2.06.2013
1.07.2013
21 Daniel Fast January 7-27
From Monday January 7 through Sunday January 27, 2013 Reunion Hawaii Church will be observing a Daniel Fast. This selective abstinence from certain foods is patterned after the story in Daniel Chapter 1, verses 3 through 20.
The attached sheet will help you understand more and structure your 3 weeks of food.21 Daniel Fast January 7-27
The attached sheet will help you understand more and structure your 3 weeks of food.
What do I really believe?
What do I really believe?
During the online debate and discussion about the recent horrific mass murder at an elementary school I have been asked if I defended the right of people to own personal assault weapons. I initially answered “no” — then I realized that my answer was only an emotional response made without any thought of underlying principle.
I had to go back and re-read the Bill of Rights — the first 10 Amendments to the United States Constitution and consider what I hold dear. Take a minute with me to review them:
Amendment I (Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition)
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II (Freedom to keep and bear arms)
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment III (Freedom from government quartering of soldiers)
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment IV (Freedom from unreasonable Search & Seizure)
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V (Right to due process of law, freedom from self-incrimination, double jeopardy)
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI (Rights of accused persons to a speedy and public trial)
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
Amendment VII (Right to a trial by jury in civil cases)
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII (Freedom from excessive bail, cruel and unusual punishments)
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX (Freedom from government encroachment upon personal right)
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X (Freedom from Federal Government encroaching upon states rights)
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
_______________________________________
The common element in all ten? They were very intentionally written to protect the CITIZENS from the GOVERNMENT. Thomas Jefferson said, “A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth.” James Madison viewed the Bill of Rights as a vehicle that might be used to rally people against a future oppressive government.
So, here’s my dilemma: do I really believe in the principles underlying these amendments, or do I want to selectively pick and choose depending upon the changing winds of popular opinion or — even worse — upon which ones align with my personal preferences?
Do I believe in free speech? Well that gets complicated, doesn’t it? I certainly want my freedom to speak, to preach and teach, but I wish a lot of other people would shut up, frankly. Does that make me a hypocrite? If so, I am in good company. Some of my liberal friends wish Rush Limbaugh would shut up. Some of my conservative friends wish Rachel Maddow would shut up. All of us wish those crazies from the Westboro Baptist Church would shut up, but the reality is that if we want freedom from government intervention in our speech, we have to accept that the government must treat speech we despise with an equally hands-off approach. So I get to preach Christ, the Westboro people get to misrepresent Christ, and a million websites get to pollute the minds of the nation with the most vile kinds of porn you probably can’t even imagine. Free speech.
Of course, when the framers of the Constitution wrote those protections they were writing with quills and printing was done one sheet at a time on a platen press. The mechanisms of free speech have radically changed and exponentially broadened, but the broadly written protection has flexed and stretched to accommodate those mechanisms.
That brings me to the 2nd Amendment, so important it was listed right behind the freedom to speak without fear, a protection against the government’s propensity to shut down dissenting and unpopular views.
The 2nd Amendment acknowledges that private citizens have the Constitutional right to own weapons… not only to own them, but to bear them. Not only the right to own a gun locked away in a gun safe, but the right to bear, to carry, a personal firearm. Some would attempt to argue that the opening phrase of the 2nd Amendment — “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State…” — limits possession of firearms to law enforcement officers and military personnel, but that argument contradicts the purpose of the right: to protect the CITIZENS from the GOVERNMENT. Officials of the government keeping and bearing arms can’t possibly protect the CITIZENS from the GOVERNMENT.
So here I am, a non-gun owner, non-violent man outraged by the death of innocents at the hands of drive-by gunmen, home-invasion thieves and crazy young men who kill people in malls and schoolrooms, defending the rights of private citizens to keep and bear arms, as the Constitution says. Just as in the case of the 1st Amendment, the framers didn’t foresee the development of semi- and fully-automatic weapons, Uzis and armor piercing ammunition any more than they could have anticipated the internet and pay-per-view cable porn, but the freedom transcends the mechanism. Possession of personal firearms is sometimes abused, and badly, but the abuses, tragic and horrible as they are, are the tiny exception and not the rule, and the need to preserve the ability of the populace to rally against a future oppressive government demands that the public remain adequately armed.
I can’t pick and choose — YOU can’t pick and choose — to allow a freedom that supports your views and restrict a freedom that makes you angry.
What do I really believe?
What do I really believe?
During the online debate and discussion about the recent horrific mass murder at an elementary school I have been asked if I defended the right of people to own personal assault weapons. I initially answered “no” — then I realized that my answer was only an emotional response made without any thought of underlying principle.
I had to go back and re-read the Bill of Rights — the first 10 Amendments to the United States Constitution and consider what I hold dear. Take a minute with me to review them:
Amendment I (Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition)
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II (Freedom to keep and bear arms)
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment III (Freedom from government quartering of soldiers)
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment IV (Freedom from unreasonable Search & Seizure)
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V (Right to due process of law, freedom from self-incrimination, double jeopardy)
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI (Rights of accused persons to a speedy and public trial)
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
Amendment VII (Right to a trial by jury in civil cases)
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII (Freedom from excessive bail, cruel and unusual punishments)
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX (Freedom from government encroachment upon personal right)
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X (Freedom from Federal Government encroaching upon states rights)
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
_______________________________________
The common element in all ten? They were very intentionally written to protect the CITIZENS from the GOVERNMENT. Thomas Jefferson said, “A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth.” James Madison viewed the Bill of Rights as a vehicle that might be used to rally people against a future oppressive government.
So, here’s my dilemma: do I really believe in the principles underlying these amendments, or do I want to selectively pick and choose depending upon the changing winds of popular opinion or — even worse — upon which ones align with my personal preferences?
Do I believe in free speech? Well that gets complicated, doesn’t it? I certainly want my freedom to speak, to preach and teach, but I wish a lot of other people would shut up, frankly. Does that make me a hypocrite? If so, I am in good company. Some of my liberal friends wish Rush Limbaugh would shut up. Some of my conservative friends wish Rachel Maddow would shut up. All of us wish those crazies from the Westboro Baptist Church would shut up, but the reality is that if we want freedom from government intervention in our speech, we have to accept that the government must treat speech we despise with an equally hands-off approach. So I get to preach Christ, the Westboro people get to misrepresent Christ, and a million websites get to pollute the minds of the nation with the most vile kinds of porn you probably can’t even imagine. Free speech.
Of course, when the framers of the Constitution wrote those protections they were writing with quills and printing was done one sheet at a time on a platen press. The mechanisms of free speech have radically changed and exponentially broadened, but the broadly written protection has flexed and stretched to accommodate those mechanisms.
That brings me to the 2nd Amendment, so important it was listed right behind the freedom to speak without fear, a protection against the government’s propensity to shut down dissenting and unpopular views.
The 2nd Amendment acknowledges that private citizens have the Constitutional right to own weapons… not only to own them, but to bear them. Not only the right to own a gun locked away in a gun safe, but the right to bear, to carry, a personal firearm. Some would attempt to argue that the opening phrase of the 2nd Amendment — “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State…” — limits possession of firearms to law enforcement officers and military personnel, but that argument contradicts the purpose of the right: to protect the CITIZENS from the GOVERNMENT. Officials of the government keeping and bearing arms can’t possibly protect the CITIZENS from the GOVERNMENT.
So here I am, a non-gun owner, non-violent man outraged by the death of innocents at the hands of drive-by gunmen, home-invasion thieves and crazy young men who kill people in malls and schoolrooms, defending the rights of private citizens to keep and bear arms, as the Constitution says. Just as in the case of the 1st Amendment, the framers didn’t foresee the development of semi- and fully-automatic weapons, Uzis and armor piercing ammunition any more than they could have anticipated the internet and pay-per-view cable porn, but the freedom transcends the mechanism. Possession of personal firearms is sometimes abused, and badly, but the abuses, tragic and horrible as they are, are the tiny exception and not the rule, and the need to preserve the ability of the populace to rally against a future oppressive government demands that the public remain adequately armed.
I can’t pick and choose — YOU can’t pick and choose — to allow a freedom that supports your views and restrict a freedom that makes you angry.
1.01.2013
21 Daniel Fast January 7-27
From Monday January 7 through Sunday January 27, 2013 Reunion Hawaii Church will be observing a Daniel Fast. This selective abstinence from certain foods is patterned after the story in Daniel Chapter 1, verses 3 through 20.
The attached sheet will help you understand more and structure your 3 weeks of food. 11.05.2012
A Pretty Good Thing?
Everybody wants to do GREAT things, but are you willing to do a pretty good thing?
10.14.2012
Fall 2012 Reunion Small Groups
We have relaunched our small groups ministry at Reunion. We are excited to offer 10 very diverse choices of groups this season. There are groups for people from 11 to 111 years old, in a variety of categories... social affinity groups, spiritual growth opportunites, age appropriate ministries, missional and outreach focused groups.
Pick a group (or two) from this small guide and contact the leader to join in!
10.02.2012
Leadership Expectations
Clearly stated expectations reduce the potential for misunderstanding, conflict and division. Often a cohesive team operates under an understood (at least by them) set of guidelines and expectations that establish boundaries, regulate acceptable practices, and influence behaviors. When newcomers are assimilated into the leadership team they may be perplexed and struggle to understand why their words or actions create tension or cause offense.
In an attempt to prevent those kind of things from happening, I recently sat down and attempted to define Leadership Expectations for those serving under me in the Hawaii-Kiribati Church of God of Prophecy organizational structure.
This PDF document is the result of that effort. It is probably incomplete, and imperfect, but it is far better than unspoken, unwritten assumptions.
Leadership Expectations
Clearly stated expectations reduce the potential for misunderstanding, conflict and division. Often a cohesive team operates under an understood (at least by them) set of guidelines and expectations that establish boundaries, regulate acceptable practices, and influence behaviors. When newcomers are assimilated into the leadership team they may be perplexed and struggle to understand why their words or actions create tension or cause offense.
In an attempt to prevent those kind of things from happening, I recently sat down and attempted to define Leadership Expectations for those serving under me in the Hawaii-Kiribati Church of God of Prophecy organizational structure.
This PDF document is the result of that effort. It is probably incomplete, and imperfect, but it is far better than unspoken, unwritten assumptions.
2.20.2012
Pastors: stay with your vision
If you know that God has given you a clear vision, a direction, for the church you lead and you are certain that you clearly understand it, do not let anybody or any circumstance turn your head to the left or the right.
From its very inception REUNION (www.reunionhawaii.com) has been challenged, questioned, misunderstood, and opposed. REUNION did not fit in anybody's mold. Our structure was unconventional, our ways of doing things broke tradition, and we defied categorization. Our roots are deeply planted in Wesleyan-holiness Pentecostal tradition but — as a reaction to the excesses of some of our Pentecostal and charismatic friends — we functioned so differently than our denominational sister churches that some people refer to us as “semi-costal.”
We have had people come to check us out and leave, realizing that REUNION was not a good fit for them. We have had people who never quite grasped the vision we were pursuing stay for a while and then leave. We have had people within our own denominational structure trying to figure us out, but through it all our pastoral leadership team stuck together, grew closer, and determined to hang on to what we knew was ahead.
For the past 6 months or so God has been peeling back the layers of junk and allowing the vision to grow, emerge, and begin to be reality. We still have our critics. We still have people who don’t get it. We simply refuse to pay any attention to them, because we know that the vision God gave us is being fulfilled right before our very eyes and we know that success is the best response to criticism.
While we were being criticized for not being demonstratively Pentecostal enough we were patiently teaching our way through Scripture, and putting in place leadership development and discipleship programs that have now led to a genuine move of the Holy Spirit. We still reject the kind of hyper-emotional flesh candy that some people seek as manifestations of the Holy Spirit, because we are experiencing the real deal. Our children and young adults are being filled with the spirit weekly, we are gaining new people who are bringing their friends along with them (new people bring new people), we are baptizing new believers and adding covenant members to our local church.
Perhaps the biggest challenge for us as leaders is to resist the natural temptation to try to manage it, to stay out of the way, and allow God to continually amaze and delight us with the ways he’s bringing this to pass.
Last night was a great example. After a long and pretty exhausting weekend during which many of the ladies from REUNION attended a retreat in Waikiki, our ministry center in Kaneohe was filled with life and laughter as some of our tech guys gathered to upgrade our audio system. I was in my office completing a seminary assignment and people kept popping their heads in the door to say hello. I thought there were only 3 or 4 people out there, but when I finished my assignment and went to check it out, there were more than a dozen people — men women and children — laughing, talking, and sharing food at 11 PM, because these folks just love doing life together. While we were in there, my cell phone rang and I heard the voice of a very excited father who could barely speak through his tears. He was calling to tell me that his 10-year-old son had just been filled with the Holy Spirit and was speaking in tongues and praising God in the family car. The young boy had been witnessing what was going on around him at REUNION and became hungry to experience more of God for himself. His mother reached over, laid a hand on him, and began to pray for him and he was immediately overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues.
Our DNA Discipleship Training School is in its 2nd session, with teenagers and young adults cramming into a small room in a house every Saturday and Sunday night for hours of teaching worship and prayer. We are watching their lives get turned right side up as they experience the presence and power of God, making them hungry for more.
That's the kind of genuine revival that we are experiencing because we refused to listen to the critics, refused to be bullied or intimidated by opposition, and kept our eyes firmly upon the direction and vision that we know came from God.
There is a pastor reading this today who is tired, discouraged and burned out, feeling “what's the use?” When you are surrounded by nothing but discouragers it is very easy to begin to believe it, to give up, and just go with the flow. Don’t. Don’t give up. Refuse to believe the lies of the enemy when he tells you your dream is too big, your vision too radical.
If you know that God has burned into your heart a vision of what can be, do not turn your eyes and in the other direction. Shut out the voices of your critics and the complaints of those who don’t understand what God has shown you. I seem to remember a story about a guy building a huge boat when it had never even rained before.
11.08.2011
11.01.2011
Daniel Fast encouragement
10.20.2011
Tired of Whac-a-Mole with the devil?
10.07.2011
Selective marketing or political activism?
Today in America, about 75% of adults identify themselves as Christians.(religioustolerance.org) About 3.8% of Americans identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. (Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law) — three point eight percent… less than 4 out of 100. So if we can accept these statistics as roughly correct within a margin of error, there are almost 20 times more Christians in the United States than homosexuals.
It strikes me as odd, then, that my airline of choice, Delta, has an entire section of their website set aside to market to the 9 million American gays (www.delta.com/gaytravel) but NO section of their website targets the 230 million Americans who self-identify as Christians. Is it selective marketing? If so, it is industrial strength stupid, and Jackie Yeaney, Managing Director, Consumer Marketing, Delta Airlines should seriously reconsider those priorities.
I love your airline, Jackie, and fly Delta whenever possible, but it does bother me a bit that you engage in activist economics and use my loyalty to support causes I don't espouse, while ignoring an exponentially larger segment of your potential market.
I went to www.delta.com/christiantravel but “The requested page could not be found on delta.com” — yeah… I didn't think so.
9.22.2011
The downside of Hawaii life?
9.21.2011
Mentoring Class
Instructor: Gary Langley
The Hawai‘i Ministry Development Center is dedicated to providing inspiration, information, support and encouragement to those in active Christian ministry and those seeking to be.
Through edification and education leaders and emerging leaders will become better able “to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:12-13)
Operated under the auspices of the Hawai‘i Church of God of Prophecy (COGOP), the Hawai‘i Ministry Development Center is a transdenominational institution.