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There are only three ways you can spend money. You can spend money on mission, on life, and on yourself.

Churches only have two: on mission or on themselves. The trick is determining which is which.

Spending Money on Mission

Spending money on mission is spending money that accomplishes our God-given mission on earth. Ultimately, our mission is to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20) which includes everything from serving unbelievers so they are drawn to Christ and saving Christians so they become more like Christ. It involves both developing relationships with unbelievers, and maintaining relationships with believers.

In your life, this may take the form of having families over for dinner, helping out financially with your neighbor’s medical bills, adopting children, buying and reading books that help you understand Scripture or culture, supporting evangelistic ministries, or sending money to support well drillers in Africa.

Churches can do these things as well. But a church might also spend money on programs, buildings, or audio-visual equipment if it will help them accomplish their mission better. But the hard question to ask is, “Is it really helping us accomplish our mission?”

Spending Money on Life

The second way to spend money is on life. One of the reasons God has given us life is simply to enjoy life.

This is our “secondary” mission. The book of Ecclesiastes shows this. Life is a blessing from God and is to be enjoyed and lived to the full. If this means going on vacations with your family, and buying a coffee at Starbucks, and going to see 3:10 To Yuma, then enjoy!

I am not sure that churches can spend their money this way, since when a church spends money on “life” they are spending it on “church life” which is actually discipleship. If a church runs a coffee shop, the purpose might be that they can develop relationships with the community, and have a place for small groups. This is mission. So a church doesn’t really have this category.

Spending Money on Self

The third category we can spend money on is self.

This is the tricky one, because if we are not careful, we can think that we are spending money on mission or life, when in reality, we are spending it selfishly on ourselves. Some people’s houses, for example, are not really for “mission” (despite the good intentions to have people over), and are way too big and expensive for life (Does someone really need 5000 sq. ft. and marble counters to have a safe and enjoyable home for your kids?).

It’s the same with cars. Is a Hummer really what is needed to help cart the neighbor kids to soccer practice, or would a caravan do fine? I’m not judging anybody who has these things…maybe they really do need them for their mission to reach out to the “upper crust” but if so, my question is “How’s that mission going?”

It’s the same for churches. Do we really need a $30 million building that sits empty most of the week? If the culture you are in won’t listen to you unless you have the giant building, then maybe it is money well spent. But on the other hand, maybe big buildings and expensive programs and high-power technology are the result of other motives. I’m not saying that buildings and high tech sound systems are sinful. It may be just as sinful to not have such things, if our mission demands it. Church buildings are not always wrong; buildings or a lack of buildings must help us accomplish our mission.

When Spending Money, Discernment is Needed

Of course, we must watch out for self-deception. Benny Hinn spends $112,000 per month on a personal jet, owns a $10 million, 7,000 sqft. home, and when traveling, gets hotel rooms for $10,800 per night.

Why? Hinn said something to the effect that ministry is stressful, and such things help him accomplish his mission more effectively. Even Hinn is convinced that he needs to spend money on these things so he can accomplish what God has called him to do.

Every person and every church needs to take a long, hard look at how they spend money, and ask themselves: Is this for mission, for life, or for self? Anything that is for self could be used better elsewhere.

12:11am

By Jeremy Myers

6 Comments

Some days I think I’m going crazy. It’s 12:11am and I’m just now beginning my homework. It’s been this way all week. With a wife and three kids, working toward adopting a fourth child, full-time school, full-time work, speaking engagements, and writing, I just don’t have enough time.

I need to be Hiro from Heroes so I can stop time.

Please pray for me, that we make it through this year!

2011 Update Note: Well, we made it through… barely.

Walking in a Pastor’s Sandals

By Jeremy Myers

1 Comment

I got the following from the Secret Diary of Rick Warren, which is a blog by a fake Rick Warren.

The following is funny because it’s true.

Imagine what your office would be like if everyone had a job like a Pastor:

1. When your work day was over there would be a cassette tape or CD available of everything you just finished for sale in the lobby.

2. If your co-workers got sick they would expect you to stop by and pray with them, then act surprised you did come by and proceed to tell you that they look terrible and their hair hasn’t been washed.

3. Your wife would feel pressure from others that she should be doing things related to your job and be happy about it.

4. Your weekend would consist of something like a Tuesday and then a Thursday. Forget ’bout Holidays.

5. Instead of an expense account – every time you need to buy something more than $200 – you would be required to ask a group of people for permission, then justify why you need it.

6. You must remember what stories you told people – so you don’t use the same story over again.

7. Outside of the office your co-workers get flustered when you see them drinking alcohol or doing something they think you might not approve of.

8. Most of your meetings would happen at night in the basement.

9. You would have to stand up and gently remind your co-workers that it was part of their calling to give money to the organization – so it can continue to grow and fulfill its mission.

10. Most of your co-workers think you really only work an hour a week.

Free Grace Alliance Conference Panel Discussions

By Jeremy Myers

17 Comments

I was a panel member at the Free Grace Alliance National Conference today on the subject of the death and resurrection of Jesus in relation to the gospel.

But before I write about that, let me write about a different panel which I attended. This other panel was on the issues of assurance, eternal security, and justification.

Assurance, Eternal Security, and Justification

The panel which I only attended was related to the issues of assurance, eternal security, and justification. The basic question was “Does a person have to know that what they get from Jesus can never be lost in order to receive it?”

Of the three panelists, I heard one, Tim Nichols, give a clear answer “Yes” and the other two were a little more evasive. This was not really their fault since many of the questions from the audience were not really on topic. Some questions were related to the death and resurrection of Jesus, or the deity of Jesus, and other things.

The last question, however, was very revealing. It was “If you are witnessing to an unsaved person, and you want to tell them how to be saved, what would you say?”

1. Dave Anderson answered first with two words: “Free Grace.” I’m not sure what he meant by that. I doubt the person he was evangelizing would understand it either.

2. George Meisinger said that he tells as much of the gospel as he can to the person in the time he has. If it’s on an airplane, he is able to tell them lots more than if he is sharing with someone on their deathbed.

3. Tim Nichols answered similarly to George Meisinger, but emphasized that the message we share with unbelievers must come from the Gospel of John.

All in all, it was a great conference session.

Death and Resurrection of Jesus and the Gospel

The second panel discussion I attended was the one in which I was a participant. It concerned whether a person had to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus in order to be born again. The following are terribly poor summaries of the views presented:

(Note that due to comments for clarification, edits have been made to what was originally written. These are the crossed out sections below.)

1. Ken Wilson said, “~~Yes.~~ We don’t believe in Jesus for everlasting life, but we have to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who takes away our sins.” I’m not sure who in Christendom (including Catholics) doesn’t believe this, but maybe I misunderstood him.

2. Tim Nichols argued that since nobody would ever dream of not presenting the death and resurrection, the question doesn’t really matter. This is true. Sometimes, Satan’s greatest ploy is to get us talking about theology rather than living out the theology we do know.

3. Larry Moyer said, “Yes, because the death and resurrection is central to the Gospel, and we must always share the Gospel when telling people about Jesus.”

4. Tom Stegall argued similarly to Larry Moyer, but more emphatically.

5. I certainly do believe that the death and resurrection of Jesus are central to the Gospel, and that without the death and resurrection of Jesus, there is no Gospel. All the truths of the Gospel (of which there are dozens-if not hundreds) are for the purpose of getting a person to believe in Jesus and so receive everlasting life. So I always present the death and resurrection of Jesus when I witness to people. So I argued similarly to Tim Nichols–that it’s a moot point.

Some did Believe in Jesus, but not in His Death and Resurrection

However, I did point out that we do have examples of people in Scripture who believed in Jesus and received everlasting life, but did not know about the death and resurrection of Jesus, and even when presented with these truths, did not believe them (cf. Matt 16:31-32; Mark 9:31-32; Luke 9:44-45; 18:31-34; 24:19-26; John 20:9, 24-30). There may be some examples from Acts and the Epistles as well, but it’s almost 2 am, and I’m tired. But just one example: One reason Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 15 is to persuade and convince the Corinthian believers about the resurrection of Jesus. It sounds like some of them had believed in the resurrection, but had turned away from it, but there apparently were others who had heard about the resurrection, but denied it as fiction. Paul is correcting these believers in Corinth about this.

So apparently, there are people who believe in Jesus, and lots of correct things about Him, but don’t have all their theological ducks in a row, but who are still considered by Biblical authors to be regenerate. It is possible to believe many wrong things about Jesus, but still receiver eternal life by believing in Him for it. I think it is possible there are people in the same category today. I may have talked with one a few weeks ago, which I mentioned in a previous post.

Due to the number of panelists, and the limited time, only one question from the audience was asked, and that one had nothing to do with the questions that I had come up with which I hoped to receive answers to. So I still don’t know how Tom Stegall would answer those questions. I refuse to speculate how he might answer them, because if there is anything more dangerous that theological speculation, it is theological speculation about someone else’s theology.

Free Grace Alliance Conference Panel Discussion

By Jeremy Myers

7 Comments

I am on a panel discussion tomorrow night at the National Conference of the Free Grace Alliance. The panel discussion is related to the death and resurrection of Jesus, and whether a person needs to know and believe these historical facts in order to be born again. My invitation to this discussion is due to the so-called Crossless Gospel controversy. People accuse me of teaching a Crossless Gospel, which is exceedingly strange, since I believe the cross is at the very center of the gospel. Without the cross, there is no Gospel.

Anyway, here are some of the issues to be addressed in this Free Grace Alliance panel discussion.

Is Belief in the Death and Resurrection Necessary?

I am presenting the view that while the death and resurrection of Jesus was necessary for justification to be possible, belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus is not what grants a person eternal life. A person simply needs to believe in Jesus for eternal life to be given it by God. I have written on this in the past. Certainly, the death and resurrection of Jesus are central to the Gospel, but since there is so much Biblical information that is part of the Gospel, one does not have to believe the entire Gospel to be justified.

There is a difference between the mechanism of justification (the death and resurrection of Jesus, along with a myriad of other things) and the message of eternal life (believe in Jesus for it). In other words, there is a difference between the Gospel information, and the Gospel invitation.

I agreed to be on this panel for three reasons.

Clarity in Evangelism

First, I want people to be clear in evangelism. If we have a muddled evangelistic message, all we do is erect barriers which keep people from believing in Jesus for eternal life. The death and resurrection of Jesus are definitely part of what we share in evangelism, but we tell them these things to convince and persuade them to believe in Jesus for eternal life, not because they get eternal life by believing in the death and resurrection of Jesus. It’s a nuance, but a very important one. After all, there are many who believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus, but don’t believe in Him for eternal life.

Hear from the Horse’s Mouth

Second, I know there are a lot of people who are trying to understand the various positions on the Gospel, and there are many people accusing me of believing things I don’t believe.

So I hope to let them hear my position from me rather than from those out there who don’t understand my position but continue to write pejorative and negative things about me. It’s always best when researching a matter to go to the source.

To Understand the Other Views

Third, I see no logical or Biblical consistency in the view of those who are taking the opposing view. Clearly, they think their view is logical and Biblical or they wouldn’t hold it. I am not exactly trying to persuade them to my view, but I do want to try to understand their view. Toward that end, here are the questions I hope to have answered:

If a person must believe in the death of resurrection of Jesus, is it sufficient to believe in the historical facts of these events, or does a person also have to believe in substitutionary atonement?
If a person does have to believe in substitutionary atonement, what if that person holds the ransom to Satan view?
If a person must believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus, do they have to believe that it was by the shedding of blood of Jesus on the cross that sins are forgiven, or can they just believe that it was simply His death that was sufficient? In other words, does a person have to understand that their sins are forgiven “by His blood” and not just by His death?
If a person must believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus, must they believe that Jesus rose in a glorified, eternal, incorruptible body, and that He went on to ascend into heaven, or can they believe that He went on to live, grow old, and die again of old age like the others who were resurrected in Scripture?
If a person must believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus, must they believe that the resurrection is a past, historical event, or can they believe that Jesus will rise from the dead in the future?
If a person must believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus, what was the object of faith for OT people and the apostles who did not (as far as we can tell) believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus? Did the object and content of faith change after the death and resurrection of Jesus?
What passages are there in Scripture which teach that a person must believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus in order to receive everlasting life?
If a person believes that Jesus died on the cross for their sins, and rose again from the dead, but don’t believe that by faith in Jesus they have life that can never be lost, are they justified? (E.g., They say things like “Jesus did his 99%, but I must do my 1%” or “I’m saved now, but if I sin later, I won’t be saved any more” or “I accepted the gift of eternal life, but I can give it back if I don’t abide.”)

In all of my study of the other view, I have yet to read an attempt to answer these questions. Others have noticed this same thing, and we receive daily e-mails and phone calls from people saying they are prayerfully supporting Bob Wilkin, myself, and the ministry of Grace Evangelical Society as we continue to present the offer of eternal life to all who believe in Jesus for it.

Email Questions

Here is one such e-mail:

Jeremy,

By way of introduction, we have been with GES almost since its beginning and had been proclaiming the free grace gospel message for 25 years before that. We were instrumental in formatting the first several years of GES Journal articles for the website and have printed and distributed several thousand pages of GES articles to many pastors and Christian leaders in our area. In other words, we support what you are doing.

We have been keeping up with the ongoing issue of what constitutes the gospel message and are grieved about the possible damage to the cause of Christ that might ensue. We also have supported the ministry at Duluth for quite some time and distributed much of their literature.

I believe that your article, “The Gospel Is More Than ‘Faith Alone In Christ Alone,'” was excellent and it even helped me to “connect the dots” in some of my study on the subject. The open letter on the Duluth website refers to, among other things, this article and mentions two points of disagreement. These comments appeared to me to be a bit pejorative as there was no attempt at biblical refutation or even explanation of the context of your statements.

In addition to the significant biblical evidence that you gave for your position (a position which should be either accepted or proved wrong biblically), is one point that has come up in my study and that I have not seen mentioned anywhere.

It is as follows: In 1st Corinthians 15, we find the classic definition of the gospel which includes the death, burial, resurrection of Christ, and probably the contents of the next few verses. Per verse 15 we see that the resurrection is necessary for our justification, but does not say that belief in it is necessary. Verse 12 and following shows that some of the Corinthian believers did not believe in the resurrection and reiterates the deleterious ramifications of this error. This epistle is written to the Church at Corinth (1:2; 1:7 et al).

Did these believers who already have eternal life then lose their salvation? Did the awareness of their lack then show that they were not true believers in the first place? Or were they eternally saved, carnal believers, who needed to know and apply these resurrection facts so that they may be saved in the sanctification sense and enjoy the resurrection life during their earthly pilgrimage? The first two options are not implied in the context and are disqualified by other scripture. Something similar to the last seems to be more on target.

Unless you are already way ahead of me on this it might be beneficial to also develop this point. No reply to this note is expected as I realize that you have a heavy schedule.

We continue to pray. Keep up the good work (1 Cor. 15:58)

This is an excellent observation and should be developed further. I also want to point out that Peter and the apostles did not believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus until after He died and rose again (cf. Matt 16:20-23; Mark 9:31-32; Luke 9:44-45; 18:31-34; 24:19-26; John 20:9, 24-30). Does this then mean that they were not justified until they believed in the death and resurrection?

I’ll give an update on how things went after the conference.

How Church can Solve the World Water Crisis

By Jeremy Myers

10 Comments

In a previous post, I presented a theoretical plan for solving the world’s water crisis. I proposed a way for churches to come up with that money by “taxing” themselves 1/3 of what their property taxes would be if they were paying property taxes. We could get the needed $10 Billion in one year to fully fund the work that needs to be done to solve the world water crisis.

Now, Todd Rhoades, over at Monday Morning Insight has got me thinking about another way churches can do this. He writes that according to a recent study, churches in America spent $8.1 Billion on sound and video equipment last year.

So we can either give a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name to every thirsty person on planet earth, thus solving the world’s water crisis, OR we can have state-of-the-art sound and video projection equipment in our churches.

Hmmm. World water crisis…. state of the art sound systems. Which to choose?

It seems like an easy choice, right? I mean, after all, to really be in touch with Jesus, we’ve got to feel the music and have our eyes massaged by the swirling lights on the screen.

If we don’t get those music-induced goosebumps on Sunday morning, how will we ever make it through the week? And besides, most people will stop coming to church if we cannot compete with the high-def surround-sound movie screens down at the Omniplex theater.

So I guess all those people around the world who just want a cup of clean water will just have to go thirsty a little bit longer.

Here’s the honest truth: When we sing worship songs on Sunday morning, we are listening to the sound of water being poured onto the idolatrous altar of music.

Of course, I’m in the same sinking ship, but on a smaller scale. I bought an MP3 player (a cheapo $30 job) last month, and purchased a few songs off iTunes. Jesus might be asking what I did with the $40 He gave me, but if He is, I can’t hear Him, because somehow, I got water in my ears.

Update: And there are so many innovative ways of helping these areas get water. Check out these:

It’s tough being a girl

By Jeremy Myers

8 Comments

John Eldredge and his wife have recently written some books which state that while men want to be warriors and need to know they are strong and wild, women need to know that they are beautiful: Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul and Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul.

I think this is true, but sometimes, especially in our culture, we have problems defining “strength” for boys and “beauty” for girls.

Which is partly why I was excited to learn about a campaign by Dove to help girls in our culture understand true beauty.

These following videos should be watched by every man, brother, husband, and father.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hibyAJOSW8U

Those women on the billboards? Not real. The women in the magazines? Fake and photoshopped. Your wife, your daughter, and your sister? The most genuinely beautiful women in the world. Have you told her?

This following video shows us what the females in our life are up against.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epOg1nWJ4T8

And one more…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bVAl73JvLM

So here is the question: How can we tell our wives and daughters they are “pretty” without encouraging them to follow the worldly definition of beauty?

In discussing this with my wife, here are some of her suggestions:

1. Love is more than words. It’s a cliche because it’s true. Don’t just tell your wife and daughters they are beautiful. Show them with hugs, kisses, holding hands, taking them on dates. If all you do is tell the women in your life they are beautiful, but never show them, they won’t believe you.

2. Affirm them in ways not related to beauty. Women, even though they strive to be beautiful, want to be more than just pretty. They want to be valued and know that they are contributing. Being pretty helps them feel valued. This seems to work in reverse. Since they feel valued when they know they are pretty, if you help them to feel valued, they will also feel pretty. So find what your wife and daughters like to do, and constantly affirm them in it.

3. Sometimes, a hobby or interest outside of self-beatification can help. Girls who love horses rarely spend lots of time brushing their own hair, but with brushing their horse. Girls who love art spend less time painting themselves than their canvas. Mothers are the prime examples. Good mothers are consumed with caring for their children and rarely have much time to spend on themselves. This is not to say that horse lovers, artists, and mothers are not beautiful! To the contrary, they are often the most beautiful. Why? Because self-focused attention creates fake beauty, while an outward focus allows true inner beauty to blossom and flourish.

If you have other suggestions on what true beauty is and how to help the women in our lives feel lovely, please post them in the comments section for others to read.

Help Keep Guatemalan Adoptions Open

By Jeremy Myers

The Lives of 1000’s are in your Fingertips

By Jeremy Myers

4 Comments

Note: this post is from October 2007 when my wife and I were trying to adopt a girl from Guatemala. The bill mentioned below did not pass, and all adoptions out of Guatemala ceased.

We were not able to complete our adoption process. As of this month, January 2012, adoptions have not reopened.

—————-

My wife and I have been in the process of adopting a little girl from Guatemala. Most of the orphans in Guatemala live in the streets, and get their food and clothing from city dumps. There are currently about 5000 such children who were slated to be adopted between now and December 31, 2007.

But this week, the US Department of State has encouraged the Guatemalan congress to pass the Ortega Law which would effectively put an end to all adoptions from Guatemala. This bill, as it now stands, has no funding plan, no child care plan for the children currently in the process of getting adopted, and no plan for future children to even enter the process. Private orphanages will no longer be allowed to accept donations for taking care of children, and so many of them will have to shut their doors. This means that within six months, thousands of children waiting to be adopted could instead be turned out onto the streets. This is truly a human rights and child welfare nightmare waiting to happen.

Why is the US and Guatemala doing this? Guatemala seeks to become “Hague Compliant” which is well intended inter-country treaty to stop illegal adoptions. Babies were getting stolen and then put up for adoption. The kidnappers received money from the many adoption fees charged to adoptive parents. So the Hague Treaty is intended to stop this, which is good. But what has happened in Hague Compliant countries is that adoptions have ceased almost completely.

Countries like Honduras, El Salvador, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Bolivia have become Hague compliant. These countries used to allow inter-country adoptions just as much as Guatemala. But in the past decade, all these countries enacted similar laws as the one we now see Guatemala taking steps to pass. The result in Guatemala will be similar to what we now have in these other countries: the streets are overflowing with orphans, the orphanages are underfunded and overcrowded. Over the last 14 years, hundreds of thousands of children who might have benefited from the opportunity of adoption have instead become statistics, adding to the numbers of children who die on the streets, or are forced into slavery or prostitution.

You can read about all of this at the following links:

The Ortega Law

Congress Bio Letter

Please don’t let this happen! Use your finger tips to make a few calls and send a few e-mails. Below is what our adoption agency, All God’s Children International, is asking people to do.

Dear Friends,

Guatemalan President Oscar Berger has announced plans to suspend all intercountry adoption with American families on January 1 2008. The Joint Council on International Children’s Services strongly opposes such a suspension and asks for your support in their efforts to ensure that all children retain the right to permanency through Intercountry Adoption.

President Berger’s plans also call for the suspension of adoptions currently in-process. Such a suspension would be extremely detrimental to the children referred to adoptive parents. If President Berger’s plan is actually implemented, up to 5,000 will unnecessarily remain in foster care or orphanages indefinitely.

This situation represents a pending crisis for the adoptive families who have lovingly chosen to provide permanency, safety and love to a child in need and most importantly a crisis for 5,000 children of Guatemala.

What can you do? Make six simple phone calls and one email.

1. Call your U.S. Senator.

· You can find your Senators’ phone numbers at www.senate.gov

· Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff

2. Call your second U.S. Senator.

3. Call your representative to the U.S. House of Representative.

· You can find your representative at www.house.gov

· Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff

4. Call or fax UNICEF Headquarter

· Ask to speak with Ann Veneman, Executive Director

· Their number is 212-326-7000

· Their fax number is 212-326-7758

5. Call or fax UNICEF Guatemala

· Ask to speak with Manuel Manrique

· Their number is 011-502-2327-6373

· Their fax number is 011-502-2327.6366

Please note that calls and faxes to Guatemala are international calls

6. Send and email supporting Intercountry Adoption to gu***********@***cs.org

· Write briefly or at length

· Joint Council will use the cumulative email petition in our advocacy for Intercountry Adoption

When should you call? Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (October 9th, 10th 11th)

· For maximum affect, we are asking you to make these calls within a 72 hour window!

What should you say or write to member of the U.S. Congress? Speak from your heart and give them the following information.

· Inform them that you are calling regarding Guatemala 5000

· Ask them to sign the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) sponsored letter to President Oscar Berger

· Ask them to sign the Joint Council on International Children’s Services sponsored letter to UNICEF

· Inform them that the Guatemalan government has announced that all intercountry adoptions with the U.S. will be suspended on January 1 2008.

· Inform them that President Berger’s announcement also indicated that there will be no ‘grandfathering’ of adoptions already in process.

· Inform them that if children referred to families are not allowed to be adopted, they will languish in institutions or foster care.

· Ask that their office get involved and sign the sponsored letters to the President of Guatemala and UNICEF. These letters ask that all adoptions in-process as of January 1 2008 be allowed to process to completion under the existing notorial laws.

Sample Statement:

Hello,

We are calling/writing on behalf of the Guatemala 5000 Initiative. We, as your constituents, are asking that the Senator/Congressperson add their signature to two letters. First, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute sponsored letter to Guatemalan President Oscar Berger. Second, the Joint Council on International Children’s Services sponsored letter to UNICEF.

As you may be aware, the Guatemalan government has announced that all intercountry adoptions with the U.S. will be suspended on January 1 2008. Their announcement also indicated that there will be no ‘grandfathering’ of adoptions already in process. If children referred to families are not allowed to be adopted, they will languish in institutions or foster care. Your office must get involved and sign the sponsored letters to the President of Guatemala and UNICEF. These letters ask that all adoptions in-process as of January 1 2008 be allowed to process to completion under the existing notorial laws.

Sincerely,

What should you say or write to UNICEF? Speak from your heart and give them the following information.

· Inform them that you are calling regarding the Guatemala 5000

· Ask them to support the right’s of children and lend their considerable influence to ensuring that intercountry adoptions currently in-process be allowed to process to completion under the existing notorial laws.

· Inform them that the Guatemalan government has announced that all adoptions with the U.S. will be suspended on January 1 2008.

· Inform them that President Berger’s announcement also indicated that there will be no ‘grandfathering’ of adoptions already in process.

· Inform them that if children referred to families are not allowed to be adopted, they will languish in institutions or foster care.

· Ask them again for their support of the Guatemala 5000 Initiative.

Sample Statement

Hello,

We are calling/writing on behalf of the Guatemala 5000 Initiative. As financial supporters of UNICEF (through our tax dollars), we are asking that UNICEF lends its support and considerable influence to the Guatemala 5000 initiative.

As you may be know, the Guatemalan government has announced that all intercountry adoptions with the U.S. will be suspended on January 1 2008. Their announcement also indicated that there will be no ‘grandfathering’ of adoptions already in process. If children referred to families are not allowed to be adopted, they will languish in institutions or foster care. UNICEF must get involved and help ensure that all intercountry adoptions in-process as of January 1 2008 be allowed to process to completion under the existing notorial laws.

Sincerely,

Can you explain the problem behind the pending crisis? Here is some additional information…

· Guatemalan President Oscar Berger has announced plans to effectively stop all adoptions into the United States including those children who have already been referred to adoptive parents

· Over 5,000 children have been referred

· The birthparents for these children have already relinquished their parental rights. As a result, they currently have no family and the Berger suspension will result in these children having no prospect for a permanent, safe and loving family

· The government of Guatemala currently does not have the finances or facilities to even provide housing for these 5,000 children

· The Berger plan is a crisis waiting to happen

What else can you do? In addition to your primary calls to U.S. Congress and UNICEF, you can call the following.

SOSEP (Guatemala)

· Director Teresa Echeverría de Bastarrechea

Office Phone- 011-502-2383-8400

· Assistant Director- Edin Palma- Same office phone

Office Phone- 011-502-2383-8400

· Jaime Tecu

Office Phone – 011-502-2239-0000 ext 2766

Please note that calls and faxes to Guatemala are international calls

Guatemala Ministry of Foreign Affairs

· Minister Gerth Rosenthal

Office Phone 011-502-2410-0000, 2410-0010

· Vice Minister- Marta Altoaguirre

Office Phone 011-502-2410-0020

Please note that calls and faxes to Guatemala are international calls

PGN (Guatemala)

· Carlos Victor Hugo Barrios Barahona

Office Phone 011-502-2248-3200 Ext. 207/208

Please note that calls and faxes to Guatemala are international calls

Procuraduria of Human Rights

· Dr. Sergio Morales

Office Phone 011-502-2424-1717

Please note that calls and faxes to Guatemala are international calls

Embassy of Guatemala in the U.S.
2220 R Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20008
Office Phone 1-202-745-4952
Office Fax 1-202-745-1908
Website: www.guatemala-embassy.org/

Is it okay for a church to meet in Bar?

By Jeremy Myers

1 Comment

I’ve been mulling this idea around in my head for a long time (six years or so), and finally found someone who is doing it!

Check out the video at this link:

Forefront Church in Virginia Beach Meets in a Bar

The video is no longer online… Sorry! If anyone knows where this video can be found, can you let me know in the comments section below? It was back when Vince Antonucci was the lead pastor. Thanks.

Until then, see my previous posts about this idea:

Dirtbags in Montana

St. Pete’s Church, Bar and Grill

How to Spend Money

Spending Money on Mission

Spending Money on Life

Spending Money on Self

When Spending Money, Discernment is Needed

12:11am

Walking in a Pastor’s Sandals

Free Grace Alliance Conference Panel Discussions

Assurance, Eternal Security, and Justification

Death and Resurrection of Jesus and the Gospel

Some did Believe in Jesus, but not in His Death and Resurrection

Free Grace Alliance Conference Panel Discussion

Is Belief in the Death and Resurrection Necessary?

Clarity in Evangelism

Hear from the Horse’s Mouth

To Understand the Other Views

Email Questions

How Church can Solve the World Water Crisis

It’s tough being a girl

Help Keep Guatemalan Adoptions Open

The Lives of 1000’s are in your Fingertips

Is it okay for a church to meet in Bar?

Forefront Church in Virginia Beach Meets in a Bar

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