MIM Ezine, May 4, 2007

-- "My Argument for Master Criminal Status (Inspirational)" by Charles Marshall.

-- Book Review: "The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything" by Brian D. McLaren,reviewed by Tom Hanover.

Shop at DreamBuilders Ministry in Motion’s Bookstore forChristian Books, CD, DVDs, Jewelry, Apparel & Gifts and Save!Order Books & Resources

Because of the strong response we got to our free book give-away- we are going to continue with this offer each issue of the E-Zine.

As a thanks to our valued e-zine readers, we would like to offer some of the best back to you.

We are offering books such as, "Pastor," by Will Willimon; "The Secret Message," by Brian MacLaren; "Overcoming Barriers to Growth: Proven Strategies for Taking Your Church to the Next Level," by Michael Fletcher, and many others.

Put 'FREEBOOKGIVEAWAY' in the Subject line and include your name and mailing address.

For the third time in ten years a massacre of innocent lives sent me reeling. Our kids were still in high school when we lived in Colorado. We lived about a half hour from Columbine when the Columbine shootings occurred. The sheer magnitude of the volume of flowers, stuffed animals, and notes lining the makeshift memorial on the school grounds stays with me. I recall the heart-wrenching memorial service where thousands attended. We hoped to never experience such overwhelming tragedy again.

Then came 911. Thousands died. All of us suffered wounds so deep that we have never fully recovered. America lost her innocence and we saw what the face of evil looked like that day.

More recently, the Virginia Tech Massacre brought back the horrors of 911 on a smaller scale. Old wounds opened and bled. Perhaps, being raised in Virginia, I felt it more keenly than most. The magnitude knocked me to my knees. “Why?” I asked. And what good has our ministry done when this type of hatred still prevails?

Everything is meaningless and striving after the wind. It feels that Christians have their finger in a leaky levee, but the water is flooding over like New Orleans in the wake of Katrina.

How do we minister in a world where the motto seems to be “don’t get mad, get even?”

We could do what some have done: withdrawing from society, building bunkers, pulling kids out of school in the hopes of protecting them. But in our hearts, we know this is not really the answer. At some point, we have to face the world, and so will our children. And the world seems to be getting worse. The Bible tells us it will be like birth pangs. And though we may long for a world like we had even 40 years ago where kids didn’t go to schools and blow people away, we cannot go back. We can only go forward.

We have to continue to press on toward the goal, starting where we are. Reaching the lost with Christ’s love remains the goal. What is most discouraging is that we may not see a massive impact. But every small thing we do for Christ can have a lasting imprint on the lives of those we touch and the lives they, in turn, shape and mold.

We cannot change the whole world, only a small part of it. Each of us is working toward the same goal, to bring those we connect with via our ministry, into a loving, life-changing relationship with Christ.

Teena Stewart is a published writer, a ministry consultant and coach, and a product developer for DreamBuilders Ministry in Motion. Her new book, Best Practices of Successful Small Groups (Beacon Hill) is scheduled for release in December 2007. To learn more about Teena, her writing, coaching and consulting services, click here. Email Teena at smartwords@sbcglobal.net

I was in the store the other day writing a check for $2.47 when the cashier asked for my identification. I was deeply offended at this request, not because it implied I might be a criminal, but because it implied I might be a petty criminal.

I don’t think I’m just flattering myself when I say I believe I’m worthy of being mistaken for a master criminal like Dr. Doom or Magneto or even Wile E. Coyote.

I don’t even come close to matching the petty criminal profile that I’ve observed on “C*O*P*S,” which, as everyone knows, is well known for its complete absence of master criminals. Based on this show, I offer two reasons why I feel I’m above petty criminal suspicion.

1] I wear shirts. The suspects on “C*O*P*S” are rarely ever seen wearing shirts. It seems to me that if the authorities were serious about stopping crime, a good place to start would be making sure everyone wears shirts. There seems to be something about going around half-naked that makes folks want to take drugs and pass bad checks.

The general rule is: The more clothing a person is wearing, then the less crime they’re likely to commit. I reference the Eskimos as proof. I challenge anyone to find footage of an Eskimo leaning against his dog sled getting patted down by a cop. It just doesn’t happen.

In contrast, what do you observe when you look at old Tarzan films? You see a guy running around the jungle in a loincloth, pestering all the animals and getting into everybody’s business. Yep, that Tarzan was trouble all right. If someone had slapped an Armani suit on him, the jungle would have been a better place for it.

The old saying goes “clothes make the man,” but it ought to be amended to “clothes make the man law-abiding.”

2] I have no piercings or tattoos. I’m not saying that everyone who has a piercing or tattoo is a criminal. What I am saying is that just about every petty criminal I’ve ever seen is covered with them.

This is one of the very things that makes the petty criminal a petty criminal — the inability to realize that having a large, easily recognizable tattoo on his shirtless chest is going to make him easier to identify and capture.

This is simply not the behavior of a master criminal. I have it on good authority that the Green Goblin would not have tolerated this kind of cheap posturing in his organization. And you certainly wouldn’t want to be around Lex Luthor wearing your nose ring and sporting a “Lynard Skynard Lives!” tattoo.

If you do happen to see a shirtless, tattooed goon stand at your front door, you need to know:

So, I’m watching “C*O*P*S” a few nights ago and I realize that there is a part of me that is tempted to believe that I’m better than those folks — that because I’m sitting in my climate-controlled home in my comfy chair, I’m somehow above the behavior exhibited by the suspects shown on this television show.

And then it hits me that God loves every one of those people every bit as much as he loves me. I realize that not an episode airs that he doesn’t grieve for his kids on that program and long for their rescue. And, if I were to be honest with myself, I know that I could have been on the same path myself, if it were not for God’s saving grace.

So maybe the next time I get carded for writing a check, I don’t need to be so uppity, thinking that I’m above petty criminal suspicion. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to run out and get a tattoo. And the shirt? The shirt is definitely staying on.

The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything

By Brian D. McLaren, 2006, W Publishing Group, Thomas Nelson, ISBN 0-8499-0000-X, 237 pages

Jesus never preached about good people getting into heaven. The shocking truth is that Jesus was a radical.

With a wink to the Gnostic gospels and The DaVinci Code, McLaren plays off our yearning for mystery. The mystery of the gospel, according to McLaren, is not that the message is hidden. Instead, it is a message that requires the seeker to search for it. It is radically different from what many nominal Christians might believe.

McLaren is one who has challenged the status quo of the current Christian culture. He has never met a tough question he was not willing to ask. Consequently, his writing speaks to an emerging generation of leaders who are seeking something deeper and broader than cultural Christianity.

One of McLaren’s gifts is to reframe the Jesus of the Gospels in their original Jewish context. Before Greek interpretation, contemporary politicization, and European enlightenment, Jesus was a Jew, living among Jews, preaching to Jews, interpreting the Kingdom to Jews. This perspective adds some intriguing insights into what Jesus preached.

For McLaren, these insights reveal how radical Jesus really was. The Gospel is dangerous to the civil Christian who is seeking to merely live as a good person. In fact, some may even be offended by the observations that McLaren reveals. The Jesus of the Gospel will challenge many of our status quo assumptions about faith and life.

His writing style differs significantly from his fictional writing, and takes on a more casual tone in this book, as though he is sitting by the fire with us sharing his heart. He unpacks some deep truths in an easy and comfortable manner yet, at the same time, leaves the reader to ponder over McLaren’s words and thoughts.

Brian McLaren is author of several acclaimed books on contemporary Christianity, including New Kind of Christian trilogy and A Generous Orthodoxy, which has been called a “manifesto” of the emerging church movement. He is founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church in the Baltimore-Washington DC area. He is a popular speaker around the world.

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If you or your organization normally orders multiple copies of books and Christian resources you can save money by applying for a special discount coupon via DreamBuilders Ministry in Motion's online bookstore. The coupon is absolutely free with no strings attached. Email Teena Stewart atsmartwords@sbcglobal to apply for this discount coupon.

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MIM Ezine - May 4, 2007