I hope someone's reading tonight. Just received an e-mail from a credible source saying that author Phillip Yancey had been involved in a serious car accident in Colorado. His condition was reported to be very unstable, with an injury to his back and his heart, so there is an obvious appeal for prayer.

I heard Phillip speak a few years ago, and his writing has really impacted me over the past year or so.

UPDATE: A fellow blogger has posted an encouraging update here. If it's legit, and it seems to be, than Yancey has had quite a day, but will be fine.

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Do you think?

"I'm not a Christian. I'm not a believer. I don't have a dog in this fight,'' said William Dever, who has been excavating ancient sites in Israel for 50 years and is widely considered the dean of biblical archaeology among U.S. scholars. "I just think it's a shame the way this story is being hyped and manipulated," he said Tuesday.

"I've known about these ossuaries for many years and so have many other archaeologists, and none of us thought it was much of a story, because these are rather common Jewish names from that period,'' he said. "It's a publicity stunt, and it will make these guys very rich, and it will upset millions of innocent people because they don't know enough to separate fact from fiction.''

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A friend of mine once interviewed a man for an important job installing solar water heaters. He quickly proclaimed that he was the guy for the job. A few weeks later my friend stopped in to his shop unannounced, and discovered that he had neither the tools, nor the expertise to get the job done, despite what he had been told. Only three things were lacking: the skills, the tools, and integrity. I would argue that the first two deficiencies could have been dealt with fairly easily. You can buy tools and learn skills. But the third is developed over a lifetime. It can't be conjured up for a job interview.

This was certainly true in the life of Daniel. When King Darius needed to tap someone for leadership in his Kingdom, he chose Daniel, much to the dismay of the other vice-regents and governors who were in the running. Daniel happened to be a man of prayer, and they knew this. So to make a long (but good) story short, they made the King sign a decree that anyone who prayed to any other god or man than the King for the following thirty days would be put to death. As long as they had known him, Daniel had prayed to his God, and a decree wouldn't change his routine. He just thanked God and prayed for protection.

Despite the Kings efforts, Daniel was scheduled to play against the lions. What the King said to Daniel is telling. "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you." Darius knew that Daniel was a man of faith; he had proven it. You know the end of the story. God rescued Daniel without a scratch to be seen. So Daniel's accusers were thrown to the lions instead, and Daniel prospered.

The point is, Daniel had established a track record of faithfulness and integrity. When he was a boy in captivity, he refused to eat the Kings food (Dan.1:8), and as an older man, he refused the gifts of Balshazzar (Dan.5:13-17). King Darius knew that Daniel could be trusted with responsibility because he had proven himself to be responsible.

When you and I trust God, as Daniel did, we become people who can be trusted.

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A short video I shot for Dominican Advance. They are building a school in a poor village just outside of Sosua. A great ministry and a great cause!

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We had a great day yesterday with our fledgling house church called "The Gathering". We usually meet at our place, but our friends Harry and Diane invited us to use their place, and then provided a wonderful BBQ lunch by the sea. Bucking the trend of many expats who move here and never really get to know the DR, Harry and Diane have a real heart for this country and have a desire to make life better.

It has been neat to see the way this group has bonded over the past few months. We are mainly missionaries, but we always have other friends from the community join us for some worship, a message, and once-a-month communion. Lynn provides a kids program based on our "virtue of the month". During the month of February we made "cooperation" our focus - we can accomplish more together than we can on our own - and looked at the biblical stories of Nehemiah, Moses and the Four Guys who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus. Those that visit our website can subscribe to a weekly "e-votional" which they can use to prepare for Sunday. In a cool twist, we've had inquiries from others who want to use our bible studies as a track for their own house churches to run on!

Our goal is to provide an authentic Christian community that is unique to our environment - missionaries in a needy country, tourists, up-and-outers. If you visit our website and click on "why?", you'll see this explained more fully, and you can watch a video clip from Mark Driscoll where he talks about his church planting rationale in Seattle. He makes alot of sense. He makes the comment that when Hudson Taylor went to China, he wore chinese clothes, learned the chinese language, got a chinese haircut, and people said "there's a great missionary." When we try to take Jesus to our culture by using the same methods, people say we are capitulating. That, Drsicoll says, is hypocrisy.

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On occasion, I have been known to have a good idea. Not often, but occasionally. More often, good ideas literally explode from my brain when I'm with people I like*, with whom I share a common purpose. These people stimulate my thinking. That's why all of the better TV shows have writing teams who spend hours crafting all those twists and turns and comedic one-liners. No one is smart enough to come up with that stuff alone.

The same is true within the church.

While we individually may have bursts of inspiration, we can do so much better when we put our heads together.

So in Luke 5:17-26 we find a group of men who pool their intelligence to help a friend. This guy is paralyzed and has been bedridden for, we might presume, years. They decide to take him to see Jesus, but the crowds were too thick. So they concoct this crazy scheme to cut through the crowds by lowering him through the roof. They pull the roof tiles apart and lower their friend, on his mat, right in front of Jesus.

Forget every other desperate person who was in the mob to see Jesus; these guys would do whatever it took to get their friend to the Healer. Like the woman who, as Rob Bell says, "threw some elbows" to touch the hem of Jesus garment, these men were on a mission. They planned their mission and they pulled it off together.

The text tells us that "when Jesus saw their faith, he said 'Friend, your sins are forgiven.'" Cool. The faith of the friends (expressed in their actions) resulted in a miracle. And then Jesus stuns the Pharisees in the crowd by proving his authority to forgive sin by healing his body as well. Not a bad days work for these brothers, and a good result for their formerly-paralyzed friend.

In preparation for Sunday (at The Gathering) read the text, and then ask yourself these questions:

1. What could we accomplish as a group if we put our minds too it? Don't be afraid to think outside the box!

2. What are the benefits of working together to solve problems, over working alone?

3. Is there are problem we can solve as a group? Someone in our "sphere of influence" - community, work, fellowship - that needs our collective help?


*people I don't like stimulate my thinking too!

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For the cynic in each of us. Seriously, a how-not-to communicate guide for any organization. From Despair.com.

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Maddy had a friend over yesterday. As I was taking my Sunday afternoon siesta (or trying too), they played in the pool. Maddy got this concerned look on her face, and asked her friend, "Are you a Christian?" No lead up questions. No cleverly guided conversation. No four spiritual laws. Just the question, "Are you a Christian?" Her friend was just as blunt. "I don't like God." Tears began to well up in Maddy's eyes. "I want my friends to be Christians, that's all." At this, her friend said, "I was just kidding. I like God. Really." Maddy pulled herself together and they went back to playing Polly Pockets by the pool.

What amazed me was how matter-of-fact her approach was. For Maddy this was a big deal, cut and dry, just the simple facts. I don't know when it happened, but I lost that kind of simple logic a long time ago. I can't remember the last time I asked one of my friends if they were Christian. I am sure that my friends have a lock on what they believe. The last thing they want is someone nosing into their spiritual life, or lack thereof. When they are ready, they'll ask me. I know. I can invite them to a "seeker service" where someone else can ask the question. That way, they won't be ticked at me.

Or I could just ask, "are you a Christian?"

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A video we produced recently for Dominican Advance.

Our goal is to be able to produce more videos like this, especially for ministries that may not have the means to do so. Please visit our website and click on "MullinsMission" for more information on how you can help!

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I was cruising the blogosphere this morning and stumbled upon Drew Marshall's interview on 100 Huntley Street. Drew returned to Canada a few years after we left, so I wasn't real familiar with his in-your-face style, but a few minutes into the interview it was obvious that the hosts were having second thoughts. Their mouths said, "glad you're here", but their faces said, "get us the Program Director... NOW!" The highlight of the interview came during the first segment when Drew said that the hosts were like "Barbie and Ken dolls". He later commented that he was referring to their good looks and was not implying that they were at all plastic or fake.

The reality is, however, that Marshall unapologetically believes that most churches today are filled with people who put on their Sunday perma-smile, and would have you believe that they have it all together. This has been my experience too. In fact, for several years, I suited up and went to the "big show". I did have authentic relationships with a few close friends, but most people looked at me and assumed all was well, based purely on my polished exterior.

I remember a good friend preaching on the importance of sincerity. He explained the words latin roots were "sin" (without) and "cere" (wax). In the ancient world, pot makers would occassionally break a pot. So they would glue it back together with candle wax and paint it. and to the naked eye (and even the clothed one) it would look perfectly fine. It wasn't until the buyer took it home and filled it with hot soup that the wax would melt and the pot would fall apart. A cracked pot.

Life tends to reveal our imperfections, and no amount of clever disguise can cover them up. And why should we? Better to be known and loved for who we are, cracks and all, then to be known and loved under false pretenses, right?

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The sign that got James thinking...

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While traveling through New Zealand, I had the pleasure to meet James. He had been a project leader with ISV that summer, and decided to tag along on the adventure tour I was filming.

One night, near the end of the tour, we were having a steak in Queenstown and it somehow came out during dinner that I was hoping to plant a church someday. "Why?", was the natural question, and we talked about the reasons and my desire to break away from the kind of church that everyone thinks they know. James, in an inspired moment, said, "You could call it the church of Briantology."

Those attending our new house fellowship decided against "briantology" as a name for our gathering, but I felt badly letting the concept go. So here you have it. The new name and concept for my blog... briantology. A collection of thoughts, observations, travelogues (if that's a word) and other random scribblings about life the way I see it.

I know many of you check in regularly, so I'll try not to disappoint.

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