Another Friday and another flurry of activity! It seems every week is filled with news and experiences to share, so let’s get started. This is a special weekend in America, as we celebrate our nation’s birth. For many of us, we will attend parades, watch fireworks and musical celebrations, in addition to exercising our personal freedom of eating too much over a cookout with family and friends. Nationally, one of the significant “new” distinctly American experiences for citizens and visitors to enjoy once again is an opportunity to visit the crown of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. It reopens to the public this weekend for the first time since 9/11, but visitors will need advance reservations. Here’s a report on the opening from one of the national news channels; you can watch here to find out. Also, USA Today has posted on its website this weekend a panoramic view of “Liberty Enlightening the World” and you can see it here.
There has been much written this week about Michael Jackson, both his life and his death. Undoubtedly, there will be much more to come. We’ve known the brilliance of his artistic ability and the bizarreness of his behavior. But this article, 7 Ways Michael Jackson Changed the World in last Sunday’s Baltimore Sun newspaper, attempts to summarize his impact. I thought it was worth the read.
In the world of “ministry” this week, a couple of important blog additions have been posted. David Putman of churchplanters.com has posted his take on “Common Mistakes Church Planters Make.” David now serves with Shawn Lovejoy at Mountain Lake Church north of Atlanta and previously was on staff at the North American Mission Board in the area of church planting. While not posted on my blog, I have written about this as well in my book, PlantLIFE: Principles and Practices in Church Planting (you can find information on securing the book by clicking on the icon in the right margin).
Joe Miller, a left coast colleague in church planting, provided a “scoop” online this week in a three part video interview with William P. Young, author of the highly popular and somewhat controversial book, The Shack. Young offers “practical insight concerning some very controversial issues of social change, the Gospel and culture. There are even a few answers that may shock you!” You can get to part one of the interview here. Subsequent parts are posted as links on his site, as well.
Twitter Picture of the Week
This week’s picture comes courtesy of Ed Stetzer on a recent Home Depot trip. I suppose vegetable seeds fit the motif, but it kinda makes me want to go “hmmmmm.”
My daughter Sarah has another newspaper article published! Her latest news article, this one about an award winning artist from metro Vancouver who landed a big theater role in Toronto, came out in the SurreyNow newspaper today. You can read the story here.
Two weeks ago, I posted this picture with my FFF weekly edition, indicating that four of us (Larry, Hannah, Dottie Lou and me) were trying to find the rest of the gang that were student missionaries in New Hampshire during the summer of 1977 at the Agape-In at Hampton Beach.
- Agape-In staff, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire 1977
I’m happy to report that we’ve been able to find several others, some of whom are on Facebook and others who are not. The updated list of the group is listed below. Boldface indicates the ones who’ve reconnected, where they were from when we served together and where they’re living now. These names are listed from left to right.
- Michael Hogue, Tennessee
- Annette Nielsen, Connecticut (now in South Carolina)
- Me, Louisiana (now in Maryland)
- Charlie Westbrook, Oklahoma
- Vernetta Eleazer Cousins, New York (now in North Carolina)
- Barry Morris, Delaware – in back – ( now in North Carolina)
- Dottie Lou Crisp – in front – (now in California)
- Christy Glenn Brendle, still in Tennessee
- David Purifoy, still in Arkansas
- Keith Young, still in Tennessee
- Larry Beasley – kneeling – still in Tennessee
- Hannah McConnell Gillenwater, still in Tennessee
- Valerie Brewer, Mississippi
- Debbie Johnson, Maryland
- Billy Redford (not pictured), Georgia (now in Illinois)
And since this is the Fourth of July weekend, I want to end as I started, by celebrating our nation’s freedom with a heart of gratitude for all of those from the earliest days until now, who have labored hard for us to experience the joys and liberties we share every day of our lives. It all started in Philadelphia many years ago. You can read the Declaration of Independence they crafted here. And in honor of our country, I offer you a video my brother Jeff highlighted on Facebook earlier this week, as Jennifer Hudson–she of personal fame and private tragedy–sings with great and intimate passion of her love for our nation. May God richly bless you in this holiday season and may God bless America.
Hey, thanks for the link to my interview with Young! Glad you got something good from it brother!