LOVE146  

Posted by Ben



Found a site that is seeking to put an end to human trafficking. Check it out at www.love146.org.

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Missional Church in 2 minutes  

Posted by Ben in

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The Great Emergence  

Posted by Ben

The New Rose, Phylis Tickle, The Great Emergence.





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A Quote from Betty Kapple  

Posted by Ben

betty kapple said,

January 26, 2010 at 6:43 PM

two things i have always feared the most are death and cancer.
in april i was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
in october i was told that i sould live 2 months if i do nothing.
something i wrote to my sister in an email in november:

i am facing death either way. and i need to look it in the eye and come to terms with it.

shortly after that one night i was sitting in the tub trying to relax and this thing that i wrote was going over in my mind.
the thought that came to mind is “face to face”.
i was looking into eyes.
and i recognized someone.
you know how when you see something that you dont expect and your eyes open up more and your eyebrows go up? and you sort of gasp.
i saw death as tho it was just in disguise as death.
kind of like the mask is on but you can still see the eyes.
then it hit me and i said
its not death its You.
You’re death and yet there is no death in You.
You’re what ive been afraid of Lord,
afraid to trust you
and i just cried.

definitely my most significant moment. like ever.
and my fear of death is gone.

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Reflections from the Last Decade and Anticipation of the Next  

Posted by Ben in

Lots of things have happened in the past decade...

  • In May of 2000, Shonda and I were married, bought our first car, Shonda graduated from Clarion and I was serving as a Pastor at Oil City, serving with the music and youth ministries.
  • In August of 2001, Shonda and I moved to Kansas City where I went to seminary (NTS). We experienced with the world the collapse of the World Trade Towers. I began serving at Southwood Nazarene in Raytown, MO while Shonda worked at NPH.
  • In 2002, both of my grandfather's passed away.
  • 2003, Shonda's grandfather passed away.
  • 2004 was fairly silent (though by this time what I was learning at Seminary was opening up worlds of new questions, that rocked my world and changed my world view).
  • 2005, one of my grandmother's passed away. I graduated from Seminary. Shonda and I moved to Warren, OH where I began serving Champion Nazarene in music and youth ministries. We also bought our first brand new vehicle a 2006 Kia Sportage (with the hopes of having it for 10 years or more... she's still with us).
  • In 2006 Shonda and I put a bid on a house, only to find out that week that our time in Warren could be coming to an end. We were thankful that our realtor and the owner were willing to let us back out of the deal.
  • 2007 my formal ministry at Champion ended. I began blogging on blogspot. Shonda and I moved in with my grandmother for two months. Then, Shonda and I bought our first house and moved to Canton, hoping to begin a new kind of church and raising a family together as Shonda was pregnant and unable to lift anything when we moved in, though we didn't want to tell our family's yet. And I began serving at New Hope Community Church in Boardman, OH.
  • 2008 the birth of our son Evan Nathaniel and the beginning of a new career in cemetery sales. And the economic crash in October.
  • In April 2009 my career in cemetery sales officially and abruptly came to an end. Part of me was relieved (cemetery sales isn't my cup of tea) and part of me was deeply anxious, angry, and wondering what's next. Spent two months applying for jobs and seeking God's direction while receiving unemployment.
  • In July 2009, God saw fit to bring me to an awesome community in DuBois, PA serving as a pastor, leader of a local church family. It's been just over 6 months and I'm looking forward to growing and developing deep meaningful relationships and encouraging the church to be kind of church God has created/designed her to be. We found out that Shonda was pregnant in October... but just before Thanksgiving when we had hoped to share the news with our families, we found that our baby had died. Needless to say our holidays were filled with a mixture emotions.
  • So in 2010, in ways we are still grieving, but have moved on recognizing that life itself is a great miracle.
So what good is this reflection... good question. Not quite sure... But I am amazed about the amount of things that have happened in the past ten years many of which I left out. And after such a reflection one seems to begin looking forward. What is going to come in this new decade?

Other questions of the decade of the 2010-2019...
  • What changes will technology bring to how we relate to one another? (in this past decade we went from blogging to facebooking).
  • What kind of changes will take place among the church? (Phyllis Tickle, Brian McLaren, George Barna seem to think that church has already been forever changed. So what is going to look, be, feel like? How will members of the church family receive the new kind of church that is emerging?
  • How will society as a whole respond to Jesus and his people the church?
  • Will the church love more during the years from 2010-2019 than it did in the previous decade?
  • What kind of changes are going to take place in my family?
  • Evan's most formative years will be this decade... how is this decade going to shape my son?
  • What kind of shape will the world be in in 2020?
Perhaps you would like to add your questions... what questions haunt you as we begin this new decade?


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Hey this is a cool new look at planet earth  

Posted by Ben in

Check it out at New Scientist.

So think about it for a moment... how might this change our perspectives about planet earth?

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An Upside Down Christmas Tree?  

Posted by Ben

This Christmas, Shonda and I trying to do more to represent the true meaning of Christmas. It is a struggle.


One thing we decided to try was that we wanted to help a family who is in need. We hooked up with a program in our area to provide a child with a Christmas gift, who may not be getting anything, perhaps job loss or other type of hardship.

The strange thing is that of three gifts suggested (not including clothes) each was a video game. Each of the games are on the new release rack; meaning that they are the most expensive games on the market.

One game is $180. The other two are $40 and $60. We were shocked.

Does this family need more stuff?

They obviously have two game systems including portable devices. What's up? Why must we have the latest greatest?

Is this healthy? Is this what Christmas is all about?

Then why do we perpetuate this line of thought? How many Christmas movies are out there that point to the idea of Christmas being about something more (like real relationships) and yet we still perpetuate the lie that stuff is what we need?

Here's a little video to help provide a Christmas disequalibrium... (from Work of the People)

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