Disclaimer: This post is not about superstar faith. It's another example of life-change that the world needs to know about.
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Brian Head Welch a guitarist for the rock band Korn recently gave his life to Christ.
I just listened to Brian's testimony from yesterday at his home church. An estimated 200 people gave their lives to Christ yesterday.
God is incredible. I spoke to our teens last week about Brian's story when I first read something about it and 1 teen came to Christ. Jesus Christ is all-powerful and yes he can reach a band member in a heavy metal rock band.
Christianity doesn't "need" famous people to come to Christ but when they do we should support and encourage them as best we can. Listening to Brian's testimony I believe he's genuinely changed. If you know anyone into this scene who is not saved I encourage you to read what's going on in the life of Brian Welch and use this as an opportunity to witness.
Brian Welch said from the church stage about his new mission: "I'm going to build churches, I'm going to grow in my faith... You watch me... "
Brian's Church and Testimony
Brian's New Personal Site
Brian's Story on MTV.com
Brian's Testimony according to MTV.com
2.28.2005
2.27.2005
(anti) Family Friendly MSNBC programming
After spending the morning working to bring marriages together (see below post or our website), my wife and I come home and turn on MSNBC. After a few minutes we are shocked when the next story to come across our television screen is a message geared toward helping cheating spouses! Yes. The entire MSNBC segment was devoted to "The 50 mile rule" author Judith E. Brandt. Apparently Ms. Bradt is herself a divorced woman who was the "other woman" as she ruined someone else's marriage. Not content with destroying two families she feels (as well as MSNBC) that she should make a little cash on destroying the lives of potentially thousands through the sale of her "book".
I have participated in nearly no writing campaigns as a Pastor or private citizen however this topic was too much of an assult on my family, my church, the sancticy of marriage and my respect as a consumer that I was forced to write MSNBC with my concerns. Below is the letter I sent moments ago:
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I have participated in nearly no writing campaigns as a Pastor or private citizen however this topic was too much of an assult on my family, my church, the sancticy of marriage and my respect as a consumer that I was forced to write MSNBC with my concerns. Below is the letter I sent moments ago:
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From: Tally Wilgis [mailto:Tally@FocalPointChurch.com]
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 2:29 PM
To: viewerservices@msnbc.com
Subject: Concerned Viewer
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 2:29 PM
To: viewerservices@msnbc.com
Subject: Concerned Viewer
To Whom it May Concern:
My wife and I are viewers of MSNBC. We've come to enjoy the various programs you offer during the evening and weekends when we are most able to enjoy programming. Most weekends we watch some form of MSNBC programming because we've felt comfortable with the professionalism and range of opinions on your airwaves.
Today however you let our family down and have caused us to reconsider the professionalism of your organization. By providing the author of "The 50 mile rule" an encouraging opportunity to pander her book to the men and women (particularly men) at home on a Sunday afternoon, your producers have caused us to lose respect for your organization. All it takes is a simple glance at family statistics to understand that families (yes children are included) are already facing a 50% divorce rate. Children are raised without mothers and fathers or are forced to shuttle between two homes every week where they mainly live out of a backpack or small suitcase due to divorce or separation. Many families have financial obligations based on a two-income household and are forced to fall near the poverty line after a divorce.
The title of the segment "Tips for Cheaters" and the serious tone of your interviewer sent the clear signal that MSNBC (and it's parent companies) support cheating, lying, divorce, children being pawns in the game of infidelity, not to mention the de-valuing of women within the home. From a 'news' organization I expect to be given 'news'. It is not news to use valuable air time to condone the practice of something so devastating to so many families. Your producers have shown your organization to be inconsiderate to your viewers and indifferent to the consequences of your promotional episodes. Certainly you could and should have done better.
One of several remedies are in order for this situation.
1. Apologize publicly. Explain that someone on your staff made a mistake.
2. Invite the Author of "The 50 mile rule" on with a family counselor and someone representing the faith community.
3. Invite a guest in to discuss ways to improve your marriage if you are considering leaving. (Gary Chapman, Tommy Nelson or a fellow Pastor)
In a world with so many negatives and so many broken homes we families rely on news organizations to provide us with news. We do not expect or respect MSNBC or it's parent companies to support programming directly aimed at destroying our families. Please consider appropriate action.
Sincerely,
Pastor Tally and Kristy Wilgis
It's all worth it!
I spent this week preparing for today's service. The worship guides, the message, the music, video, powerpoint, purchases, meetings, practices and so many more hours of time went into this week's service.
We had several guests today and one man gave his life to Christ. After the service he shared with me that an illustration (not in my notes) is what caught is heart. I said "When you've fallen off of the ship it doesn't matter if you're separated from your rescue by an inch or a mile... You're still separated." My message was that we all are in need of forgiveness and it doesn't matter how close you are to being 'good' you and I still and always will need the salvation brought to us by Christ.
This came up in a message about marriage when I spoke about the 5 love languages by Gary Chapman (by God via Gary Chapman).
All of the work I listed above IS WORTH IT. A man's eternal destiny was changed today through the power and prompting of the Holy Spirit encouraged by the faithful work of God's people. It's all worth it!
We had several guests today and one man gave his life to Christ. After the service he shared with me that an illustration (not in my notes) is what caught is heart. I said "When you've fallen off of the ship it doesn't matter if you're separated from your rescue by an inch or a mile... You're still separated." My message was that we all are in need of forgiveness and it doesn't matter how close you are to being 'good' you and I still and always will need the salvation brought to us by Christ.
This came up in a message about marriage when I spoke about the 5 love languages by Gary Chapman (by God via Gary Chapman).
All of the work I listed above IS WORTH IT. A man's eternal destiny was changed today through the power and prompting of the Holy Spirit encouraged by the faithful work of God's people. It's all worth it!
2.26.2005
Meet me at the HotSpot!
Travel? If you're traveling locally while running errands or traveling away for a meeting and you need internet connection you should check out this HotSpot Finder.
I ran my address and it gave me Wi-Fi hotspots I knew about as well as a few I did not know existed.
Check it out Here.
I ran my address and it gave me Wi-Fi hotspots I knew about as well as a few I did not know existed.
Check it out Here.
2.25.2005
Where does YOUR name rank?
The folks over at The Creative Generalist have posted about a cool baby name site called The Baby Name Wizard's Voyager.
Tally is not listed but my given first name is.
Check out this cool toy to see what names have been popular each decade since 1900 and where your name ranks among the masses.
Tally is not listed but my given first name is.
Check out this cool toy to see what names have been popular each decade since 1900 and where your name ranks among the masses.
2.24.2005
Bloglines
I am still relatively new to the blogging world and 'getting my feet wet' this year. As I've had guests visit my blog and some leave comments I would hate to not inform my wonderful readers about a service that should become standard if you enjoy reading blogs but would rather not check every page each hour to see if they've been updated. It's called "Bloglines".
Bloglines is a tool that (once downloaded) sits at the bottom of your screen in the active icons. When a blog is updated you will automatically receive an alert letting you know that it has been updated.
I currently observe 31 blogs with a wide variety of interests. I even have some newspaper feeds on my bloglines.
So... it's a good idea and you should give it a shot.
Bloglines is a tool that (once downloaded) sits at the bottom of your screen in the active icons. When a blog is updated you will automatically receive an alert letting you know that it has been updated.
I currently observe 31 blogs with a wide variety of interests. I even have some newspaper feeds on my bloglines.
So... it's a good idea and you should give it a shot.
Tennis Anyone?
Check out this tennis match between Andre Aggassi and Roger Federer.
Or if you don't care about the story you can just check out the pics.
Wow!
Or if you don't care about the story you can just check out the pics.
Wow!
A Trinity of Matter?
I've started a new book this week called "God in The Equation". This book is about Albert Einstein and what they term the sci/religion. Basically Einstein created a buzz when he began to formulate a view of science (which many Christians hold) that we're simply discovering for ourselves how a being (God) created the whole thing.
What got me thinking was when I read about Dark Matter and Dark Energy which are forces scientists say complete "known existance" when added to the regular Matter of which you and I are aware. So basically the three substances that make up existance are Matter, Dark Matter and Dark Energy. (Trinity?)
Okay so think about this: Two of three possible forms of matter in existence are unseen. We know of only 1 part of matter that has been seen with the eyes. Sound familiar? If you're a Christ follower we would say that Jesus Christ is the physical revelation of the Trinity. The other two forms are God the Father and the Holy Spirit.
I personally don't view science as an enemy of faith and when I read things like this I am that much more in awe of my God. For all that there is to know about matter (substance of our known existence) we only know about 1/3 of what is out there. In addition we likely don't know the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this revealed matter itself.
Far too many Christians ignore thought about our existance. I've found (at least in my life) many people who don't know the name of Christ think about where they fit into all of existance. Christianity has answers but we sometimes ignore the questions.
Another thought a friend pointed out: Scientists have said that when you look at known matter and draw a scale illustrating size... Humans sit at the center of all scalable creation. Meaning if you go to smaller and smaller elements than humans and you go larger and larger above humans, we sit at the center of known sizes in creation. That thought (should it be accurate) is pretty amazing. I enjoy being awed. Sometimes "educated" people tend to lose the mystery and awe that is God.
Romans 1:20
20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities ?his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
What got me thinking was when I read about Dark Matter and Dark Energy which are forces scientists say complete "known existance" when added to the regular Matter of which you and I are aware. So basically the three substances that make up existance are Matter, Dark Matter and Dark Energy. (Trinity?)
Okay so think about this: Two of three possible forms of matter in existence are unseen. We know of only 1 part of matter that has been seen with the eyes. Sound familiar? If you're a Christ follower we would say that Jesus Christ is the physical revelation of the Trinity. The other two forms are God the Father and the Holy Spirit.
I personally don't view science as an enemy of faith and when I read things like this I am that much more in awe of my God. For all that there is to know about matter (substance of our known existence) we only know about 1/3 of what is out there. In addition we likely don't know the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this revealed matter itself.
Far too many Christians ignore thought about our existance. I've found (at least in my life) many people who don't know the name of Christ think about where they fit into all of existance. Christianity has answers but we sometimes ignore the questions.
Another thought a friend pointed out: Scientists have said that when you look at known matter and draw a scale illustrating size... Humans sit at the center of all scalable creation. Meaning if you go to smaller and smaller elements than humans and you go larger and larger above humans, we sit at the center of known sizes in creation. That thought (should it be accurate) is pretty amazing. I enjoy being awed. Sometimes "educated" people tend to lose the mystery and awe that is God.
Romans 1:20
20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities ?his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
2.22.2005
Fast, Cheap, High Quality
I once heard that these are three components to customer satisfaction. In almost any situation a business can offer 2 but not 3.
Combinations:
I can get something Fast and Cheap (drive-thru food) but it won't be high quality.
I can get something Cheap and High Quality (meal at home) but it won't usually be fast (It takes a while to cook one's own food).
I can get something High Quality and Fast (Fine Dining)but it will not be cheap.
Today my wife's Jeep needed a new Power Steering Pump. [I didn't know this until I took it in for a repair after my wife said it was getting noisy and downright scary to drive.] Kristy (my wife) found a place nearby her office where they could work on it right away (fast). Based on their work and the silence while driving I'd say their quality was good (High Quality) but when I look at the nearly $300 I spent today I can say it wasn't what I'd call cheap.
I'm still a satisfied customer. Why? Because 2 of 3 of my desires as a consumer were met.
While waiting for the car to get repaired I went across the street to an old mom and pop diner. It looked like a run-down shack (reminded me of growing up in Baltimore City). I was served a meal quickly that in my estimation was okay and I paid about 8.50. So again I was satisfied. (Fast and decent quality).
Does this triangle of service work in your personal experiences? I'm still observing and learning about businesses so I'd be glad to hear from other P.O.V.'s.
Combinations:
I can get something Fast and Cheap (drive-thru food) but it won't be high quality.
I can get something Cheap and High Quality (meal at home) but it won't usually be fast (It takes a while to cook one's own food).
I can get something High Quality and Fast (Fine Dining)but it will not be cheap.
Today my wife's Jeep needed a new Power Steering Pump. [I didn't know this until I took it in for a repair after my wife said it was getting noisy and downright scary to drive.] Kristy (my wife) found a place nearby her office where they could work on it right away (fast). Based on their work and the silence while driving I'd say their quality was good (High Quality) but when I look at the nearly $300 I spent today I can say it wasn't what I'd call cheap.
I'm still a satisfied customer. Why? Because 2 of 3 of my desires as a consumer were met.
While waiting for the car to get repaired I went across the street to an old mom and pop diner. It looked like a run-down shack (reminded me of growing up in Baltimore City). I was served a meal quickly that in my estimation was okay and I paid about 8.50. So again I was satisfied. (Fast and decent quality).
Does this triangle of service work in your personal experiences? I'm still observing and learning about businesses so I'd be glad to hear from other P.O.V.'s.
Forget March... it's Method Madness!
For the last several days there has been a conversation going on over at Terry's blog. The actual conversation is ]here[. A conversation that now approaches 50 comments.
I'm glad for the dialogue b/c quite honestly I don't know if in Christianity there has been much discussion on the issue between guys who are actively doing ministry everyday in their communities. So much of the conversation has been done by convention leaders and authors. I don't mind Pastors having these discussions.
I enjoy dialogue and debate as long as it remains healthy. We all have work we're doing and honestly no matter which side of the discussion one falls I do pray that it only causes the Pastors in us to take a back seat to the children of God that we are and remind us how small we are and how little we know in comparison to the hugeness of who God is!
"We are not as strong as we think we are."-- Rich Mullins
I'm glad for the dialogue b/c quite honestly I don't know if in Christianity there has been much discussion on the issue between guys who are actively doing ministry everyday in their communities. So much of the conversation has been done by convention leaders and authors. I don't mind Pastors having these discussions.
I enjoy dialogue and debate as long as it remains healthy. We all have work we're doing and honestly no matter which side of the discussion one falls I do pray that it only causes the Pastors in us to take a back seat to the children of God that we are and remind us how small we are and how little we know in comparison to the hugeness of who God is!
"We are not as strong as we think we are."-- Rich Mullins
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