Nesredna Divad’s last login was 2 days ago. « hide recent activity
Nesredna Divad is now reading Eclipse.
Nesredna Divad now owns New Moon.
Nesredna Divad reviewed New Moon 2 days ago.
“ I really enjoy this series - call it a guilty pleasure. Hopefully I read enough serious books this year to allow me to indulge. ”
Nesredna Divad rated New Moon 2 days ago.
Nesredna Divad finished reading New Moon 2 days ago.
Nesredna Divad is planning to read Breaking Dawn.
Nesredna Divad reviewed Twilight 10 days ago.
“ Sappy, but engaging. I really enjoyed it, plus now I know what all the young girls are talking about. ”
Nesredna Divad finished reading Twilight 10 days ago.
Nesredna Divad rated Twilight 10 days ago.
Nesredna Divad rated The Practice of the Presence of God, and The Spiritual Maxims 3 weeks ago.
Nesredna Divad’s last login was 2 days ago. show recent activity »
Rated 2 stars
Rated 4 stars
Read the review for The Mad God's Amulet (Hawk Moon, No 2)
Read the review for A Sailor on the Seas of Fate
Rated 3 stars
Hi, Nesredna. I’m the author of The Sandal Maker, a new novel about the public ministry of Jesus from a unique point of view. A story that will take you on a fascinating journey in first century Galilee. A “must read” for those on a spiritual quest. You can read reviews at Amazon.com. I’m including here the publisher's notes. Let me know what you think.Book Description:Caleb, an elderly Jew, leaves the safety of his home in Cana on a mission to find a man he believes is in Jerusalem. Miriam, Caleb’s only remaining child, accompanies him disguised as a boy. In the desolation of the war struck Galilean countryside, father and daughter risk their lives to journey south on the Jordan River trail. As they walk, Caleb intrigues Miriam with a captivating story of his youth that will change her future destiny. A story of a time forty years prior when he became a sandal maker in order to observe a man some called the Miracle Worker. Caleb secretly kept notes of the events he saw and heard as he followed the crowds. With his objective, skeptical point of view, he reveals the fascinating ministry of the one he called the “Master.” Heart pounding perils and the threat of death endanger the two travelers, but nothing could foretell the fate awaiting them in Jerusalem!From the PublisherA. Michaelson's new novel, The Sandal Maker, takes the reader on a fascinating journey back to the year 70 A.D. in worn torn Palestine. The author creatively weaves two stories together, one in the present, the other in the past. Heartwarming, enlightening and tragic, The Sandal Maker paints a portrait of one man's life and his involvement in how the gospel came to be.
great thread on evolution over at I-Monk: I esp. liked alan Creech's contribution to the 'gangstas' thread; check it out. Good stuff. So , are you cooking up a Kingdom of God study, your godliness ?? Just wondering.
I will be using parts of his ideas in my teaching on life in the Kingdom of God, ..... sooo......you are cooking up a book, a sermon, a series of sermons, you're guest preacher over @ Joel Osteen's ??? what ????
from a Todd Hunter interview in Christianity Today (Sept. 8); the link to this can be found in the blurb for I-Monk Podcast #155. Happy post-Labor day....When you left the Vineyard leadership, you connected to the early emerging church movement. What did you learn?I linked to the emergent thing because I loved these young Christians who were trying to figure out church and what it means to be a follower of Jesus in this new era. We coached church planters all over the world who were trying to create communities of faith that made sense to their postmodern, post-Christendom friends.Now you can't broad-brush the emergent movement. But I saw two big problems in the emergent world. First, the emergents are so sensitive to issues of community, relationship, egalitarianism, and being non-utilitarian in their relationships, that evangelism has simply become a synonym for manipulation—a foul ball, relationally. If you and I were work colleagues and I built a relationship in which I could influence your journey toward Christ, that would be considered wrong in these circles. I cannot be friends with you if I intend to lead you to Christ. Second, after 10 or 12 years of the emerging church, you have to ask where anything has been built. Evangelism has been so muted and the normal building of structures and processes hasn't moved forward because there's no positive, godly imagination for doing either evangelism or leadership. Such things are by definition utilitarian, and so they were made especially difficult.
just saw an overview to an article you might want to check out: May 4 or this year over at the Pew Forum , reg. science and religion. Francis Collins is prominent. Hope your calves are not hurting, those attached and unattachedG-Not
great thread over at I-monk on atheism and today's apologetics; several atheists way in during the comments, interesting stuff.
from today's Stuff Christians Like......which has to be put on your blog roll, or maybe you are not REALLY a christian after all.....#607. The sales pitch prayer request. (If you ever read the comments on Stuff Christians Like, which I continue to contend are often funnier/more insightful than the original post, you’re familiar with Jarrod Haggard. For months he’s been a daily, fantastic contributor to the conversation we’re all having and a few weeks ago he even agreed to sit in for a guest post. It’s a straight satire about how we often abuse and misuse and confuse our prayer requests. Enjoy.)The Sales Pitch Prayer Request or How To Get Whatever You Ask For in Prayer - by Jarrod HaggardA while ago I had to drive several hours every day for my job. Most days I listened to a Christian radio station…let’s call it B-loved. The deejay was a great guy, let’s call him Mark. At 3:30 every afternoon Mark would take the day’s prayer requests and mash them together into an epic fifteen minute prayerathon. I enjoyed this opportunity to pray, but I really loved the lesson I learned from Mark about the art of getting prayers answered.One day, in the middle of the prayerathon, Mark brought forth a moment of awesome so grand in scale that it changed my attitude towards prayer forever. It went a little something like this…“…and Lord, I just want to take a second and lift up my own prayer request to you. I ask that you please help with my car situation. Father, I am still trying to sell my blue ’96 Honda Accord…with only 56,000 miles, new tires, no dents, and all the service records. God, I’m only asking $7,500 or best offer for it, and I would love it if you, in your wisdom, would lead someone to contact me here at the station if they’re interested…”Yes, I can put it in quotes because you don’t forget a prayer like that…ever. Those simple words, echoed into the ears of thousands, altered my prayer life completely. I realized that I had missed one of the greatest opportunities ever presented to people that pray in groups.So, in true SCL fashion, here are the three steps that you can take to finally get whatever you ask for in prayer.1. Find as many groups as possible.Sunday night prayer meeting. Wednesday night bible study. Tuesday morning prayer breakfast. The more people the better. Home groups are especially helpful, and most of them are divided by region. So if no one knows exactly where you live, you could go to a home group every night of the week! What you want is an audience. If you’re good-looking, get on T.V. If you have a pleasant voice, get on the radio. If you’re witty and irreverent, post a lot of comments on a popular blog.2. Endear yourself to the people around you.Be just.like.them. Do they have kids? Borrow your nieces and nephews, or use the stock photos that came with your wallet. Are they college age? Wear flip-flops and a Castro hat. Are they retired? Learn to love buffets at 4 in the afternoon. Remember, Bob has no sense of personal space and will probably require a couple hugs per night. Jack, on the other hand, prefers handshakes. Learn their spouse’s names. Get familiar with their hobbies.3. Know your audience.College kids probably won’t buy the house you’re having trouble selling, but if you need to get your mom’s yard cleaned (like she’s been asking you to do for a month now), they’re your target. Need dental work? Try the home group in the upscale part of town. Tired of frozen dinners alone? Try the Older and Single (Again) group. Looking for a good place to invest? The Businessman’s Prayer Breakfast is where it’s at. Whatever your needs are, go to the people most likely to meet those needs.Those are the three steps I recommend but what’s really of utmost importance is that you remember not to pray something like this; “Lord, please give me the strength to overcome my burdens, and to have faith that you will meet my needs in your time. Amen.”Instead, when you pray, pray like this; “Dear God, I really need the water pump on my car fixed by a trustworthy mechanic who does really great work and may or may not have a shop downtown on 4th st. Lord, I can’t afford to pay for this, so I ask that you would lead someone into my life who might find it in their heart to help me for free, or at a greatly reduced rate because I can probably tell a lot of people about how great the work was and get way more business for him in the future. Father, I need this work done by Tom…morrow, if at all possible. Amen.”This prayer method works like a charm. Sometimes though, people might just reach over and turn off the radio during the daily prayerathon, from that day forward.(For more great stuff from Jarrod, check out his blog jarrodhaggard.blogspot.com)
how far into Hedges book are you ?? that looks to me like a fascinating read; things are slow over @ I-Monk , so I 've been rummaging around his archives and I've printed out some old stuff; you have a folder of that coming your way. Hope you preach again this century, last week was a "sleeker" and more listener-friendly upgrade, nice work head banger. your kids are growing like Sammy sosa in a steroid drip....they better not be dopingG-NOT
nice work Sunday, you are probably "sore" from preaching your guts/brains out. Your notes looked eerily like much of what I've seen (so far) in "Evangelism without Additives". Maybe you and J. Henderson share a brain or something. Keep telling us that what we feel IS a big deal, emotions tend to get thrown under the bus in ev. circles. Hope you get to preach again soon. G-Not
what do you think so far of Hunter's "Christianity Beyond Belief" ?? that looks interesting. hey, ministry dude, what have been the best things you've seen to date about SMALL GROUPS, esp. some hands on tools for keeping them healthy ??thanks , hope you can translate your Ecuador trip into OP outreachG-NOT
recognize this ???What makes authentic disciples is not visions, ecstasies, biblical mastery of chapter and verse, or spectacular success in ministry, but a capacity for faithfulness. Buffeted by the fickle winds of failure, battered by their own unruly emotions, and bruised by rejection and riducule, authentic disciples may have stumbled and frequently fallen, endured lapses and relapses, gotten handcuffed to the fleshpots and wandered into a far country. Yet, they kept coming back to Jesus.After life has lined their faces a little, many followers of Jesus come into a coherent sense of themselves for the first time. When they modestly claim, "I am still a ragamuffin, but I'm different" they are right. Where sin abounded, grace has abounded more.
If you want to see A.Roberts list fleshed out in real life , go to Micheal Bell's "The Eclectic Christian" and check out the archives under articles of Peter Heath. Find the June 4, 2008 entry entitled "The Eclectic Church". This article ROCKS: guess what, christians really CAN get along when put in a crunch..... maybe all we need here is some kind of outside force oppressing us for a few hundred years...
If you're back , then welcome back; if you're not back, then travel safely and hurry home; hope your summer is restful and productive. G-Not almost done with "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry Church" I might give it 5 stars. Needs to be read by gobs of ev's.
From todays I-Monk , quoted from a link from Alistair Roberts (I think) ; great stuff. What are some concrete ways in which we can work towards a greater degree of unitry between denominations. Here are a few brief suggestions:1. Recognize the discipline of other congregations in your locality.2. Recognize the ordination of people from other denominations and don’t force them to jump through too many hoops to serve within your denomination.3. Recognize the baptisms of people from other denominations, including the infant ones.4. Admit people from other denominations to the Table.5. Read widely, beyond your own theological tradition. Seek to learn from other theological traditions and encourage crossfertilization of ideas.6. Become friends with people from other denominations in your area.7. Pray for the various churches in your locality and ask them to pray for you.8. Seek to co-ordinate evangelistic efforts with other churches.9. Try to get involved in other group projects with other congregations in your locality. Doug Wilson helpfully suggests that we rediscover the idea of ‘parish’. If we really started to think and act in terms of the concept of parish we would soon find ourselves enjoying more fellowship with other Christians in our communities.
check out the title on my 'reading now' shelf: Sinners In the Hands of an Angry Church"; MUST READ. Kind of a "how NOT to engage the culture" in the usual culture wars, written by an ex Focus on the Family staffer (ex...but not bitter). Great stuff, and I'll be done with it in a week or so, it's short. happy to send it your way if you have the interest/time for it. G-Not
EXCELLENT interview of author/pastor/Chandler fan boy Jared Wilson over at (where esle ??) I-MONK. very short and readable; his book "Your Jesus Is Too Safe" got a rave review BTW from Mr. Spencer. Hope your reading and walking after the King of Kings is heading upwards and onwards. G-Not
bummer about the nameless assoc. pastor (St.Louis fan, ex-cop) whose NATIONAL LEAGUERS took it on the chin AGAIN..... as a Royals fan, you gotta gloat when you can; on another note: since you are a Steve Taylor fan I can recommend THIS: google "big butter jesus" and look for heyward banks.....let me know what you think
well, selfish me would say imports and microbrews....but there IS an associate pastor I know, big Cardinal fan who will remain nameless (ex-cop, BTW) who favors BUD.....so I'd say ALL THREE you mentioned, with some Dundee and Boulevard thrown in for good measure: hey, this is SERIOUS outreach, bro.... now, about the snacks....
here's the evnagelism idea of the day: type in CHURCH OF ENGLAND OFFERS FREE in the search box and look for the TOM BARLOW entry; let me know what you think and when we'd be doing this at VOP. I'll bring friends and family. G-NOT
you haven't had an I-Monk adv. lately: very interesting article today on knowing God's will, including an intriguing paragraph on God's will and suffering (pertinent to our Sun conversation). look for GOD ISN"T GAMEY over at I-Monk. Hope your summer is going well. I'm about ready to start "Girl Meets God" , the story of Lauren Winner's conversion from orthodox Judaism to christianity. Heard it was really good. Blessings on your head, and on all who look to you for help and daddy-nessG-NOT
