Sex Trafficking

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), there are an estimated 1.39 million victims of commercial sexual servitude or sex trafficking. Last night Bayside Church held a Global Awareness night addressing this heartbreaking issue.

One of the speakers was Clayton Butler of Agape International Missions (AIM). Since 2005 AIM has focused on ending child sex trafficking in Cambodia specifically in the village of Svay Pak near Phnom Penh. Through a multifaceted effort, AIM is trying to take back this village in the name of Christ.

Another speaker was Jenny Williamson of Courage To Be You. She spoke about how the issue of sex trafficking is not only a global issue, but is happening in our own backyard. This dynamic woman who says that she is just a mother, has taken on the task of trying to build a shelter in Northern California for girls who have been rescued from trafficking. According to her there are only 3 shelters for rescued girls in the whole United States and none of those are Christian. The only option currently for these girls is to be put in Juvenile Hall.

For those of you in the Sacramento area who wish to know more about this issue or would like to help financially, on December 5, from 9 a.m to 2 p.m., Agape International Missions will be having a breakfast and boutique at Bayside of Citrus Heights. For $5 you can enjoy a pancake breakfast and get some Christmas shopping done while learning more about this issue.

The Weekley Roundup

The Weekley Reader has been on an unofficial hiatus. However, I would like to continue posting again because of the possibility there might be some more traffic to this sight since I have started another blog called The Weekley Roundup. I started a new blog as part of SPL's 27 Things program. This program was created to help library employees to become more knowledgeable about web 2.0. Although there are some new things I will learn, the main reason I have elected to participate in the program is because of the possibility of winning a new IPOD! 

To those of you who have wandered here from The Weekley Roundup and wonder what in the world The Weekley Reader is all about, I would like to give you a big welcome! I created the Reader sometime ago without any purpose other than to just blog. The Reader eventually evolved into a place where I post my thoughts about God, religion, and life, with some politics thrown in. 

To the few of you who read this blog regularly, I apologize for the longtime between posts. My goal is to post at least once a week from now on. If you are new here, I hope you like what you read and decide to check back regularly. Feel free to post comments and to let me know what you think. 

Dave Gibbons at Bayside

Dave Gibbons from Newsong and author of The Monkey and the Fish spoke at Bayside today. He preached on Isaiah 58:1-8 and really challenged me a lot with what he said. He challenged me to look at my relationships to see if I was truly showing the love of God through them. By relationships he didn't just mean my family and friends; the true test was how we treat strangers. Here are some more points from his message:

• Our relationships are the true test of our faith.
• The Contrarian way is when you align your preferences with God's preferences.
• The greatest vision comes with a relationship with God.
• The Purple Cow of the Church is loving somebody that is different from you.
• The difference between compassion and justice as a holistic approach to looking at people and society.

To Do All The Work

Exodus 36:6, 7 “And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.”

One of the biggest complaints about the Church today, from both Christians and non Christians, is that they are always asking for money. In the book of Exodus, Moses tells the Israelites that God has commanded those who are willing to bring offerings to help build the sanctuary. The people respond so overwhelmingly, that they are told to stop, because there is enough to do all the work.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if today’s Church responded like this? The reason churches must always ask for money is because there is so much work to be done: feeding the homeless, caring for the sick, caring for orphans, etc. Yet, so few respond to these needs with either their time or money.

Before anyone thinks I’m preaching down to them, I want to make it clear that I’m guilty of this myself. I have never tithed regularly and only helped out at Bayside a few times. I want to change this. I am making a commitment to tithe regularly to the church and I want to find a ministry that I can volunteer my time to on a regular basis.

I don’t think we could ever get to a point were the church is told to stop giving. But if everyone who considers themselves to be a follower of Christ donated their time and money, perhaps churches wouldn’t have to ask for help so much.

Praying in the Name of Jesus

On January 20^th, Barack Obama will become the next President of the United States. Two things have taken center stage regarding inauguration day. First, will Obama say “so help me God” at the end of his oath and secondly, will Rick Warren say “in the name of Jesus” at the end of his prayer? The two questions arise out of the battle by some to remove God from all areas of our government and the desire to include all Americans in a happy nonreligious family.

Some believe that Warren should offer a prayer that includes all Americans without offending anybody. For instance Bishop Gene Robinson, who has been selected to offer an invocation at an inaugural event, says in a NY Times interview, “that this will not be a Christian prayer, and I won’t be quoting Scripture or anything like that. The texts that I hold as sacred are not sacred texts for all Americans, and I want all people to feel that this is their prayer.” He continues by saying that he might address the prayer to “the God of our many understandings.” This idea of trying not to offend anybody is ridiculous. By having a prayer at all, some people are going to be offended.

Whether Warren speaks the actual words or not is irrelevant. What is important is the spirit in which he offers the prayer. For an excellent series of posts from Mark D Roberts regarding praying in Jesus’ name click here. In one post he says:

When Christians welcome children, or gather together, or pray, we do these things in the name of Jesus, whether

or not we say “in Jesus’ name.” To pray in Jesus’ name is come before God’s throne of grace, not in our own merit

or authority, but in the merit and authority of Jesus. We have no right to approach God’s throne of grace in our sinfulness, but in the righteousness of Jesus, we can be bold when we come before God in prayer (Heb 4:14-16).

Since Warren is a Christian pastor, I would expect him to pray in the spirit of Jesus’ name. If the prayer is not offered in Jesus’ name, what good is it?

Veggichop

I just opened a late Christmas present from my mom. Veggies Beware!

Break Free at Bayside

Tina and I went to one of the morning services at Bayside Church today. Even though I have been going there for almost 2 years, I continue to be amazed at how great this church is. We were able to get seats in the front row and had an excellent view of Lincoln as he did an awesome job of leading worship.

Today's message was titled "Breaking the Grip of Discouragement." It was the second part of their 4 part series called "Break Free." Ray Johnston did an excellent job of teaching us how discouragement is a disease that can ultimately lead to not just spiritual death but physical death. The 3 main points of the message were:

1. Let God's grace resolve your past.
2. Let God's promises lift your spirit.
3. Let your hopes not your hurts shape your future.

I think I struggle with the second point the most. I tend to forget or even doubt that when I die I'm going to what Ray called "the land of the living." My desire is to focus on the fact that God has secured my future, to stop fearing death, and to remember that I have an inheritance to claim.