MSM CONNECTIONS
For the week of 11/07/04
The Men’s Ministry e-mail newsletter of
Our mission: Our mission is to lead men to
Jesus Christ and provide opportunity for
Christian men to grow in their faith
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MSM CONNECTIONS is the opt-in newsletter for the men
of New Joy Divine Full Gospel Church. It's a periodic service that helps
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"The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double -- edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)
"Remember, a small light will do a great deal when it is in a very dark place. Put one little tallow candle in the middle of a large hall, and it will give a good deal of light." D. L. Moody (1837-1899)
http://www.presidentialprayerteam.org/
by Pete Winn
To understand why the Electoral College might be the fairest system to elect the U.S. President, here's a look at how it works. Each state in the union gets the same number of electors as it has members in its congressional delegation. Since every state has two U.S. senators, each state automatically receives two electors. Add to the mix each state's number of House members, which is based on the size of a state's population, and -- voila! -- you get the final tally of electors for each state. California, for instance, has two electors for its senators, plus 53 for its 53 congressmen - 55 electors total. Virginia, on the other hand, has 13 -- two for its senators and 11 for its congressmen.
There are 538 electoral votes total in the college – reflecting 535 members of Congress and three votes for the District of Columbia, as established by the 23rd Amendment. It takes 270 for a candidate to become president.
Prior to 2000, the last time a candidate won in the Electoral College but lost the popular vote was in 1888, when Grover Cleveland won the popular vote by 100,000 votes nationwide, but lost the presidency to Benjamin Harrison. "On the surface, it looks like the Electoral College didn't work," Dunn said. "But in fact, Cleveland ran a very narrow, sectional campaign – one that piled up huge majorities for him in the South, but he lost every other section of the country. So what the Electoral College insured was that, even though Cleveland lost, we had a truly national president because he carried all of the sections of the country which Cleveland had lost."
That, says Dunn, is the beauty of the Electoral College. It gives us a national president, not a regional one – something evidenced in 2000 by those now-famous, blue- and red-coded maps of the country showing the widespread support President Bush received all across the country.
Pollsters say voters last week often identified "moral values" from a list of possible reasons why they voted as they did.
Listen to these National Public Radio reports at
http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=4143409
http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=4144524
http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=4142399
http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=4144526
The idea of vocation or calling is common in the Bible, but not in the way often thought. The biblical focus is less on what we do and more on to whom we belong. It concerns our identity. Our calling is to join someone rather to do something or go somewhere.
Biblical calling is not exclusive. It's not limited to pastors and ministers, cross-cultural missionaries and "full-time Christian workers."
Here's the startling point. All of us are called.
And what is it that we're called to? The biblical answer is: to be followers of Jesus--his disciples. Any roles we play or tasks we do are simply [working out] of our call to follow him.
Read the full article, "Identifying Your Calling" by Alistair Mackenzie and Wayne Kirkland at
http://www.regent.edu/acad/schbus/maz/busreview/issue14/calling.html
The idea is that Christians have for too long practiced their faith on Sundays and left it behind during the workweek, that there is a moral vacuum in the modern workplace, which leads to backstabbing careerism, empty routines for employees and CEOs who push for profits at the expense of society, the environment and their fellow human beings. No less a figure than the Rev. Billy Graham has predicted that "one of the next great moves of God is going to be through believers in the workplace." To listen to marketplace pastors, you'd think churches were almost passé; for them work is the place, and Jesus is the antidote to both cubicle boredom and Enron-style malfeasance.
Read the article at
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/31/magazine/31FAITH.html
While he routinely conquered Colorado's highest peaks solo in winter and navigated the deep gorges and sudden drop-offs of Utah's burnt and twisted canyons, Aron Ralston floundered under the surgeries, shots and daily drip, drip, drip of intravenous antibiotics.
In a remarkable display of fortitude and survival instinct, Ralston saved his life by severing his own right arm trapped under a boulder during a solo hiking trip in April 2003. But the subsequent medical challenges proved in many ways more complex and daunting than the extreme outdoorsman's straightforward brush with death while trapped for days in Utah's remote Bluejohn Canyon.
"How was it that I had cut off my arm without so much as a whimper, and yet now all I could do was whine?" Ralston writes in a new book. "... I found myself easily fed up by the effort involved with my new life, in which rest, recovery and rehab had replaced skiing, mountaineering and concerts."
Ralston, who grew up attending Hope United Methodist Church in Greenwood Village, Colo., touches on his medical struggles and adapting to his new single-handed lifestyle in his book Between a Rock and a Hard Place (Atria Books, 2004).
In an interview, he describes the same physical and emotional manifestations often encountered by people going through personal loss, trauma and tragedy. Among them: sleeplessness, feelings of a loss of control and depression....
Ralston says he does not regret what happened to him in Bluejohn Canyon. He believes the experience launched him on a spiritual journey that has given him a new purpose in demonstrating his exhilaration for life and the importance of letting go of the past. He doesn't blame God for the loss of his hand, but rather he credits divine intervention for giving him the inspiration to set himself free....
Read this article at
http://www.umc.org/interior.asp?mid=5891
by Mindy Caliguire
Yesterday, I stood in front of a ministry team and asked: "What tends to emerge in the life of a person who neglects his soul? What symptoms creep in?" I explained that no one ever sets out to trash the condition of his soul, and particularly not those of us in vocational ministry. Yet we often find ourselves in a spiritual death spiral -- facing ever increasing ministry loads yielding ever diminishing returns. But we march dutifully onward, assuming that our spiritual state, a neglected soul, is somehow part of the "deal" in a life devoted to ministry.
So, I asked, what are the signs of soul neglect? At first the room was silent. Then somebody ventured, "Anxiety," and I knew they got it (not every group does). Once started, their answers came so fast I couldn't write them on the flip chart fast enough. "Self-absorption," they called out. "Shame," "apathy," "toxic anger," "chronic fatigue," "lack of confidence," "isolation," "sin looks more appealing," "no compassion," "self-oriented," "drivenness," "loss of vision," and "no desire for God." Soon every inch of the page was crammed. A sad feeling hovered over the room as these leaders, "weary in well doing," saw themselves in the mirror.
Then, with much relief, we turned the page, and I asked: "What emerges in your life when you're deeply connected with God, when your soul is healthy?"...
Read this article in full at
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2004/003/18.41.html
"Evangelical Christians are using the new media environment to promote their own worldview and protect their traditions from what they see as a secular onslaught."
by Henry Jenkins
"Senator Zell Miller was spitting mad about the Super Bowl. In his "Deficit of Decency" speech, the Georgia Democrat compared watching the broadcast to driving over a skunk -- "the scent of this event will long linger in the nostrils of America." Miller claims the event embodied the "culture of far left America" as served up by "Value-Les Moonves" (that would be CBS Television president Leslie Moonves) "and the pagan temple of Viacom-Babylon." Miller's speech is a classic example of "culture war" rhetoric, which pits Christians against Hollywood, as if either could be understood in such simple and monolithic terms.
"Over the past several decades, (hyperventilation about cultural alienation) has served both to estrange evangelical Christians from the American cultural mainstream and to blind liberals to just how many people are consuming Christian media. Just dropping the word "Christian" in many online discussion lists sends some people into a frenzy and others running for the exit. Many liberals act as if the complex history of Christian debates about the relationship between spiritual and secular matters can be reduced to a glib dismissal of Jerry Falwell's "campaign" against the Teletubbies. But not all conservative Christians wish to censor others. Many want simply to protect and promote their own traditions in the face of what they see as the onslaught of contemporary media...."
To read this (critical) article, go to
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/03/wo_jenkins030504.asp?p=1
"For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." Proverbs 2:6 (NIV)
"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get back up." Vince Lombardi
In the late 1970s, when Movieguide editor-in-chief Ted Baehr was director of the TV Center at City University of New York, he was immersed in studies of how the mass media influence children at different stages of cognitive development. Now a widely quoted media critic, Baehr continues to be concerned for the impact of movies on children. Baehr, who grew up as the child of two Hollywood actors, is also concerned about the transformation of the entertainment culture from within. He was interviewed by Christianity Today:
Q: In September the Rand Corporation released a study that showed teens who view the most sexually related material on television are twice as likely to engage in intercourse as those who watch the least. What do you make of it?
A: It's not surprising for people who have read the studies of the influence of media on everything from buying products to violence. Of course, not every youth has a propensity to copy sexual activity, although sexual scripts of behavior seem to be the most likely to be copied. The rising concern today is not because there's a return to Victorian prudishness, but because of the increase in sexually transmitted diseases. Another study showed that 50% of sexually active kids have a sexually transmitted disease by the time they're 24 or 25 years old.
Q: And how does the incidence of watching more sex-oriented scenes relate to the difference between cable programming and traditional broadcast?
A: Earlier studies point out that suggestion, innuendo, and jokes are as provocative, if not more so, than explicit sex. Dr. Victor Cline found that prisoners who had committed sex crimes were turned off by explicit depictions of sex, and I would imagine the same is true of youth. They wanted innuendo, jokes, and the "come hither" that suggests the other person wanted the sex. For susceptible kids in the adolescent stage of cognitive development, titillation is actually a much more powerful draw than the overt stuff that everybody gets so angry about.
Read this interview in full at
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/011/21.50.html
"We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts." A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]
CHOOSE YOUR PATH...
A young man went to his father and told him about his life and how things were so hard for him. He didn't know how he was going to make it and wanted to give up. He was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.
His father took him to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water. In the first, he placed carrots, in the second he placed eggs, and in the last he placed ground coffee beans. He let them sit and boil without saying a word. In about twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to his son, he asked, "Tell me, what do you see?"
"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," came the reply. He brought him closer and asked him to feel the carrots. He did and noted that they had gotten soft. The father then asked him to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, he observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, the father asked the son to sip the coffee. The son smiled as he smelled its rich aroma, and then asked, "What's your point?"
His father explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity -- boiling water -- but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water.
"Which are you?" he asked his son. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"
Which am I?
Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship, or some other trial have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?
Or am I the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor.
If you're like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate to another level? How do you handle adversity?
"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" John 3:1 (NIV)
by G.L. Beaverson
"Daddeee! Mommeee!" My 4-year-old daughter's cry pierced the night and her parents' sleep. Laura's thin, high voice wrestled to escape the nightmare she'd just had. Before I could wipe the sleep from my eyes, my husband, Bob, already was on his feet and headed down the hall, answering his daughter's frightened cry. I staggered after him to Laura's room and stood yawning in the doorway. Bob sat on the edge of her bed, holding Laura's trembling little body on his lap and quietly stroking her curly blond hair. His voice was soothing, comforting. Soon Laura's body relaxed, and her head bobbed forward, asleep in her daddy's arms. On the way back to our bedroom, I marveled at Bob's ability to provide both Laura and our son Michael with the comfort and stability they so needed. As I lay in bed trying to get back to sleep, I realized that it was more than just ability. It was his concern for our children's needs that made Bob what he is -- an excellent father....
Read this article at
http://www.newmanmag.com/article.php?sid=559&mode=thread&order=0
"We do not need more intellectual power, we need more moral power. We do not need more knowledge, we need more character. We do not need more government, we need more culture. We do not need more law, we need more religion. We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen. If the foundation be firm, the foundation will stand." Calvin Coolidge, 30th U.S. President
Words: Martin Rinkart, 1636
Music: Johann Crüger, 1647
Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers' arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessčd peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!
All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;
The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven;
The one eternal God, Whom earth and Heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.
>from CyberHymnal at
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/n/o/nowthank.htm
by Steve Green
What comes to mind when you hear the word "praise?" In my travels I've been in almost every kind of church service – from liturgical recitations spoken in hushed awe to emotionally charged expressions of passionate familiarity. So, which of these two describes praise? Maybe it is somewhere in the middle. Obviously, there is much discussion about the best way to worship, and there is also a good measure of smug certainty that our own way is the right way. Unfortunately, the formal, liturgical worshiper can often view the more expressive brethren as flippant and irreverent, while the hand-raising, chorus-singing worshipers can look down on the others as frigid and lifeless.
Read this article at
http://www.pastors.com/rwmt/default.asp?id=177&artid=7494&expand=1
"When He walked upon this earth, Jesus voluntarily agreed to live in dependence upon the Father as an example of how we are to live. So if Jesus Christ, with all His power and perfection, made prayer a priority in His life, then where ought prayer to fit in your life and in mine?" Dr. David Jeremiah, President, Turning Point and Senior Pastor, Shadow Mountain Community Church
We're praying for our fellow believers in a different nation each week.
Please pray for...TANZANIA
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/tz.html
The growth of the mainline Churches has been good but patchy. Revival movements in both the Lutheran and Anglican Churches have brought life to traditional congregations; most of the bishops are Evangelicals. However, there are problems that limit growth in numbers and spirituality.
a) There are extensive areas where the churches have stagnated and where many potentially open villages are unreached. There are too few evangelists and church planters.
b) Western cultural forms combined with African worship patterns of singing, choirs and collections leave little time for biblical teaching.
c) There is a critical lack of trained, mature leaders. Many pastors have to care for 20 or more congregations.
d) AIDS continues its frightening growth and rapidly rising death rate. It has now afflicted over 1.3 million (8.1% of the population) and left 1.1 million orphaned children. The social fabric and economic structure of the country is being deeply affected. Pray for church teaching programs aimed at slowing the spread of the disease, and for counseling clinics and care structures for victims.
http://www.gmi.org/ow/index.html
DAILY BLESSING PACT
Use the following
list as your daily prayer guide. Think of a brother or situation that applies
and lift them up in prayer.
I am agreeing in
prayer with you for God’s blessings to overtake you!
PERSONAL
Marital harmony
Family unity
Children saved
Faithful pastor
Spirit-filled church
Real friendships
Relatives redeemed
Educational benefits
Recreational time
Fulfilling career
Favor with God and
man
Be in God’s will
FINANCIAL
Better Jobs
Raises or bonuses
Benefits
Sales &
commissions
Settlements
Estates &
inheritances
Investment increase
Rebates &
returns
Checks in the mail
Gifts &
surprises
Money to be found
Bills decrease while
blessings increase
"And all
these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken
unto the voice of the Lord thy God" (Deut. 28:2).
PRAY FOR THESE
BROTHERS
* Bro. Raymond Jones
* Minister Aaron Royster, Jr.
* Bro. Paul Burton
* Bro. Darnell Kennedy
* Pastor Leonard Royster
* Apostle Aaron Royster
* Bro. Arthur Carr
* Minister Corey “Keyz” Martin
* Apostle Meredeth Shackleford
* Minister Frank Coleman
[As you travel on business or vacation, let me know if you'd like the church guys to pray for your safety and spiritual effectiveness. I'll add your name to the list for the time you'll be away.]
Are you looking for something or do you have something to sell? Let me know and I'll put it in this newsletter.
Tell us what sites you find enjoyable and why.
Wally's Club
Streaming Futures: A free, web-based career program dedicated to helping teens chose career paths by allowing them to watch internet-based video interviews with career professionals from all different sectors
http://www.streamingfuture.com/
All links to Websites are provided as a service, and do not imply endorsement by our church.
(BTW: whenever the URLs in this newsletter are too long to turn into links on your e-mail program, just copy the entire URL (two lines or more) and paste it into a temporary email message. Then delete the return in the middle of it and copy it again. Then paste it into your web browser and hit enter.)
Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect; it just means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections.
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MSM CONNECTIONS is a periodic newsletter of
announcements, news, recommendations, articles, and other information helpful
to men in our spiritual growth. Thanks for welcoming MSM CONNECTIONS
into your in-box!
Who to contact:
Minister Frank Coleman, Men Servants Ministry Chairman,
773-410-1483,
Minister Arnold Whitehead, Men Servants Ministry
Vice-Chairman, 773-846-6090
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The mission of New Joy Divine
Full Gospel Church is to be a
Christ-centered, Bible based, Spirit guided church meeting the spiritual,
physical, and emotional needs of its members and the community it serves.
The Men Servants Ministry (MSM)
Team offers a variety of activities for men to interact with other men on our
journey of faith in Christ together. Large group, small group, and one-to-one
events encourage relationship building and spiritual strengthening that result
in maximizing the potential we all have in Christ. Contact Min. Frank Coleman,
773-410-1483, [email protected]
if you'd like to participate in a men's discipleship program.
New Joy Divine Full Gospel Church is located at 7625 S.
Halsted St. Chicago, IL 60620.
Tel: 773-224-5683. Founded & Pastored by Apostle
Aaron L. Royster & Prophetess Mable L. Royster.
Visit our website at: http://www.newjoydivine.org/
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