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For a limited time, you can get a free DVD of Convergence, an interview series I host designed to stimulate conversations for small groups. One of the closest resemblances the modern church has to the church in Acts are small groups that meet in homes. It’s an honor to help bring life to a community that has been thriving now for centuries. In the series, I interview leading scholars and thinkers about topics ranging from marriage to false idols to spiritual practices. Basically, you stick the DVD in, let it play and after about fifteen minutes you’ve got plenty to talk about. I’ve been asked to do a series like this before, but I never felt like I fit. I’m not one to look at a camera and teach. But given the chance to sit down with a guy whose written a marriage book and ask him “when’s the last time you thought about divorcing your wife?” is something different. Convergence gave me, and our guests, the chance to be open and honest and engage in very real conversations about where people live. Hopefully, these are the kinds of conversations you have in your small groups. Here’s a preview of [...]

Our parents generation started World Vision in the 1950′s, and it’s grown into an over 2.5 billion-dollar per-year organization providing supplies, food and medical treatment to hurting people around the world. They aren’t the sexiest organization, and they don’t aim to be fashionable, but I’ve been amazed at the people who work at World Vision for may years now. I just wanted to show you what they are doing, already, in Haiti. Follow World Vision President Rich Stearns on the ground in Haiti on Twitter: @Richstearns

Back in the day, the comment Pat Robertson made regarding Haiti would have infuriated me. Robertson essentially blamed the devastation that took place in Haiti on the idea that, generations ago, people in Haiti sold their souls to the Devil and are now paying for it. I’m reminded of a similar comment made in a debate on CNN, in which yet another religious figure blamed the devastation in New Orleans following Katrina on the debauchery that took place in that town. Luckily, or perhaps providentially, Tony Campolo was also on the show and pointed out that the French Quarter was fine, that it was low-income minorities who were devastated, and then asked his fellow guest point blank whether God was angry with low-income minorities. The other guest really didn’t know what to say. Any answer would have painted him a loon. Regardless, Robertson’s comments further divide people of faith from, well, people of faith. I don’t want to debate the theological ramifications of Robertson’s statements, I only want to point out some perspectives that ease my anger, and instead, cause me to pity him. I consider this a more mature response than I would have had a few years ago. [...]

My friend Randy Williams circulated an e-mail last night that he received from his friend Mark Stuart who is the lead singer of Audio Adrenaline. Mark and his parents started an organization called Hands and Feet working with the people in Haiti. Mark was there when the earthquake hit. If you’re a person who prays, do bow in for them and the people they love. Humbling. Hi everyone…. Our internet is working finally. So I’m sending this to a few of you…. Everyone here is ok, but we are all very scared. The buildings held up great, but there are several houses right around us that have collapsed. Also, Hotel Cyvadier had major damage, while the brand new three story “peace of mind” hotel was demolished. Francine, one of our teenage nannies was in afternoon school and escaped while the building was collapsing around her because she was sitting by the door…however many of her classmates died yesterday. Many houses and and buildings have collapsed in Jacmel including the hospital. I know most of the news there is coming from PAP, but there is substantial loss of life here on the south coast. We need prayer for wisdom and strength. [...]

I hope you and yours are enjoying the coming of Christmas. It’s a sobering, peaceful Christmas around here. After a tough week following the search for two missing climbers on Mt. Hood, one of which attended Imago Dei here in Portland, the search was called off due to the improbability of their having survived a brutal week on the mountain. And then a dear friend in Texas was in an accident and is now on life support. I’ll be flying to Texas tomorrow where the reality that life is fragile will no doubt be made clear. I am grateful, though, that God chose to send hope to a people who, like sheep, had wandered off. I am grateful that Christ pointed us back to God, who is Love, and who taught my friend in the ICU how to love, and who is surrounded by the legacy of love that he created in God’s name. May the peace of Christ be with the families of Katie Nolan, Anthony Vietti and Luke Gullberg, and may the peace of Christ be with the friends and family of David Gentiles, who is like a father to so many of us. I’ll be back in [...]