Well congratulations are in order! :) Firstly, congrats on your new position with NPC. It was a long time coming, and I know you will do an awesome job! :) Next, way to go on the convert to Wordpress. You'll absolutely love it! I love all the features and integrations that it offers. I can't wait to see more posts about your topics; I'm looking forward to those book reviews and leadership posts. ;o)

I'm not taking sides on this, because I don't know what the book is about. But I am curious, what is in the book that caused the ban? I am pretty careful about what I read. I have put this book on hold at the library so I can see for myself. From research about previous book bans in the past, most are unjustified in that it stems from one word or one sentence in the book that causes the issue.

In the last few years I've come to terms with something. God didn't create denominations. Humans did.
I actually left the church I grew up in, and had been in attendance for 22 years, when the pastor at the time started condemning another denomination of not being Christians, and going to hell. I had many friends who went to the "mega church" that he named as the prime culprit in the area. This bothered me so intensely. That's when I made the decision, and God led me to another church where I am at today, that teaches love in a whole different way.
This same church that I left, of which my family still goes to sporadically, has a new "old school" pastor who demeans women, as well as saying that since "John the Baptist was a Baptist" that "only Baptists are going to heaven". Again. Where do people come up with this stuff?
I've determined in my heart that I do not want to judge anyone of another denomination and state they are going to hell. How do *I* know? I don't know what's in their hearts. How do I know that they haven't made Jesus their Lord and Savior? I don't. And in that, that's where we all have to trust God and leave all that up to him.

The way I feel about this, when you love Jesus, and you give your life to Him, that makes you His Wife (The Church). If you hate The Church, you hate His Wife, therefore hating yourself in the process. And when you hate something/someone, you make it your enemy...and wasn't something said once about loving your enemies? Just saying.
I know how frustrated Anne Rice must feel about the attitudes of some of the church. As a whole, we as a church, The Church, aren't doing what we're meant to do. There have been many that have given us a bad name, so that lumps all Christians into the same category. You just have to sift out the bad from the good and move on from there. As Christians, we aren't guaranteed an easy breezy life of cotton candy and puppies. We will endure hardships. And a lot of those hardships we bring on ourselves, because of how we portray (or don't portray) Christ to others.

Thanks for making me tear up! :) Great blog!! It really was an awesome thing that God did in these lives!!! :) I can't wait to hear the transformation stories!! :)

You hit the nail on the head there. I am seeing more and more, the 35+ crowd getting "traded in" for the 18-25 crowd. I recently had a close friend serving in a ministry he'd been faithfully devoted to for over 10+ years ask to step down from his position because of his age. He's not quite 40. This concerns me greatly. I'm just now 30. So what is the cutoff for serving in a youth driven leadership environment? Why would a ministry/church/organization ask an amazing role model to stop doing what they love to do? Because there's plenty of 20 years old ready to take his place? It's really a shame that this happens. But it seems it's more an more common.
I have an amazing 70yo friend who is as fresh and excited and vigourous as any 40 year old who loves serving with young people. She told me something that really proves a point. "Don't write off the older generation. We still have a lot to offer."

Thanks for posting this Danny. I think Christ followers have fallen asleep and are now just accepting what is being spoon fed to us by people like Beck. I think our pastor handled this issue VERY WELL, and should not be criticized for it. If we don't defend our beliefs who will?

That is probably one of the toughest jobs I've ever heard of. To find yourself in this situation day on end, and to feel compelled to help, but...can't. There are so many people in the same predicament as the gentleman you spoke of. My family is has been going through financial and medical and traumatic difficulties for years...and I feel like my hands are tied to help them. I don't have enough money to help them out of their miseries, or to pay for the medical bills, or so many other things. Even when I pray, I feel helpless, because it feels so big compared to me as one person.

I guess it just comes down to a very big action. Trust. I have to trust God to help them out when I ask him. Its so difficult to do, to trust. Trust means possibly being disappointed, or even worse, hurt. Geez. But I guess if we trust him with difficult things like that, that's when he can blow us away with his miracles. I may never know the many ways he's rescued my family out of bad situations. I don't know if any that has made any sense whatsoever, or any consolation, but He Is. That needs to be enough for me. That He can do things that I deem impossible.

Well said, Danny. I feel the same way. I grew up in a very fundamentalist denomination. You were told you "couldn't do this" or "couldn't do that", and yet the people who were saying this were the very ones who did these things. At such a very young age we are instilled with hypocrisy and traditionalism, and we don't know how to break this generational bondage that has NOTHING TO DO WITH JESUS. So we follow these traditions through to our adulthood, until we (hopefully) are faced with that one epic moment where we choose Jesus or the tradition of church. I choose Jesus. I've had it with the church. Maybe if more came to this realization the real Church, Body of Christ, would be revolutionized and we would become like what He intended from the very beginning.

Awww Danny, that's precious! Your mom is very blessed to have you as a son, and to have such a supportive family. :) May God give her comfort in this new phase of her life.