gdp's Comments

Life in Student Ministry : My take on Haiti's "Devil Pact" and the earthquake

Thu, 6 May 2010 00:26:30 +0000

Like you I have been immensely changed by my trips to Haiti and experienced first hand the spiritual warfare that the Haitians experience because of Voodoo. When I was there the last time in 2004 I was listening to a message about how "we, modern Christians" do not practice or give any thought Jesus teaching about, what ever is bound on earth is bound in heaven and whatever is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven. I thought nothing about it that morning but that afternoon we walk through the property of a Voodoo temple to get to a piece of property on the other side and it hit me. So I prayed that the Voodoo going on there be bound. A couple of days later a man came over to the mission I was staying at and told my friend that the Voodoo Priest at the temple took a small number of people and went in woods and would not come back and practice Voodoo while I was there. Like you I have been told by numerous missionaries and Haitians tell me of this pact with the Devil and that President Aristide renewed that vow in 2003. God can do what ever He wants to do and whether the earthquake was caused by it or the prayers doesn't matter in long haul but that the spiritual revival is occurring is all that matters. Thank you for your work and promotion of the people and plight of Haiti.

ChurchCrunch : Business Card Giveaway! 2 Winners, 500 Cards.

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:49:52 +0000

I need some new business cards so this would be cool!

ChurchCrunch : yourchurchURL.com...? - Ministry-Branded URL Shorteners

Wed, 5 Aug 2009 15:53:41 +0000

Which Wordpress URL shortener plugin do you use?

Human3rror : August Desktop Backgrounds

Sun, 2 Aug 2009 04:44:00 +0000

I sporting an old Relevant Magazine desktop. http://fusionlife.org/i/calvary_1280x854.jpg

Collide Magazine : The Church In 2034

Tue, 7 Jul 2009 17:10:17 +0000

Extremely interesting. Though it doesn't take into consideration where the church is free to meet as it is today. Now I'm not an end times guy but I think any talk about the future of the church might need to talk about where or not the church will be underground and thriving like our brothers and sisters in China, India and others in the 10/40 window. I wish some degree of the health of the church as a whole would have been discussed. Are we perceived the same in 2034 as we are today or will we be perceived to be more like Jesus?

Ragamuffin Soul : Hairy Saul

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 15:51:05 +0000

Wax it. Joking. Definitely looks better clean.

Life in Student Ministry : An idea for creating a spiritually influential student ministry

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:04:50 +0000

I have a friend here in FL that has multi-generational small groups based on New Hope Oahu's Life Journal (http://www.lifejournal.cc) that has a children's, youth and adult version where they spend time reading the bible, journaling (scripture, observation, application and prayer) and then discussing what the read and journaled.

Life in Student Ministry : Enhancing communication with changes to our youth group website

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:12:32 +0000

I've never heard of the live stream plugin for Wordpress before. Thanks for the resources and thoughts behind what you're doing and why you are using specific services.

ChurchCrunch : Mobify.me - Super Easy Way to go Mobile

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:45:15 +0000

Interesting concept, I've heard of mofuse before, but have found a couple of mobile themes for wordpress that auto redirect through a plugin that look really good and work really well with a lot of different mobile browsers not just the iPhone.

david norman blog dot com : Mark Driscoll on Church Planting

Wed, 20 May 2009 15:33:12 +0000

Great video, great content and call to planters. Wish more people understood his heart here.

Shaun in the City : Are you praying SPAM prayers?

Sat, 9 May 2009 16:00:01 +0000

My friend, this text isn't saying you cannot come to God messed up, which you are right would contradict the Gospel Message. What it is saying is when we pray for things like a Benz in the garage, a rolex on the wrist, and a fine lady to walk next to and we don't receive any of them it's because our desires are driving our prayers. But when we ask that God give us a means of transportation, a desire to show up early and work hard and the kind of lady that is a true help mate that will love and support you and be the kind of mother to your children that will help you raise them up to be Christ-followers and revolutionaries. God will hear and honor those prayers because your desire is focused on the things of God.

Youth Min Blog : Microwave Ministry?

Sat, 9 May 2009 04:42:11 +0000

The age of adolescence comes in to play here, where 13 year olds in the 1st Century were much more responsible then some of our 26 year olds today. But I agree with you that learning early what it means to be a disciple and to fail at it is ok, but getting back on the preverbal horse is what's important. Teaching them how to feed themselves, the importance of giving (time, energy and money) and being involved in a Christian Community during college or working after high school. And what we really should evaluate is how many of the teens that come through our ministries are Christian after the college years.

Youth Min Blog : Microwave Ministry?

Fri, 8 May 2009 16:35:33 +0000

just saw a tweet from Mark Batterson that really sums this up. Show me the fruit!

Youth Min Blog : Microwave Ministry?

Fri, 8 May 2009 15:13:48 +0000

To keep with the example of the article. The way a lot of us have tried to evaluate our ministries is like trying to use the popcorn preset on the microwave, we all get burned. Ok that was bad. Evaluating success in YM is tough because not only to we want to know what we are doing is effective but we also have Elders, Sr. Ministers, parents and church members who all have their own version of success/ effectiveness. I looked at metrics like teens telling me what they are reading in their own devo time, stories that revolve more around the service projects, not just fun events, other ways we serve, ownership of the ministry and desire to lead. All of those things take a lot of time and intensional directions from leaders who talk it but also lead by example. Your blog post the other day (http://reflectionministry.blogspot.com/2009/05/6-... reminded me of something Mike Yaconelli talked about. You post mentioned a time when most of those who followed Jesus walked away because the cost was to high. Yac pondered whether or not if the cost of discipleship is too high for teenagers to fully understand what is being asked of them. I think on some levels he is right which make evaluated our ministries really hard, but at the same time maybe they don't fully understand the call but does that mean we should start teaching them about it now and not worry to much about success. Thanks for the post. I know I rambled, I hope it makes some sense.

Ragamuffin Soul : Ragamuffin Revival Prayer Service

Thu, 7 May 2009 20:18:25 +0000

In the dreaming stages of launching a church in CFL. Please pray for the community we'll reach out to and prayer, coaching and financial networks. Guidance and wisdom for me and those partnering with us.

Life in Student Ministry : I'm thinking about ending our large-group youth meetings

Thu, 7 May 2009 14:50:57 +0000

What a great conversation going on here about meeting the real needs! I want to add my voice to the immense value in a large group teaching time from an adult leader because there needs to be direction and truth proclaimed but what if it was once a month (or series) with large group teaching time that set the stage (or big idea) for the rest of the month small groups?

CoffeeWithChris.com : Where Do I Start?!

Mon, 4 May 2009 16:03:12 +0000

Great points and reminders about coming home from and trying to figure out how a conference is going to impact your ministry. I've been there trying to figure out what to apply and even applying things before laying the right foundation among your leaders and parents which can be detrimental to changes that need to be made.

The Blog of Josh McKague : Compassion.

Mon, 4 May 2009 03:16:35 +0000

That is really cool. I hope God opens your eyes to things you never would have realized and bring that back to empower others to team up with Compassion or other organizations like them to make a difference around the world.

ChurchCrunch : Color Palette Generator - CSS Awesomeness

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:50:01 +0000

sweet tool. actually have a friend that is looking for a tool like this. thanks for sharing.

ChurchCrunch : Twitter Strategy with Michael Hyatt - Growing 300 Followers a Day - @MichaelHyatt

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:20:45 +0000

Great post. I really like Michael, he is really down to earth and has great content. Definitely worth following his blog and twitter. I use your Ipseity theme as my Twitter landing page.