postmodernity
If you have a hard time proclaiming this story to a world in need for fear that you might unwittingly be complicit in a scheme to dominate and control, or if when you hear the word conversion your stomach does a few flips, then I have this advice for you.

First of all, everybody is part of some narrative. Everyone lives in some story.  The question is, why should I live in this one rather than another one?  Is there a way to test the narrative of a story to discern if it is one I should fully enter into?  Stanley Hauerwas speaks to this. “Just as scientific theories are partially judged by the fruitfulness of the activities they generate, so narratives can and should be judged by the richness of moral character and activity they generate” (Hauerwas 1981:95).

In entering the story of God, we will be able to speak to Caesar’s ideas of peace and justice and stand with the oppressed in love because our truth has some teeth to it.  When we commit ourselves to living faithful in this story, we will experience what it means to overcome evil with good. We will taste, feel, and smell its truth and beauty.

One beautiful thing about the story of God is that it is rich with diversity.  There are plot and subplots and different ways to view the story, as evidenced in the four gospels themselves.  And while the Jesus story is a many-sided tale, we need to learn to tell the story honestly and contextually.  To become a Christian is to become so much a part of God’s story as written in the holy text that we become living texts ourselves.  Our story is a public one, a political one.  It is a story that produces the fruit of the Spirit and builds a contrast-society as a witness to the world.  John Yoder describes the kind of community that God is building through His Spirit: "The political novelty that God brings into the world is a community of those who serve instead of ruling, who suffer instead of inflicting suffering, whose fellowship crosses lines instead of reinforcing them.  This new Christian community in which the walls are broken down not by human idealism or democratic legalism but by the work of Christ is not only a vehicle of the gospel or only a fruit of the gospel; it is the good news.  It is not merely the agent of mission or the constituency of a mission agency.  This is the mission" (Yoder 1998:91).

PART IV

Conclusion
So whether we are more influenced by modernity or postmodernity, we have all been put into one body of which Christ is the head.  And in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, slave nor free, modern nor postmodern, for we are all one in Christ.  And as the people of God who believe in the goodness of conversion, we are constantly in need of conversion ourselves.  For as Wilbert Shenk puts it, “Conversion is needed wherever men and women do not acknowledge the reign of God” (Shenk 2004: lecture).  When we recognize that we are all in need of conversion, we become beggars telling other beggars where to find bread. We become journalists instead of salesmen.  We see the beauty of conversion because we are constantly experiencing it in our own lives.  It is then that we start to understand what G.K. Chesterton meant when he said, “Truth must necessarily be stranger than fiction, for fiction is the creation of the human mind and therefore congenial to it” (Chesterton 2002:99).

Over the next few weeks you will probably see a number of literary
reviews. One of the differences between a literary review and
a straight up book review is that literary reviews are written to help
with future research. So I am writing with the idea that this will
guide me to what I want to go back and study.  There are various
approaches to literary reviews, but here will be mine.

LITERARY REVIEW
I basically start with my sense of the author's thesis, followed by a
general overview of the book, and then I focus on themes that are
pertinent to my research. With that said, here is my review.

THESIS
In The Selfless Way of Christ Nouwen maintains that there is a direct relationship between our ministry vocation and our spiritual life, and that as we seek to live out our vocation of following Christ on the downwardly mobile road, we will be tempted to take the upwardly mobile road, therefore we must engage in spiritual formation to be transformed into living Christs.

GENERAL OVERVIEW   
You could summarize this book in three words – vocation, temptation and formation.  Nouwen begins by helping us understand that if we are to be living Christs here and now, we must follow him on the path of downward mobility.  That is our vocation.  But the lure of the upwardly mobile life is daunting.  We will have to face the same temptations Jesus had to face. The temptation to be relevant – this is the need to be appreciated by people and make productivity the basis of our ministry (49). The temptation to be spectacular – acting as if visibility and notoriety were the main criteria of the value of what we are doing (56). Finally the temptation to be powerful – getting some sense of security and control (through money, connections, fame, skills etc) in order to strengthen the illusion that life is ours to dispose of (61).  He concludes by sharing with us three spiritual disciplines with which we need to engage: the discipline of the church, the discipline of the book, and the discipline of the heart, if we want to stay true to our vocation.

THEMES TO REMEMBER
This book is a rich and revealing read.  Every sentence is crafted in such a way as to pierce through the heart and unveil where we stand with God. Nouwen strips us down until we are left naked, vulnerable and exposed.  In a very real and meaningful way, he reminds us of our vocation to follow the one,
"who was from the beginning with God and who was god revealed himself as a small, helpless child; as a refugee in Egypt; as an obedient adolescent and inconspicuous adult: as a penitent disciple of the Baptizer; as a preacher from Galilee, followed by some simple fishermen; as a man who ate with sinners and talked with strangers; as an outcast, a criminal, a threat to his people.  He moved from power to powerlessness, from greatness to smallness, from success to failure, from strength to weakness, from glory to ignominy” (31).

I found much wisdom in this book, but I will just highlight some of his thoughts about spiritual formation, where he asks, “How do we conform our minds and hearts to the mind and heart of the self-emptying Christ?” (69) He states,"Discipleship cannot be realized without discipline.  Discipline in the spiritual life, however, has nothing to do with the discipline of athletics, academic study, or job training, in which physical fitness is achieved, new knowledge is acquired, or a new skill is mastered.  The discipline of the Christian disciple is not to master anything, but rather to be mastered by the Spirit.  True Christian discipline is the human effort to create the space in which the Spirit of Christ can transform us into his lineage” (70).  That last line is essential knowledge that I plan on putting to memory.  It is worth the price of the book.

He spoke with freshness concerning the three recommended disciplines. The discipline of the church is when we gather together weekly and practice the liturgy in order to keep making connections between God’s story and our own. The discipline of the book is allowing the word of God to become flesh in us.  It is more than just reading for instruction or to be informed, it is about being formed.  “By the Word of God we are formed into living Christs” (78).  Finally, the discipline of the heart is about a kind of silence, solitude and prayer that bring us face to face with God and ourselves.  We need to regularly engage the disciplines, because the tension between vocation and temptation is a life long battle (93).

  The Amazing Race 
  Originally uploaded by HaMeD!caL

There are many great bloggers who not only write excellent posts, but are avid readers of other blogs.  As readers they typically devote a post, often once a week, where they make a list of links to some of their favorite posts from other blogs that week.  This conglomeration of links goes by many names.  Scot McKnight calls this kind of post  - Weakly Meanderings, John Santic calls it - Speedlinking, Ben Myers calls it - Around the Traps, Tony calls this kind of post - This Week in Blogs, and I call it Choice Blog entries.  Regardless of what name these posts go by, they are often filled with many great links.  So it is my hope to travel around the blogosphere once and week in order to give you the best of this week in blogs. Here is this weeks best in blog links.

Around the Traps with Ben Myers
Ben links to entries on Augustine: Theological and Philosophical Conversations to Stale Expressions: The Management-Shaped Church to theologian trading cards and the worst church sign ever. Some interesting reads.

Weekly Meanderings with Scot McKnight
Scot links to posts on: Gender and Race, Philosophy Majors on the Rise, A study by Greg Boyd on violence and God in the Old Testament, Death by Blogging and other interesting links.

Odds and Ends by Mike DeVries
Mike has some great links as well.  He links to Andrew Jones answering MacArthur and Johnson on the issue of contextualization. A primer on the Emerging Church from Stephen Shields, Greg Boyd's exploration of violence in the Hebrew Scripture as well as three great links to articles by N.T. Wright.  Check it out.

"A cheerful heart is good medicine."  Proverbs 17:22 NLT




"Don't we look great, Honey?"

Over the next few weeks you will probably see a number of literary
reviews. One of the differences between a literary review and
a straight up book review is that literary reviews are written to help
with future research. So I am writing with the idea that this will
guide me to what I want to go back and study.  There are various
approaches to literary reviews, but here will be mine.

LITERARY REVIEW
I basically start with my sense of the author's thesis, followed by a
general overview of the book, and then I focus on themes that are
pertinent to my research. With that said, here is my review.

THESIS
Fitch in The Great Giveaway contends that the evangelical church under the spell of modernity has given her various callings (functions) away; he is calling the church to be the church in our current context of postmodernity.

GENERAL OVERVIEW
Fitch works out his thesis first by redefining success and looking at the various practices of the church - Evangelism, Leadership, Worship, Preaching, Justice, Spiritual Formation and Moral Education.  He addresses how the evangelical church has given away each of these callings due to her marriage to modernity.   He makes the case that the church has structured herself out of meaningful existence. In each chapter of the book he takes one of these core callings of the church and describes how the church has given it away to  “the experts” or over to certain techniques.  He then proposes some practices for the church to engage in that are rooted in the history of church, so that the church might faithfully live out her calling again, in our postmodern context.

THOUGHTS TO CONSIDER
Fitch takes the first chapter to redefine success.  He makes the point that the American business culture and individualism has caused the church to be concerned about numbers and size, but the real question should be: “What kind of organization facilitates the inner workings of a local body of Christ that are necessary to properly nurture new believers into followers of Christ and participants in his salvation through the body of Christ?”(38) I found Fitch’s diagnosis of the church brilliant.  For the sake of memory, I want to (a) list out each practice he evaluates, (b) describe how the church practiced it in modernity and (c) summarize Fitch’s advice on how the church can reclaim that approach by a different set of practices that are true to the scriptures and our current context of ministry.  As a note of caution, this outline does not do justice to the rich insights that Fitch gives us in each chapter.  Nor does this chart list all of the advice he gives for each practice.  For example, in the practice of evangelism, Fitch talks about the practice of hospitality, prayer, mercy, justice, third space ministry and other things.  This chart I developed gives a simple look at how the evangelical church thought about this practice under the spell of modernity, and how she ought to think about this practice in postmodern times.  (Click  to make larger.)

The explanations and detailed understanding of what Fitch has written is worth reading again and again.  I highly recommend this thoughtful book.

Today marks the one year anniversary of the Virginia Tech Massacre.  To remember this horrible event I will be wearing maroon, orange and white. This tragedy hit my heart deeply because the first church that God had me plant was [nlcf] at Virginia Tech.  I spent over thirteen years of my life on this campus.  I just "so happened" to be in Washington D.C. when I heard the news, so my friend Chris Backert and I drove down that Monday night, to be there for the students.

While I was there that week I made a series of posts to to share what was going on in my heart and what I was seeing first hand.  As a way to remember this tragedy, I have put together a collection of the posts that I had posted a year ago.  If you click through on anything, take a moment to listen to the song Forever Changed and the slide show that I link to under  Virginia Tech: A Journey Toward Healing.  After my posts, I have three other important links to help us remember.

Forever Changed
Here is a link to a band called The Season.  This band has two graduates of Virginia Tech in it - Kurtis Parks and Josh Kim, who were members of the worship band at the church I founded.  They saw this time as a way to use their gifts and wrote a song entitled Forever Changed.  Take a moment to listen to the song, as a way to remember.

From Virginia Tech: The In-between Day
Having just arrived in Blacksburg, I gave an update on what was happening as well as shared some thoughts about a day that didn't make the Christian Calendar, the day in-between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  On Good Friday we see the reality of evil, when God took all of the evil upon Himself and in return gave a blessing.  Then there is Easter that speaks of the hope of a whole new world.  We live on Saturday, this in-between time.

From Virginia Tech: The Ministry of Presence
This is another person update with some thoughts on one of the best ways we can help people during tragedies - a ministry of presence.

From Virginia Tech: Prayer and Ministry
I shared some of my experiences at the campus-wide prayer meeting.

From Virginia Tech: The One Thing We Need
I share my heartfelt words to all affected by this tragedy.

Virginia Tech: A Journey Toward Healing
I put the photo's that I took at Va Tech in a slide show with some music.  A journey of the healing events that took place on the campus in the aftermath of the tragedy. This is a must watch to remember.

Remembering Virginia Tech - One Year Later
This is an honest post written by Eugene E. Cho today, reflecting on why this tragedy means so much to his life as a Korean.

When Answers Aren't Enough: Experiencing God as Good When Life Isn't
This is a book by my friend Matt Rodgers.  He is one of the current pastors of the [nlcf].  This book just came out at the beginning of this month, it's about the Virginia Tech Massacre.  Philip Yancey writes about this book, "Tempered by tragedy, Matt Rodgers explores both doubt and hope, and emerges with compassionate wisdom."  It might be a good read for you as a way to remember.

A Day of Remembrance
This is the site at Virginia Tech that shares the names of each of the Hokies that were victims, along with events that are taking place to remember.

This Saturday, April 19th at 7:30 p.m.  Artist @ the Fountain presents a screening of Black is for Sunday.  There is no cover.
 

A four person road crew from Invisible Children will be hosting this event.  They will be giving updates on what is happening with Invisible Children as well as showing the film. If you are in the LA area and want to come to this film screening, the Fountain Room is located at 4903 Fountain Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90029.

ABOUT "BLACK IS FOR SUNDAY"

Invisible Children's filmmaker Bobby Bailey went back to northern Uganda in March 2007 to spend 10 days living among and like the people displaced for 10 years in one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time.  His adventure took him to the heart of the longest running war in Africa and into the life of a child that would change his life forever.

In this film, you will meet Sunday.  Only 15 years old, there isn't a part of his life that hasn't been affected by the war.  Orphaned at a young age, he lives in a displacement camp and struggles to survive amid the affects of poverty, disease, and malnutrition.  Having no family left to depend on, he must try to provide for himself.

But without enough time to work and go to class, Sunday can't make the money needed to pay his fees and is asked to leave school.  The war that has already taken so much from him now threatens to take the most valuable thing he has left: a future.

Come check out the screening.  Spread the word.  This Saturday, April 19th at 7:30 p.m. The Fountain Room 4903 Fountain Avenue  Hollywood, CA 90029  There is no cover, but you can buy black bracelets to help the children in Uganda.