Snow Hill News Blog

What Is Your Story?

As a follow-up to their recent Justice Now, our youth produced a video in keeping with the theme - What's our Story?

Take a look -

Christ Our Life

Pastor Todd and Nathan have often made reference to Dallas Willard. One of the challenges Dr. Willard often gives is to memorize Colossians 3. We recently discovered this sermon by Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. We would encourage you to take some time to listen and reflect on Dr. Keller's sermon on Colossians 3. You may listen by clicking here.

Thank You Bob!

Here is Pastor Todd's weekly email about our collective "Thank you" to Bob Johnson.

Time. It can get away from you. Sometimes we cannot find enough of it. Occasionally we have too much on our hands.
 
Jesus remarked to the disciples on one occasion he must be busy about his work while it was day - while the time was good. My friend Ed Stetzer, President of Lifeway Research, recently commented, "One of the greatest sins in the church is we have made it ok to sit and do nothing and call yourself a Christ-follower." Much of what Jesus pointed toward and Ed noted pointedly concerns what we do with our time.
 
It is at this point one expects a pastor to suggest some are not spending enough time in church. Certainly I believe we have missed the point of "gathering." Rather than to get noticed for being in attendance, the writer of Hebrews suggested the "assembling" together is for mutual encouragement to love and good deeds. No one could argue this can be done "outside" of church. The question is never "can it", the issue to ask, "is it." Too often we have asked the question of necessity rather than the question of action. But, really that is not the point of considering what we do with our time.
 
You see, I think we will be scrutinized more for what we do "away" from church. Jesus' ministry was not "in" the Temple. Ed's point is not about volunteering for the next announced vacancy in the organizational chart. No, the matter is really about what are you doing with the time you have living in the reality of the Kingdom of God. Has your imagination caught hold of the mission of God in the world? Carrying on the work of Jesus may be done just as Jesus did it. Not with special nights dedicated to service, but with a life lived in service to those around them.

Congratulations Jonathan!

We received word here in the office that Jonathan passed his exams and is a "Fifth Year Med Student." Read "Final Year" medical student. You can read the story here.

Update: Community of Hope Free Medical Clinic

We launched the Community of Hope Free Medical Clinic three weeks ago. We saw seven patients. Our volunteers - from our doctor all the way down to our "runners" - did an outstanding job.

Our next open date is set for next week, July 8, from 7-9 p.m. Over time we hope to add other doctors to enable us to provide for more appointment times.

Tracking the Massons

We received an email from Jonathan that he and Kari had been sent their login information to take the Perspectives Course on World Missions! Their books are on their way. As a reminder of the dream God has given them read their recent post. (You may follow their journey by watching the sidebar for their updates.) Here is a clip.

The reason we made this appointment was to get a head start on the formalities for moving to Senegal and starting a clinic. After our experience moving to France, we knew that there would be a LOT of paperwork for visas, residency permits, taxes, renting a house, setting up utilities, opening bank accounts, plus starting a business in cooperation with the Minister of Health.

Here's what we found out: all of that can be done once we arrive. Because we will be bringing humanitarian aid and developing jobs, the government will make it as easy as possible for us to move and get established in Senegal.

Exciting news!

News of Note from Our Missionaries

We agreed last (Sunday) evening to provide the resources for Jonathan and Kari to take the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. Some of you may remember we hosted Rob Olmstead for a World Missions Conference a few years ago. Rob used a good bit of what he learned from this same course.

Caleb Crider, husband of our adopted missionary couple in Portland, recently wrote about how we view our surroundings as it relates to the work of the Kingdom and the Church. You ma click on the link in the left sidebar to access the article.

Why We Can't Take Others for Granted

 There are a number of reasons why we should not take others for granted. One obvious reason comes from our own disdain for the feelings this creates in us when we are passed over. Last year we adopted Jonathan and Kari Masson as missionaries. Our relationship is as non-conventional as is their particular path to missions.

You see we have a difficult time breaking out of our mental images that calcify and dictate our responses. So, imagine a young couple mixing vocational goals and an eagerness to live missionally in another country. By missional, we mean to live as missionary in whatever context, vocation and living arrangement a person chooses. It is like Caleb Crider has encouraged us to think, "we are all missionaries." Yet, outside our family structures, and maybe a few friends, we cannot see our way to think of them as "missionaries" in the same way we find it difficult to self-identify this way where we live.

You Are A Missionary

One of our adopted missionaries, Caleb Crider, wrote the following,

If you are a Prius-driving, Lego-modding Starbucks barista, you’re uniquely qualified to be the missionary to that tribe. If you’re a Mac-using, soccer-mompreneur PTA member, your job is to incarnate the gospel among your people. It’s not enough for you to just try to fit in. You were saved to live out a Christ-transformed life in the midst of your social circles. You are where you are for a purpose.

There is no “home” and “foreign.” You are a missionary.

Read the entire article here.

What Is the Gospel?

We hosted Caleb and Lindsay Crider for our "Church As Missionary Conference." You may remember they are part of the team that comprises The Upstream Collective. Pastor Todd's support of their work resulted in the request he write for their website at The Upstream Collective Blog. This week Pastor Todd wrote an article offering an answer to the question, "What is the Gospel?" The context for the question centers around the matter of "cultural translation." Offering the Good News of Jesus in contexts outside of what we know in the United States, even the "southern United States," often takes a different expression in the hovels of South Africa or on Broadway. You may read the article here.