My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things – trout as well as eternal salvation – came by grace; and grace comes by art; and art does not come easy.

 

– A River Runs Through It, Norman Maclean

We have the privilege of supporting the Turman family during their two-year mission to Thailand. Here’s an update from Nancy Turman on their work…

"Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith." 2 Thess 3:1-2

Thank you for your prayers and support. We are so grateful to you for making it possible for us to spread the word of the Lord here in Thailand.

School continues, and has grown and changed already. The kids now show up around 2 every day and stay till 6, so we are having full days! God has allowed us to become more involved in their lives and community. This week, a widowed Muslim father signed over his 2 youngest daughters to NyiNyi and Suzan. They have taken them into their home, and the girls are being transformed daily as we all love them and teach them about Jesus!

We see so much growth and maturity in our Burmese Christian friends with whom we minister. NyiNyi and Suzan are newlyweds, with a baby on the way already, and they have decided to adopt these girls. Please pray for the Lord to give them the strength, wisdom, and endurance they will need as they make this loving commitment.

Every Sunday night we are now going into the dump leading a worship and Bible time with 3-4 families. 2 new families plan to join us this week, and we will begin teaching the children separately from the adults. The Bible verse, "I have much people in this city" now comes to mind when we approach the garbage dump.

God has truly led us there; we never had intentions of trying to become involved in the dump community! What an amazing work to be a part of! And thank you again for helping us to buy a 4 wheel drive vehicle. Our ‘DumpMobile’ makes it possible for us to get where we need to go there. Even in the current dry season, its difficult to drive through.

The link to our sharesite is below. Take a look to see more photos and to learn "How to love Osama bin Laden!"

Click on the URL to view our website:
Site URL: http://turmansinthailand.shutterfly.com/

The Turman Family

Online donations: http://www.hhmin.org/make_donation.php
Ministry Project Name: Turman

Donate by Mail: Designate for Doug Turman
Helping Hands
P.O. Box 337
Tallulah Falls, GA 30573

Ben Witherington is best known as a deeply thoughtful and engaging New Testament scholar from Asbury Theological. Recently, however, his more profound witness has been as the father of Christy, his 32 year old daughter who died unexpectedly on January 11. As we prepare to discuss what death means in the life of a Christian, I hope you will read his 3-part reflection on what “good grief” has looked like in his life:
part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Do you remember all the things your mother said you shouldn’t discuss at the dinner table? Well, we are talking about all of them, and adding a few to the list.  In advance of each week’s sermon, I’ll be posting daily (or so) links to resources that have helped me think like a Christian on the week’s topics.

This week is on money, and here’s my guarantee: you get a sermon all about money, but not a word of it will be about giving to the Church. We will be talking about living lives free from the fear or the worship of money. And there’s no better place to begin that John Wesley’s sermon “On Money”, which gives us his famous 3 rules of Christian finance:

Earn all you can; save all you can; give all you can. 

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What is The Lectionary?

The lectionary is a series of suggested scripture readings for specific days of the year. There are weekly and daily lectionaries, and they may range in length from one to six years.

United Methodist pastors generally use The Revised Common Lectionary, a three-year lectionary created by an ecumenical group called the Consultation on Common Texts. The lectionary includes three Bible readings for every Sunday, plus readings for special holy days. Pastors may focus on one of the readings or all three during the service.

Do you remember all the things your mother said you shouldn’t discuss at the dinner table? Well, we are talking about all of them, and adding a few to the list.  In advance of each week’s sermon, I’ll be posting daily (or so) links to resources that have helped me think like a Christian on the week’s topics.

Brian Bantum is smart, and I was blessed to have him as a teacher when I was in seminary. As we continue to think about racial identity, I hope you’ll take time to read this letter to his son on what it means, theologically, to be “multi-racial.”

If being post-racial means anything, perhaps it is this: that we are always at home, and we are never home. If being a Christian means anything, it is that we are always at home, and we are never home, and because of this, the exclusion and the refusals we so often endure are never the entirety of our lives.