Max Lucado says: " all religion falls into...two camps: legalism or grace.  A legalist believes  if you look right, speak right and belong to the right group, you'll be saved...The outside sparkles...but something's missing...Joy.  What's there instead? Fear-that you won't do enough.  Arrogance-that you've done enough. Failure-that you've made a mistake.  Legalism is...slow suffocation of the spirit, amputation of one's dreams...enough religion to keep but not nourish you...Your diet is rules and standards.  Legalism...doesn't need God...It's the search for innocence-not forgiveness...a systematic process of defending...explaining...exalting...justifying...It turns my opinion into your burden.. There's only room for one opinion...and guess who's wrong?  It turns my opinion into your boundary.  Your opposing opinion makes me question not only your right to fellowship with me, but your salvation.  It turns my opinion into your obligation.  Christians must toe the company line.  Your job isn't to think, it's to march...Salvation is God's business.  Grace is his idea, his work, and his expense.  He offers it to whomever he desires, when he desires.  Our job is to inform people not screen them."

Updates January 2010

The New Year is always a time of reflecting on past events and looking forward to the future. As we reflected upon the past years, we thought of all of you who have been a part of our ministry. It has been filled with a productive time of sharing the word of God and assisting with evangelistic, medical and construction teams. Your sacrificial giving and labor of love have made an impact. Many people have been touched because you cared enough to give to others. Some of you were involved with teams who ministered and constructed church buildings. You have made an impact in those communities in Central America. We appreciate your prayers and financial support. We are laboring together to build the Kingdom of God. Thank you for partnering with us!

January 8, 2009 is a day that people who live in the Poas region of Costa Rica will never forget. The ground only shook for a few seconds during the 6.1 magnitude earthquake but a tremendous amount of damage was done to homes, buildings and roads. However, the community of Dulce Nombre will always remember the love and sacrificial giving of the team members from Harvest PH Church and Stoneville PH Church in North Carolina who gave of themselves and their finances to rebuild this church that was destroyed in the earthquake.

On a recent trip to Panama, David met with Jonathan Gamboa, our Costa Rican missionary who is working with the Guaymi Indians in that country. They have a church plant in a community near Rio Serrenos with approximately seventy-five people in attendance. This community has a population of 7,000 people. Land has already been purchased to build a church in this community. They are rapidly outgrowing the make-shift shelter where they are presently worshipping. Because the rainy season is approaching, they are in desperate need of a church building. If your church would be interested in sending a construction team or donating finances for this building, please let us know.

Please pray with us that God will send missionaries to serve in the countries of Central America. Also pray for our national leaders that God will strengthen them with his power and give them guidance in reaching their countries for Christ.

One of my favorite old proverbs goes like this:

"If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day, go fishing.
If you want happiness for a week, get promoted.
If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime, help others."

You're Still a Good Man, Charlie Brown, by Chris Glazier

When I was a kid, I remember hearing adults complain about the holiday season. They would whine about how busy they were, how difficult traveling was and how tight finances were. I also remember thinking these people were insane. How could you complain about Christmas?
Of course, the older I get, the more I understand. When I was a kid, I didn't realize how busy, expensive and complicated this time of year gets. I didn't know how painful this time of year can be for lonely people. I didn't know about debates over politically correct phrases or that Santa and Jesus could be competing for our attention.
Few things about Christmas seem to be as special as they were when I was a kid, but there's one little pop-culture Christmas tradition that seems never to get old and remains special: A Charlie Brown Christmas.
There's something about good ol' Chuck's take on Christmas that seems to never age. For one thing, it's a great little movie. It's clever, well-written and features the timeless jazz recording from the Vince Guaraldi Trio, possibly the best Christmas music out there.
But, of course, the reason A Charlie Brown Christmas manages to stay fresh and powerful since its debut in 1965 is the fact that it features the real Christmas story. Every time Linus gets up to perform his poignant reading of Luke 2:8-14, I get the same chills that I got when I was a kid. It's a profoundly simple message delivered by an untrained child actor, but it somehow manages to convey the love of God every time I see it.
It's amazing that the little movie even managed to make it to the tube at all. When it was first made, producers balked at the child actors, jazz music and especially the Bible reading. They thought kids would be bored. But creator Charles Schulz, a Christian, was adamant about the movie, particularly the reading. A behind-the-scenes feature said that when producers talked to him about removing the scene, Schulz remarked, "If we don't tell the true meaning of Christmas, who will?"
Thank goodness he did. Now the good news of Jesus Christ humbling Himself and taking the form of human flesh gets aired to a national audience year after year, completely unedited. It still makes me feel like a kid every time I watch it, but more important, it reminds me what all this hubbub is truly about.

http://www.newmanmag.com/newmanreport/2009/12/youre-still-good-man-charlie-brown.html

Self Emage

All of us have three images: projected image, perceived image, and actual image. Your projected image is the way you desire others to see you. Your perceived image is how others see you. Your actual image is who you really are.

For so many, their perceived image is what matters most. Their reputation is of greater importance to them than the true motives of their hearts. This causes them to project themselves in the way they desire to be perceived. Their efforts are focused on appearances, status, titles, saving face and so forth.

Consider Jesus—He was rejected by many, slandered by the influential, lied about by the rulers, and viewed by the establishment as a heretic or even demon inspired. His perceived image was not favorable in the eyes of many, especially the notables. Yet His actual image was quite different, for Scripture states that He is the express image of the Father (see Hebrews 1:3).

Jesus was a person of integrity—He was the same with the people He met as He was with His Father. He did not boost His reputation and did not seek the accolades and approval of men. He only cared for what was important to His Father. That is our Father's goal for us, and it should be our goal as well.

"We must all appear and be revealed as we are before the judgment seat of Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:10, AMP). We must remember that our projected or perceived image is not what will be revealed before the entire assembly of heaven. Rather it will be our actual image, our true heart motives and intentions.

Paul continues: "It is because we know this solemn fear of the Lord that we work so hard."

(2 Corinthians 5:11, NLT). The fear of the Lord keeps us in touch with our actual image. The opposite is true as well: The more we lack the fear of the Lord, the more we lean upon our projected image.

You will serve who you fear. If you fear God, you'll obey God. If you fear man, you'll ultimately obey man's desires. For this reason, Proverbs tells us it is dangerous to be concerned with what others think of you. (see Proverbs 29:25).

(John Bevere Chrisma newsletter, December 8, 2009)
http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/newsletters/daily-devotionals/live-extraordinarily/25547-self-image

Description of the Missional Church

• The missional church is a collection of missional believers acting in concert together in fulfillment of the missio dei.
• The missional church is one where people are exploring and rediscovering what it means to be Jesus' sent people as their identity and vocation.
• The missional church is faith communities willing and ready to be Christ's people in their own situation and place.
• The missional church knows that they must be a cross-cultural missionary (contextual) people and adopt a missionary stance in relation to their community.
• The missional church will be engaged with the culture (in the world) without being absorbed by the culture (not of the world). They will become intentionally indigenous.
• The missional church understands that God is already present in the culture where it finds itself. Therefore, the missional church doesn't view its purpose as bringing God into the culture or taking individuals out of the culture to a sacred space.
• The missional church is about more than just being contextual, it is also about the nature of the church and how it relates to God.
• The missional church is about being -- being conformed to the image of God.
• The missional church will seek to plant all types of missional communities.
• The missional church is evangelistic and faithfully proclaims the gospel through word and deed. Words alone are not sufficient; how the gospel is embodied in our community and service is as important as what we say.
• The missional church understands the power of the gospel and does not lose confidence in it.
• The missional church recognizes that it does not hold a place of honor in its host community and that its missional imperative compels it to move out from itself into that host community as salt and light.
• The missional church will align all their activities around the "missio dei"-- the mission of God.
• The missional church seeks to put the good of their neighbor over their own.
• The missional church will give integrity, morality, good character and conduct, compassion, love and a resurrection life filled with hope preeminence to give credence to their reasoned verbal witness.
• The missional church practices hospitality by welcoming the stranger into the midst of the community.
• The missional church will see themselves as representatives of Jesus and will do nothing to dishonor his name.
• The missional church will be totally reliant on God in all it does. It will move beyond superficial faith to a life of supernatural living.
• The missional church will be desperately dependent on prayer.
• The missional church gathered will be for the purpose of worship, encouragement, supplemental teaching, training, and to seek God's presence and to be realigned with God's missionary purpose.
• The missional church is orthodox in its view of the gospel and scripture, but culturally relevant in its methods and practice so that it can engage the world view of the hearers.
• The missional church will feed deeply on the scriptures throughout the week.
• The missional church will be a community where all members are involved in learning "the way of Jesus." Spiritual development is an expectation.
• The missional church will help people discover and develop their spiritual gifts and will rely on gifted people for ministry instead of talented people.
• The missional church is a healing community where people carry each other's burdens and help restore gently.
• The missional church will require that its leaders be missiologists.

Exert from - "The Missional Tribe" - http://www.friendofmissional.org/

What the Missional Church Looks Like

JR Woodward at "Dream Awakener" has a perspective on success that really helps my understanding of missional. His post A Working Definition of Success provides a working definition of what missional might look like. Here it is:

• Not simply how many people come to our church services, but how many people our church serves.
• Not simply how many people attend our ministry, but how many people have we equipped for ministry.
• Not simply how many people minister inside the church, but how many minister outside the church.
• Not simply helping people become more whole themselves, but helping people bring more wholeness to their world. (i.e. justice, healing, relief)
• Not simply how many ministries we start, but how many ministries we help.
• Not simply how many unbelievers we bring into the community of faith, but how many ‘believers' we help experience healthy community.
• Not simply working through our past hurts, but working alongside the Spirit toward wholeness.
• Not simply counting the resources that God gives us to steward, but counting how many good stewards are we developing for the sake of the world.
• Not simply how we are connecting with our culture but how we are engaging our culture.
• Not simply how much peace we bring to individuals, but how much peace we bring to our world.
• Not simply how effective we are with our mission, but how faithful we are to our God.
• Not simply how unified our local church is, but how unified is "the church" in our neighborhood, city and world?
• Not simply how much we immerse ourselves in the text, but how faithfully we live in the story of God.
• Not simply being concerned about how our country is doing, but being concern for the welfare of other countries.
• Not simply how many people we bring into the kingdom, but how much of the kingdom we bring to the earth.

The Missional Tribe - http://www.friendofmissional.org/