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"Good Things Come"
by Scott Bryte
http://www.goodpreacher.com/blog/
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
'Anonymous Friend' gives $100 million to town
ERIE, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Mike Batchelor invited the heads of 46 charities into his downtown office for one-on-one meetings to personally deliver the news. Nearby, on a small table, sat a box of tissues. And then he proceeded: A donor had given a staggering $100 million to the Erie Community Foundation, and all of the charities would receive a share.
That was when the tears began to flow -- and the mystery began -- in this struggling old industrial city of 102,000 on Lake Erie, where the donor is known only as "Anonymous Friend."
Batchelor, president of the Erie Community Foundation, has been sworn to secrecy and will allow only that the donor worked with the organization for years to identify deserving recipients before the announcement over the summer. Excepted from an article on cnn.com.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/12/million.mystery.ap/index.html
Scripture talks about secrecy while giving; another topic for later. As a pastor, who regularly thinks about how nice it would be for someone to give a large sum of money to our church, could it be that God will only give money to those who will use it properly. It looks like in this article that most of the charities had something to do with the "least of these." Here is that outward mission , that churches need to have, that God seems to embrace. I am thankful when I see this kind of thing because this can only be the hand of God taking care of those who cannot take care of themselves. What if churches were given this money? How would it be used? Dare I say it? Is there a reason why the Lord did not use His Church to distribute the money?
ERIE, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Mike Batchelor invited the heads of 46 charities into his downtown office for one-on-one meetings to personally deliver the news. Nearby, on a small table, sat a box of tissues. And then he proceeded: A donor had given a staggering $100 million to the Erie Community Foundation, and all of the charities would receive a share.
That was when the tears began to flow -- and the mystery began -- in this struggling old industrial city of 102,000 on Lake Erie, where the donor is known only as "Anonymous Friend."
Batchelor, president of the Erie Community Foundation, has been sworn to secrecy and will allow only that the donor worked with the organization for years to identify deserving recipients before the announcement over the summer. Excepted from an article on cnn.com.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/12/million.mystery.ap/index.html
Scripture talks about secrecy while giving; another topic for later. As a pastor, who regularly thinks about how nice it would be for someone to give a large sum of money to our church, could it be that God will only give money to those who will use it properly. It looks like in this article that most of the charities had something to do with the "least of these." Here is that outward mission , that churches need to have, that God seems to embrace. I am thankful when I see this kind of thing because this can only be the hand of God taking care of those who cannot take care of themselves. What if churches were given this money? How would it be used? Dare I say it? Is there a reason why the Lord did not use His Church to distribute the money?
Friday, November 02, 2007
Modern Day Rapture
The Rapture is known as an end times doctrine in most circles of the Christian Church. It is the general belief that Christ will take His Church from the Tribulation that is to come. Further, there are different theories of when that will take place, if it is to take place. Many Christians look forward to the Second Coming of Christ so that they can escape the harshness of this world. Yet, it seems that Christ is counting upon His Church to be those who bring healing to this world. However, the Church seems to be taking part in her own type of Rapture. Let me explain. Many pastors and congregations desire to be successful, in other words, to grow in numbers. This is fine because numbers represent souls saved; at least we hope. Therefore, the solution to many of these churches is to move. Many of these churches desire to move to more affluent areas because there is a target group of people that they are seeking. Could it be that this target group has money? Many of these churches that desire to move are in areas that have a great amount of poverty, broken marriages, troubled people, and crime. Yeah, Jesus probably would not want His Church in a place like that. Besides, He would Rapture His Church from all of that anyway. It seems to me that Christ has a great deal of concern for these people; and these poor people seem to be His target group of people in the Bible. What is more, Jesus seems to want to use His Church to reach these people. The question that all ministers and lay people have to ask is, "Should the Church be trying to relocate to the poor side of town instead of leaving as soon as the money is available?" It might be that the money that God has given to those churches may have been there so that His people can take care of those who need help.
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