New Disciples Blog: Matt Rosine

Houston pastor Matt Rosine visits churches in his area and writes about what he finds. Check out his blog!

Darfur: Tents of Hope

The humanitarian relief effort in Darfur is the world’s largest. More than two million people are estimated to be displaced by the ongoing conflicts there, and they are beginning to lose hope

Tents of Hope, an outgrowth of relief efforts from the Disciples of Christ, the United Church of Christ, and Dear Sudan, aims to change that. Groups of people - schools, churches, seminaries, communities - purchase and decorate tents like those the Darfuri refugees live in. The tents are erected as a reminder of the crisis in Darfur.

 Read more about Tents of Hope here; visit the official website; or watch a YouTube video.

Fellowship of Prayer Lenten Devotional

Last year, our publisher/editor, Verity Jones, asked several of us if we would be willing to contribute to a Lenten devotional from Christian Board of Publication. 

I’d never written for a devotional booklet before, but I thought, “How hard can it be?” The lessons are short!”

Well, for someone used to writing 700-word articles, 6-page sermons, and 20 page seminary papers, it wasn’t easy at all.  We were each given a list of 28 scripture texts for an assigned week (mine is Week 2) and were allowed to choose one text from a list of four (Old Testament, Psalm, Epistle, Gospel lesson) for each day.  I looked up all the scriptures on my list, made notes, carried them around with me for most of last August, and would take them out and look at them a couple of times a day. It took awhile to choose. There are so many great Lenten texts, but then I’d think, what can I say in 250 words that hasn’t already been said?

Gradually, I settled on the texts, and the messages emerged, one by one. What was really interesting, though, was reading the devotions from the other writers on the project — Verity, Ted Parks, Sherri Emmons, Christian Piatt, and Bob Friedly — and seeing how it all came together.

The devotional, “Fellowship of Prayer 2008: Devotions for Lent” is available now through CBP.

Week of Compassion to provide relief to Buckeye Fans

DisciplesWorld received this news release today. If you’re a Buckeye Fan, you’ll appreciate this!

Week of Compassion sets up operations base in Columbus

Week of Compassion, the relief, refugee, and development ministry fund of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), will be setting up disaster relief operations at Ohio Stadium, aka The Horseshoe,” to assist Ohioans devastated by back-to-back losses in the BCS Championship Game.

“After the loss to Florida last year, we saw a marked increase in suffering and taunting of Ohio State fans,” said Amy Gopp, Associate Director of Week of Compassion, “and being humiliated by LSU last night will just make the situation worse. We know the next few months in the Buckeye State are going to be difficult, but with faith, compassion, and increased security  along the Ohio-Michigan border, the recovery will be faster. It will take a while, but it will happen.”

Following last year’s blowout loss to Florida, Gopp relocated to Kent, Ohio, to provide a quicker response to distressed Buckeye fans. In Monday night’s return to the National Championship state, Ohio State jumped out to a 10-0 lead only to watch LSU reel off 31 straight points. The Bayou Bengals won 38-24. “It was one of the best strategic moves Week of Compassion has made,” Gopp said. “Given Ohio State’s recent history, it appears there will be a long-term need for disaster assistance.”

For more information on relief efforts in Ohio, visit WOC’s web site, www.weekofcompassion.org.

Cool People Care!

Just in case anyone still has doubts that young adults a.) care;  and b.) are capable of making a difference in the world, check out the Cool People Care website. Founded by Sam Davidson and  Stephen Moseley, a Disciple and the son of Christian Theological Seminary professor Dan Moseley, the site is a hub for practical ideas and simple inspiration.  Watch the short (1 minute) video to learn how you can make a positive impact by committing just 5 minutes. [You're NOT too busy for 5 minutes, are you?!] Cool People Care also has its own blog, the Remarkablog. And, Davidson and Moseley just had a book published, New Day Revolution.

If you have another minute more, check out this great list of 50 spiritual things to do, compiled by Ray Waddle, former religion editor at The Tennessean in Nashville, Tenn. Waddle writes a religion and faith column for the paper now. Cool People Care is on his list, too. I like #47 (though we Disciples can probably check that off our list).

DOC minister helps bring victory to Huckabee in IA

Whether he’s your candidate or not, you have to admit Mike Huckabee’s something of a surprise, especially after his big win in Iowa.

Disciples Minister Matt Reisetter of Cedar Falls has been working hard for Huck in Iowa. Read more about Matt and his involvement in the campaign here.

And thanks to Beau Underwood for letting us know.

A United Methodist opinion on homosexuality in the church

The next issue of DisciplesWorld (Jan/Feb) deals with glbt persons in ministry.  It promises to be an interesting issue. We’ve tried to portray the controversies fairly, but also to get beyond them to what holds us together as church.

On that topic, this morning I came across something of interest from Rev. Russ Whaley, a United Methodist pastor who wrote an opinion piece for United Methodist News Service.

With its General Conference coming up in April, in the same location where the Disciples had our General Assembly last summer, the UMs (or at least some faction) are apparently pushing the idea of barring non-heterosexuals from membership. So much for Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors. 

My guess is that a survey of rank-and-file Methodists and Disciples would produce a similar range of opinions. What I’m finding kind of remarkable is the impact of church structure and governance on how we deal with this and other controversial issues. Frustrating as it may be for us Disciples, sometimes, to not have a heirarchical structure or a collection of written rules like the Methodists’ Book of Discipline, we can never get far from having to reckon (and reconcile) with one another. 

And that has made all the difference.

New Year’s resolution: update blog

As have many of you who blog, we at DisciplesWorld have struggled with keeping our blog updated and with an even more basic question: what do we want this blog to be?

A new year is as good a time as any for a fresh start, so here goes. We’ve decided that the best use of our blog is to point our faithful readers in the direction of what we find interesting and newsworthy. That will include posts by other Disciples bloggers on their blogs, individual and congregational news from around the web, and sometimes, general religious or cultural items of interest.

We may also use the blog to float article ideas for upcoming issues, to ask our readers what you think about certain topics, and to let you know what we’re working on. 

Occasionally, we’ll also post our own opinions, musings, photos, and the “story behind the story,” as we’ve done in the past.

Hopefully this resolution won’t go the way of the grapefruit diet, daily journaling, and the promise to keep the inside of my car clean.

Congregation breaks ground 3 years after arson fire

Three years ago, First Christian Church in Oak Ridge, Tenn. greeted the new year with some bad news - someone had set deliberately set the church on fire on New Year’s Eve.  Although the building was completely destroyed, the congregation persevered. Now, exactly 3 years later, they’ve broken ground for a new building.

Read all about it in an online article from the Knoxville (TN) News-Sentinel. And here’s our story from 2005.