City Models To Review...

"Iron sharpens iron... and so one techie sharpeneth another". Thanks to OrangeJack, we're able to offer the following...

Here are some great city model links that I found meaningful, especially as we in Indianapolis consider how we can better work together.

Love Chilliwack
Love Abbottsford

Both are based on the concept of "Servant Evangelism" (S.Sjogren) -- "doing works of love as we share words of love".

Also I enjoyed this link as a NEEDS-based (primarily using a "testimonies" convention) Good News site... PowerToChange.com

And... last but not least... a digital site supporting a lot of the above -- let's explore these further (at our "Wireless Coffee" time) as may well relate to the "Transform Indiana" ministry-networking initiative around our state.

P.S. And thanks to Tony Whittaker, who has connected a number of internet evangelist-types... like OrangeJack. This is yet another example of how networking relationships can greatly enhance the effectiveness of networkers. And if that's true in this seemingly-small but illustrative way, imagine the effectiveness of a well-networked city (relationally) of "driven Christians in the Racing Capital of the World".

South Dakota Churches Display Citywide Unity...

"It's not about brand x, y or z; it's about Jesus Christ."

"Prayer Walking.... Mapping..."

Already the new "Wireless Coffee" blog has yielded a great potential dividend. Adam Shields' link to PRAYERWALKING & mapping was worth the price of admission.

Can you imagine the Monon Trail neighborhoods being mapped and adopted?

[See what happens when "driven Christian techs, city by city" start developing and testing strategies online? Thanks Jeff for your work there, making everything possible.]

[Tomorrow... "Let's do lunch..."]

"Don't You Wish.... " [continued]

... that the Christian community cared enough about our "neighbors", to come out of our 'silo-churches'... say 10% of the time... or even just 1% of the time... and work TOGETHER in a manner glorifying Jesus Christ in front of an onlooking community? I do. Could you imagine how much we'd have in powerful, agape-driven resources if our solid Christian churches picked up that herald call? I can.

Today, in the Indy Star:

Another Broadripple High School casualty.


Apparently others in our Indianapolis community might also wonder about such things.

"Wireless Coffee"....

Down at the center today, again a handful of Christians got together and prayed & talked over coffee and (wirelessly) surfed the net together, learning from each other all the while. Some are hi-tech techs, and some of us only can translate from Geekish into English. But our common thread is... being "e-capable and C-centered". And we're all learning something from the others... in a warm, welcoming, invitingly-neutral environment.

Today, progress at the center continued... discussing such things as Christian video clips (where to get 'em, etc.), Linux "directories", portal gadgets, and of course.... blogs. In fact, we got our tech team-blog started, called.... "'Wireless Coffee".

"Don't You Wish... "

[continued 'Tales from the Trail' - see yesterday's post]

Almost no matter what form we prefer for sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ, we often hit the limit as to how far any one person can go at one time in their journey toward the abundant life. That is... Don't you wish there was a good way of helping people CONTINUE in meaningful, relational dialog so as to "go to the next level"?

Don't you wish there was a readily available web of Christians just waiting to help with this ongoing process?

And when we're out on the trail, we meet a lot of nice, well-intentioned, interested & interesting young (& not so young) people who just need to keep the wheels turning about this Jesus-thing. Many need a warm, welcoming, inviting, NEUTRAL place to go to be able to dialog with knowledgable Christians... and also with other people just like themselves... asking the hard questions.

Don't you wish there were some "Alpha groups" located around the city that we could bring people to? And don't you wish that those groups were truly collaborative constructed by various Bible-believing ministries, so as to immediately preclude the appearance of an ulterior purpose, ie, church membership in YOUR church?

Mike & I do. Recently a young co-ed on the trail would have been a great one to ask to "Please come share just exactly those thoughts you just now expressed to us... to an informal group that's gathering over at the McCafe to ask & discuss such things."

[Hmmm. What are the possibilities? Perhaps tomorrow. Stay tuned.]

"Suffering for Jesus... at McD's..."

[Continuing "Tales From The Trail"...(see previous log entries below)]

I just read "Conspiracy of Kindness" by Steve Sjogren (author & blogger), primarily putting forth a "refreshing new approach to sharing the love of Jesus". While questionably not-so-new, the premise is fine -- it was often part of Jesus' methods. Servant evangelism is great... Do "deeds of love" and speak "words of love". And Sjogren fills the rest of the book with suggestions about what's worked for them. It's well worth 'the read'.

But presumably to accentuate the value of his book's premise, he plays against the Elmer Gantry stereotype. In fact, Sjogren unabashedly proliferates that image among his Christian readers. In his chapter entitled, "Unlearning the E-word", he alludes to most 'personal evangelism' today as the "shark approach"... which "tend to traumatize everyone around them with their unfettered aggression", and further reminding us of "the worst characteristics of pushy salesmen"... and equating it with "enthusiastically offending people for the Lord".

Wow. While I can't speak for D.James Kennedy, Frank Wright and countless others, I can't remember any occasions when Mike & I have left any Jaws-like trails of blood on the Monon. LOL. Too bad Sjogren didn't take EE training, before overlooking an obvious remedy -- ie, evangelism TRAINING -- before doing the disservice of striking further fear into his readers' hearts.

Ok... so here's how truly fearful evangelism on the trail can be... Ready?

After knee-walking on broken-glass all the way to Broadripple, dragging our cross-sized soapboxes & a bull-horn (not)... we finally arrive at McDonald's new "McCafe"... and have a latte... and maybe take an ice-cream cone with us as we casually head out into the 'water', looking for the next 'victim' to chat with about Good News....

Bmmp a, bmmp a, bmmp a, bmmp a....

[Tomorrow... a trail-thought comes to us... 'Don't you wish....']

People Do Listen... People Do Change... Some People. Sometimes.

[Trail Questions, continued]

We're not obligated to cause change. We're only obligated to study, to listen, to pray, to prepare, to go, to love, to care, to do, and to share what you know. The results are in God's hands. Thankfully. Because none of us are perfect at any of these, even; but... "It is God who works through you to will and to act according to His good purpose."

[Tomorrow... "Suffering for Jesus... at McD's". LOL. Stay tuned.]

"Fred's Answers"... (continuing from Weds on the Trail....)

Remember Fred? When we asked him that final question... the "Suppose" question... he gave us all the reasons God should NOT let him into His perfect heaven! "I've been a bad husband, a bad father and I haven't been to church in 25 years." And indeed, if that is God's yardstick for measuring, and if God 'grades on the curve'.... Fred knew he would be in big trouble. And so would I !!!

People assume the Bible says something like this... "If you do the 'do's and you don't the 'don'ts', then you go to heaven."

But praise God, that's NOT His yardstick, and He doesn't grade on the curve. [If He did grade on the curve, no one could ever know for sure they had eternal life... yet John wrote otherwise... I John 5:13. So any religion formed on the basis of '12 sins or less' (or enough good works)... apparently flies in the face of the Apostle John's first-hand writings; and you need to keep looking for what the Bible really says.]

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people we talk to wrongly assume something along those lines. So we really do offer some GOOD NEWS !

[Do you or I ever wrongly believe something? No doubt. But about what? And how will we come to learn differently? I guess it boils down to... Are we willing to hear we're wrong about something, if there's something BETTER in store for us? So what do you think? Do people out on the trail ever want to hear about that 'good news' ? Stay tuned.]

New NRB President Credits 2 Important Questions In His Life...

"and he shared the Gospel with me in a fairly unique way, using the two diagnostic questions from his Evangelism Explosion (EE) training."
... Dr. Frank Wright, President, National Religious Broadcasters

"Yes, I Probably Will... Well, I Hope So At Least."

So few people really even know that the Bible was written so that they COULD KNOW that for sure. (I John 5:13). I guess that's part of the very reason we're out there -- to let everyone know otherwise.

I remember attending summer camp as a kid, looking forward to the Friday night campfire finale, because the leader had been telling us all week that "Friday night, we have a sure-fire test to see if you're going to heaven or not." We were all anxious to know that for certain. Wouldn't you be?

But back to the trail now... Yesterday, a real nice elderly fellow (let's call him "Fred") told Mike & I that for sure he was NOT going to heaven. Now that was a unique answer we don't often hear. He said surely he wouldn't be allowed in because he hadn't been to church in 25 years.... as if that was God's yardstick for measuring who 'makes it' and who doesn't.

How do you think people answer the final question then....

"Suppose, just suppose -- we don't wish it on anybody -- Suppose you WERE to die today and find yourself standing before God, and He were to say something to you like... 'Fred, why SHOULD I let you into my perfect heaven?'..... what would you say?"

[Stay tuned. Tomorrow we'll share the answers of a person who's now a new national Christian media mogul.]

Amazingly Most DO Believe There's A Supreme Being...

But they're not nearly so sure about having to someday "account" to Him. In fact, most will respond, "Wow, that's a tough question... I hadn't really thought that through. I'm not sure."

[So sometimes, we may simply interject... "Between now and the day you die... how will you go about resolving that issue?" You really have to love these kids and their quizzical looks, as they often begin to seriously start thinking about such things.]

We proceed with Question #4 -- the first of the infamous TWO Diagnostic Questions of this approach... (we'll talk soon of a number of people who have come to know Christ personally because of someone taking a few minutes to simply ask them these two upcoming questions)...

"If you were to die tonight -- and it does happen (for instance recently a Broadripple high-schooler was murdered here in Indy and these kids can relate) -- Do You KNOW FOR SURE that you'd have eternal life, that is, that you'd go to heaven? I've got a 'Yes', 'No', and a 'Hope So'. Or is that something you're still working on?"

[What do you think they say, folks? Stay tuned.]

Not In Broadripple, There Isn't...

[continuing re Questions on the Monon Trail]

Nope. NOT a rise in spiritual interest here... at least not among those we encounter on the Monon Trail each Tuesday. They'll gladly talk with us about spiritual things, but they virtually ALWAYS answer that question as "NO... About the same level of spiritual interest as 5 years ago."

Next question... and this tells us a lot...

"Would you say that you believe in a Supreme Being, who watches over you, and to whom you must ultimately answer? (And you can break that down however you like.)"

[Whaddaya think, folks? You have to understand, that the Broadripple area is a great place for young people here, to come hang-out, and be themselves... So there's just about every type of free-thinker known to man here, and that's probably why they're so willing to talk with us. Some just hang out on the bridge (over the neat canal we have), and others actually live under the proverbial bridge here. Mike & I have a great friend here, Eric, who loves these these kids and helps them via his ministry called Outreach, Inc.. In fact, some of us are now wanting to get together to form a collaborative Christian effort to provide a warm, welcoming, neutral environment there... say at the McCafe... at which they could ask the hard questions and study about this "Jesus", and come to their own conclusions. Perhaps start an Alpha group there. And btw, Eric is joining Dr. John Perkins in June, to speak at the Urban Strategies Seminar here in Indy.]

So what do you think? Do these kids believe in a Supreme Being? Accountable? [Stay tuned.]

A Rise In Spiritual Interest?

Continuing... Quick Questions on the Trail... Here's the #2 Question we like to ask:

"According to many, there's been a recent rise in people's spiritual interest... usually connected to the events of 911. Would you say you are MORE interested in spiritual matters today than 5 years ago?"

[Readers... Maybe the answer is obvious, but what do you think -- more interest, or less, or about the same? Our findings... tomorrow. Stay tuned. And btw, how about YOUR spiritual interest?]

Appx 80% Will Gladly Talk About Spiritual Things !

Now here I start guessing.... I'm betting that 80% of Christians assume that 80% of Americans would NOT talk with us about spiritual things.

So where's the disconnect?

Btw, later this week, let me share a news story about a guy who has now risen through the Christian ranks to recently become the president of a national Christian media organization, who gained eternal life because someone took the time to ask these questions of him. Stay tuned.

Ok, back out on the trail again.... the FIRST of the 5 questions I personally like to ask, goes something like this...

"Great, you said you'd help us. So let me ask you... 'Of what general religious group would you say you're affiliated, or you've attended while growing up? And btw, how often might you guess that you attend?' "

"Trail Questions" (continued from yesterday)

[Anyone want to venture a pre-guess as how many people will willingly talk to a couple of strangers about spiritual matters?]

"Hi, I'm Neil and this is Mike, and we're out here in the Broadripple area today asking people just 5 brief questions of a spiritual nature and wonder if you'd help us by giving us your thoughts?"

[the answer, tomorrow]

Quick Questions On The Trail...

Just wanted to start logging a few journal-type notes from a typical afternoon as Mike & I (& whoever's with us) go out asking people a few questions on the Monon Trail here in Indy. Many are people who will never otherwise feel comfortable going in a church, or maybe will never feel compelled to want to read through 66 books of the Bible. Or they turn off 'Christian tv' just as quickly as it 'turns them off'. So how else will anyone reach them with the good news? [Btw, this set of questions that we use is not Mike's nor mine, lest anyone think we're particularly bright or clever or godly. Those who know us very well, know better. **smile** No, rather, we're simply following some tried & true experiences of others. Will write more about that sometime soon.]

Tomorrow, I'll continue with the questions, but for today, let me just pose the very first question we ask of someone the Lord leads us to...

"Excuse me.... Would you help us a minute?"

Congregations Cast Wider Net... With Websites

Great article!

Btw, any Greater Indianapolis (Bible-believing) congregations needing expert advice or help 'casting their net'... come join us for "Wireless Coffee" any Saturday (free), at 12th x Central, Sponsored by Christian Collaborative Network, Inc.. Importantly, find out how you can get your church-site seen!

The Church Hires "Baghdad Bob" as New Minister of Information:



"Christians, Christians... not to worry... not to worry... the war is going well -- we're doing an excellent job! The infidels are on the run. Just keep doing what you're doing, the way you're doing it."

"Those loud noises you're hearing in our U.S. cities are not explosions of crime, injustice, filled jails, aborted children, racism, hatred, divorce, fatherlessness, declining education, addictions of all kinds, adultery, joblessness, egotism, Enronism, pornography, consumeristic church, segregated churches, prayerlessness... nor millions falling off into hell daily."

"I tell you... not to worry... not to worry... Those loud noises are only the sounds of our outgoing mortars of 'personal choice', tolerance, syncretism, corporate success, cultural pride, denominational pride & favorite worship style... just to name a few of our WMD. Keep the faith. No changes. Continue to march. Our asynchronous strategy will win the day."

"So long for now. Thank you for hiring me -- I needed just such a job. I will try to please you with all my reports, so stay tuned for future encouragements."

Bagdad Bob
Minister of Information
The Church


II Corinthians 2:11

Decapitated:

'Geraldo' Gives Away Church 'Battle Plan':

I just now had to write a self-introduction for an egroup I joined... summarizing who we are and our proposed change-strategies for the Church today. Decided to draw it all out here, 'in the sand', for anyone to see as well...

I wish internet evangelism sites could single-handedly save everyone everywhere. **wink** But believing the web alone is not (yet?) 'compelling enough', I'm very into integrating various strategies God has given us a vision for... such as fishing the net with a net and hauling 'em into local relationships where the community's 'Church' can best do its job... face to face.

So I'm a firm believer in evangelical Christian web/real portals per city, to help organize the tapestry of Christians more closely together for collaborative efforts as practical... in hopes of fishing our city together with a net when practical, rather than only fishing with poles. Let's lift up the ONE name of Christ together in our community. The networked strategy can conceivably bring a "web of services", neighborhood by neighborhood... whereas a myriad of 'silo' churches have been unable to so far. So we're trying to model the concept here via http://IndyChristian.com .

Very recently, we've actually touched down from cyberspace, creating a centralized "Urban Collaborative Center" here in the heart of the
city... a warm, welcoming, (NEUTRAL), tech-adept place from which to push the envelope faster. Partially as a result of such efforts (and no doubt a lot of prayer from all over the city & state), an initiative called "Transform Indiana" has taken off... hoping to network Christians around the many cities in our state, and to network the neighborhoods therein... to facilitate Christians wanting to reach their communities. You could test-click through our (obcured) network of counties/cities/neighborhoods at... http://IndyChristian.com/transform_index.htm . Its purpose is to start building the web of Christian leaders per neighborhood geo-zone (Did I say "precinct"?) [We'd welcome your comments.]

We work somewhat closely with CityReaching.com (Lighthouse Movement / Mission
America), and we'd gladly work with whatever evangelicals have a goal of making it 'hard to go to hell from Indy'.

We have a number of web-sites with integrated purposes...

http://DoYouKnowForSure.com - Gospel message and local testimonies
per city.

http://WhenYouNeedSomeone.com - Sticky-site to advertise & reel in to
the site above. Hope to someday soon offer a network of 24x7 prayer, care, and share from there. Imagine WhenYouNeedSomeone.com bumper stickers in your city! Billboards?

http://LiveChristian.com seeks to promote the more personal side to
the web. If you looked deep enough in it, you'd find we envision a well-organized 24x7 chat network (168 trained chat-guides sprinkled
among the 24 time slices around the globe), to serve as the Church's 'friendly greeter', with ready access to other Christians
available to help (either regionally, or topically).

Currently, LiveChristian.com functions as a meta-blog for now, toying with a "blog blurbs" concept, to 'personalize' the local web by
getting bloggers such as Rudy, Andrew & Rachel seen at these Christian city-portals (hopefully more & more local bloggers). RSS/XML syndication may well provide a better mousetrap -- I'd be interested in your
comments. [That reminds me, has anyone enlisted "Mean Dean" for this discussion?]

Imagine now a prayed-for city, with well-promoted 24x7 prayer, care, share available in your city... with well-trained phone workers &
chatters tied to the net index per city, and well connected Christians in every neighborhood therein. What's keeping us???

And last (and least)... "Got Change for a Blog"... my online journal
behind the scenes. http://NeilCox.com/gotchange.htm

Ok, so we gave away the strategy. Better an open 'offensive' strategy, than quietly deploying no unified strategy at all.

I say, "Let the devil play defense"! ["We are not unaware of the devil's schemes."]

YBIC
Neil
http://NeilCox.com

It's March. And this is Indiana...

A "maddening" pace is going on here in Indy -- it's been a whirlwind March so far, going by too fast to even blog about it at the speed of light. And with the war going on, there's way too much to begin to cover everything here. So here's a 'quick lap' of recent people & events here in Indy of significance in my life this month. But first, let me say that I'm thankful we have a God who is not surprised by unsettling news re the war. [Btw, at IndyChristian.com we're encouraging folks to follow the link to a prayer-site for our soldiers, and to add the names of their loved ones who have put their lives at risk, for the sake of freedom.] God Almighty cares enough that He humbled himself to come and be crucified at the hands of sinful people like ourselves, that He might bring eternal peace to those who would but accept His sacrifice on their behalf and make Him Lord of their lives. So indeed, though we cannot understand it all, we at least know that He cares deeply about all this, and about all mankind.

Early in the month, Jan & I celebrated our 31st anniversary together. Anyone who knows me very well, knows there must be an awesome Creator who made a patient saint like her. To be sure, I do not deserve her... but love her more every passing day.

I met with the accountability group whom I've been with for several years now. What a collection of leaders (they are). I'm awed to even be associated with them... thanks to Eldon Kibbey, CBMC-Indiana director. Also was able to attend the "Transform Indiana" initiative planning group meeting again this month... this time at the Unleavened Bread Cafe. It's gathering steam, as some of the"driven Christians in the Racing Capital of the World" are forcing themselves outside the box, and quizzing... "What can be better accomplished TOGETHER, than separately here in the Greater Indianapolis sector of the kingdom?" Also spent considerable time this month with the neat collection of God's people at Crossroads Bible College. Attended church at River Oaks Community Church, as always... but they're now getting their evangelism-focused people together... so now they're getting increasingly "dangerous". This reminds me... I met with my good friend Mike Wildey -- and now that we're encountering Spring temperatures here in Indianapolis, it's time for us to head back out on the Monon Trail, to again start gathering some "spiritual temperatures"... using EE questionaires. Anyone interesting in going along sometime, just let us know. Met with my mentor, Henry Date... a godly man in every respect (except who he hangs out with **LOL**). I've been fortunate enough to be around some godly peers as well, at the Urban Collaborative Center. Thanks to some great Christian techs in our area, we've now been able to open the doors on Saturday mornings, to help urban folks with computer/internet stuff... and more importantly, form multicultural friendships because of Jesus' model of reconciling love & justice. One of the 'co-conspirators' there -- Marvin Gainer -- also made it possible for me to tag along with him, to go hear Dr. John Perkins speak this past week in Indy. [Years ago, Marvin had spent a summer in Mississippi with Dr. Perkins. What a blessing to get to be around Marvin here in Indy on a weekly basis.] As always... Dr. Perkins was awesome. Thank you, Don Palmer, for all you're doing to build Christian leaders in our community.. and bringing us such men as Dr. Perkins. Met some neat Christians while there -- I can't begin to name them all... but stay tuned... undoubtedly we'll get to each of them in the coming weeks/months of this 'behind the scenes' log at IndyChristian.com . And thanks to Russ Pulliam, associate editor of the Indianapolis Star, the rest of Indianapolis was also able to read about Dr. Perkins' reconciling message. Btw, I bought another couple of Dr. Perkins' books... but also one from Dolphus Weary -- head of Mission Mississippi. I was struck by his last chapter, called... "A Vision of a Transformed Life" (you can now see why it caught my attention), in which he referred to his wholistic approach to ministry using the phrase "this WEB of services" [emphasis added]. Bear in mind, that was written in 1993, before any of us had heard of the WWW. But doesn't this WWW now offer an increased capability for significant potential impact together? We'll see. Speaking of the Indianapolis Star... its editorial cartoonist, Gary Varvel, gave his testimony this past month here in Carmel. Where did we get all these Christians? And how is it, that they all share the same core message? Btw, Marvin & I were asked to do a WISH-TV interview called "Religion in the News". While the message of the Christian Collaboration Network is well worth taking the risks on-camera of "hoof in mouth disease", we took some consolation in the fact that it aired at 5am on a Sunday morning. LOL. Actually it turned out just fine, thanks to Marvin, and the host... Dave White. Hope we can do some win-win ministry together with Dave someday; he's a talented media productions guy here, making a difference for Christ. Let's see... what else? Oh yeah, a group of Wheaton College kids came to Indy on their tour, making it possible for some of us Wheaties to get together. And as a result, perhaps we're better connected now. This could have its effect next month when Wheaton alumnus Jasper Bacon (interesting audio clip, btw) comes to Indy for a breakfast event. I had the pleasure of talking with Jasper on the phone this morning. What a great ministry he has, in Canton, MS. Some of our Indy kids are headed his way for a missions trip real soon. Now, last but not least, sports fans -- this is Indiana, so we didn't fail to take advantage of it being "March Madness" time. And I'm not just speaking of the 5 Indiana teams that made it to the NCAA playoffs -- btw, keep your eye on this year's Cinderella team, the Butler Bulldogs. I'm also thankful to Jon Ware, a young Christian friend who took me with him to a Pacers game (great seats, Jon!), and get to see Mark Jackson return to Conseco Fieldhouse, even if only to play against us. But he got quite an ovation when he came onto the floor... especially since it was Indy Youth Explosion night there, and Mark's a long-time Christian favorite from his playing days with the Pacers. But now, getting to play with Karl Malone and John Stockton -- who could blame him for making the switch? Summing it all up so far... here's a 'Mark quote' from Christianity Today, in reference to his assists... "the greatest pass I ever made was when I gave it all to Jesus Christ." This reminds me of another local favorite bball guy, now running Indiana Basketball Academy here in Carmel... Tom Abernethy... whose decorative t-shirt caught my eye. It said on the front... "LIFE is... Jesus Christ". And on the back side it concluded... "Everything else is just basketball." Now there's a 'tall Christian' in my eyes, who gently loves and solidly impacts every young life that comes through his training academy.

All this is right here in Indy... so again I find myself reiterating King David's words... "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance." [...or perhaps the Apostle Paul's... "In whatsoever STATE I am, I have learned to be content." **smile**]. It's March. And this is Indiana. Praise God.

Speaking Engagements Coming Up:

I would prefer to remain as "the man behind the curtain" and just stimulate & facilitate change through the cost-effective channel God has given to us in recent years -- the internet. But considering the importance of the mission at hand, a well-integrated life calls for us to frequently break out of our comfort zone and reach out to others in the way THEY wish to understand things. So we need to use every means in order to be effective and productive in the Kingdom of God. In this case... I need to be willing to talk in front of some groups occasionally.

So I've consented to give my testimony at an upcoming luncheon for businessmen here in downtown Indianapolis. And I may be doing a gig on (middle of the night -- thankfully **LOL**) tv soon. And then I'm looking forward to speaking with the statewide staff of Child Evangelism Fellowship next month. May God give me special graces to do these, in a way that would honor Him (in spite of ME).

In preparation for these, I've now built my bio (online of course).

Prayer Tomorrow:

An appeal is being made around the world to specially take advantage of the unique date, 03/03/03, to pray in concert with one another at 3:33pm (in whatever time zone).

The World Prayer Center certainly welcomes anyone to log-in there and submit your prayers. But a further idea occurs to me... What if some of us went to a common chatroom from 3:00pm -- 3:59pm and prayed online TOGETHER.... time-zone, to time-zone, to time-zone. And people could come join in at any time, even.

How we change -- often through adversity & diversity (Part II):
Ultimate adversity -- martyrdom... tends to validate one's purpose. Eg., dying for attesting to the truths they'd written about Christ, the martyred apostles added credibility to their message. Conversely, Chuck Colson speaks of the inability of Watergate conspirators to hold their lie together for even 2 weeks when under fire. Compared to the martydom of saints... it made the compelling argument, he said, for the TRUTH of God's word -- and thus the basis for his conversion in a jail cell.

At age 5, Steve Saint lost his father -- martyred jungle-pilot Nate Saint. Steve and other family members of the 5 missionaries killed in that attack, later went in to live among AND LOVE that tribe. Last week, Steve gave his testimony recently in front of our govenor and those gathered at the Indiana Leadership Prayer Breakfast. Further, a compelling new (secular) documentary film called "Beyond the Gates of Splendor" -- about the transformation of that tribe -- is now starting to make the rounds to the various film festivals. Jan & I were fortunate enough to have gone to see it at the Heartland Film Festival here in Indy. It was indeed moving. Adversity (Martyrdom, in this case) and Diversity (extremely different cultures being reconciled in the pattern of Christ's love).... makes a powerful case for the Gospel.

Many books & articles have been written, and stories told... to the ends of the earth... about this famous group of modern-day martyrs. In one such article, Christianity Today succinctly captured the question which plagued the murdering 'Aucas', and the answer which transformed their lives & community into what they are now, called 'Hourani':

"They had to know the answer: why would the cowodi [white men] let themselves be killed rather than kill, as any normal Huaorani would have done? This question dogged Gikita until he heard the full story of why the men wanted to make contact and about another man, Jesus, who freely allowed his own death to benefit all people."

Steve went further, imbedding a vivid picture indelibly in our minds & hearts.... Although the missionaries had guns with them (for protection against wild animals), yet one of the Americans simply bear-hugged an Auca in an effort to try to stop further killing... and was himself killed from behind.

The warriors later asked, "Why did he wrap his arms around the smaller warrior, when he could have killed him?"

We could only hope to be so obvious with our love for people NOT like ourselves.










[Btw, any other day, I'd make a pitch for the value of "technology" when combined with reconciling Christ-like love -- but Steve's pictures say it all.]

Application: In my life, how can I apply these lessons of adversity & intentional diversity? Hmmm. As we start-up our "Urban Tech Center" here in Indy, may we be able to apply the principles of faith, expressing itself through sacrificial love, and by being intentional about 'crossing great divides' among people not like ourselves.

How we change -- often through adversity & diversity: (Part I):

As we recognize our way-shortness of the mark, and seek transformation of our minds & lives, ie., being "conformed to the image of Christ", surely we soon come to the question... "How can I change?". And quickly, the simplistic Christian response is... "through the power of the Holy Spirit"... with which we all agree; but let's not stop there, waiting by the tracks as if that train comes along without a means.

So I've asked myself, and sifted the answers, and still sift the answers (I'd welcome your comments)... "Boil it down... what are the primary ways in which Christians can bring about change, and bring it quickly and effectively?" My conclusions so far:

* Repentance and prayer.
* Self-discipline & Goal-setting
* Adversity & Diversity
* Read/Surf/Learn
* Sharpened by Others
* Extend Our Impact through Others
* Specific Training or Innovations
* Iterative Processing

Without going into each of these right now, let me just touch on one today -- "Adversity & Diversity".

On a monthly tape in Bill Hybel's Leadership series, a guest he was interviewing said (my summation), "There are two notable occasions in our lives when spiritual maturity seems to take a quantum leap.... pain, and cross-cultural experience."

I took that gem and have been polishing my understanding of it... especially as an available change-tool as I desire to grow more Christ-like over the course of my life. Bottom line, isn't he saying, we learn & grow through Adversity & Diversity? That is, we sometimes have to have something get us out of our comfort-zone... ie, "outside our box"? Now while all of us want to learn from our painful experiences, surely none of us desire adversity. So I'll leave that one alone for the moment... and concentrate my comments on the second part... Diversity.

We can be intentional about our diversity. In fact, did Christ in any way preach anything different? Did he ever command, "Go into all the world, but be homogenous. Group with others just like yourselves. Find groups who are the color you are; who enjoy the worship music you enjoy; who draw the same doctrinal conclusions you draw." Or did he effectively say, "They'll know you are Christ-followers by your love. Love one another, even as I have loved you."?

If Christ and the New Testament writers called for 'no divisions among you' -- and if diversity helps us sharpen one another and mature spiritually, and even MODEL Christ's reconciling love, then how do we quietly enjoy OUR church which looks like us, sings like us and thinks like us?

Stay tuned. Coming soon... Diversity & Adversity... A testimony at the Governor's Prayer Breakfast.

In
Memory of

the Crew of the

Space Shuttle Columbia

 February 1, 2003

Our
Prayers are with their

Families and Friends

An Open Letter to Eric Miller (& Micah Clark)...  

Thanks for helping prioritize the values of our churches & charities during economically stressful times for the Indiana legislature and our govenor's administration. As you've well pointed out, we the citizens are already paying high taxes of multiple varieties, including the taxes on our 'corporations' which trickle-down to us as well.  Admittedly, it is the job of government to help provide justice & mercy, notably as they prioritize their methods and targets for taxation and assistance. 

Thus the logic of 'sin-taxes' seems wise -- taxing the downsides of societal good. But the logic of taxing the best & most productive elements of society escapes me. Our churches & charities rely heavily on volunteerism and goodwill... and thus leverage every dollar they have available. Why on earth would we as a great state, start especially leaning on the individuals who support these organizations with their dollars, in order to fund government -- which does its work via paid employees, and seldom with volunteers? 

When that day comes, it's a sad day in a great state. 

Alternatively, what a moving experience it was to hear 2,000 people sing "God Bless America" throughout the Statehouse yesterday. We praise God for moving our forefathers to allow us such privileges. And we thank you for trying to protect some of the other privileges they fought so hard to establish for the good of our nation & communities. 

Thanks for all you're doing for those of us who are willing to give of our time & money, and on behalf of those in need of mercy & justice here in our city & state.  Accordingly, we're highlighting your message today at http://IndyChristian.com , when apparently the local media is trying to look the other way. 


Respectfully, In Christ, 
Neil Cox 

Founder/Editor/"Coach"
http://IndyChristian.com
"Connecting The Local Christian Community"



"Truth will prevail. And Truth at the speed-of-light will prevail at the speed-of-Light."

"Transform Indiana" Initiative....

We had a GREAT meeting yesterday, praying, networking, and planning together.... to somehow, someway, Lord willing, to take our personal & Church & communities' transformation to the next level here in Greater Indianapolis and throughout our great state. Each of us gathered there no doubt represented very different backgrounds, churches or ministries, politics even... but shared one very DRIVING goal here in the Racing Capital of the World... and that is that Christ be glorified here. One Christ. One Faith. One Baptism.

Here in Indy, if ya snooze, ya lose.

Monday, 1/20/03, MLK Holiday, is another opportunity for the "innovative types" of Christians here. "Innovation Forum", we're calling it.

Naming Names: In fact, one of the innovators who's driving in for this get-together, is one of the Christian bloggers being read from around the globe... Josh Claybourn, pundit at blogs4God.com. Should be very stimulating conversation.

Stay tuned.

End of the year.... 2002. God is good. Thank you, Lord.

IndyChristian.com PRAISE LOG  2002

A Charismatic Change Agent:
(great article recommended by Rudy @ UrbanOnramps.com)
"On his tombstone, Tony Campolo says, he wants.... (read the article at ChristianityToday.com).
According to the article.... "Charismatic leader or not, he won't get his wish. They just don't make tombstones that big."

Btw, one preacher recently told me he was going to have this etched on his headstone... "At least I don't have a meeting at church tonight." LOL.

Here at the end of the year, and looking forward to the New Year, perhaps this is a good time to consider... "What would I want written on my tombstone?".

"You can link a horse to a water, but you can't make him drink."
But over time, if he comes there often enough, someday we'll catch him when he's thirsty.

Thus perhaps the web offers a new-found ray of hope for at least drawing a model in cyberspace, reflecting the tapestry of Christians closer & closer together, for love & impact in their communities. This is the prayer of IndyChristian.com -- the web-portal for Greater Indianapolis Christians. So at the very least, we can begin to link together. But ultimately perhaps, the question then starts becoming...

How do we lift up the name of Christ as ONE harmonized Church of Jesus Christ, to impact our communities? Thankfully there are a great number of churches impacting our communities positively every day -- we now just desire that we become known to those communities as a loving, core-truth body (did I say 'network'?) of Christ-followers. That is very much an integral part of the "Transform Indiana" planning that is happening here in Indy.

We want to be "dangerous" to the gates of hell ! Coming together in prayer is one very key way of doing that. Another key way of becoming dangerous is to become aware of the devil's schemes -- and isn't "Divide and Conquer" much of his methodology? Divorce, cultural pride, socio-economic class, and elevated doctrinal distinctions... to suggest a few. At what point is he using some even-good things as tools against the Church?

How about this -- is it possibly that he's using this as a key piece of propaganda... "Apparently truth is relative, because even the Church effectively teaches that every day, each in their separate silos."? Do we give the appearance of lifting up our church names & activities without first/primarily lifting up a unified Christ and harmoniously-taught core-truth absolutes?

Satan, change your brochures. That might have flown yesterday, but not tomorrow.

God help us.

The latest....






Years ago, I bought this as a memorable domain-name to pique people's interest... especially as the Holy Spirit leads them. Primarily it's built to point people to the word of God even though they may not be familiar with it. And provide them an avenue to talk to solid born-again Christians when they're ready. Ultimately, we want to care enough to share the Good News (& personal testimonies, at DoYouKnowForSure.com).

Christian Bloggers of the world -- Add this "bait-ing image" to your blog-sites, inviting your surfers to WhenYouNeedSomeone.com, and ultimately to Christ... 24x7. Let me know if you do, we'd like to acknowledge your participation in the project, and send you one of these bumper stickers. Frankly, we're also anxious to encourage our pastors & leaders (like George Barna) about the hope of the future, coming from emerging young web-leaders like yourselves. What do you think? Can bloggers make a difference in our communities in this way?

Naming Names: Dave Baker is a CBMC guy who shares a zeal for pointing people to Christ. And being a techie himself, he enjoys the web's ability to do that pointing process... 24x7. And although it was my dearly-departed mentor who turned me on to God's Phone# (Jer.33:3), it was Dave who compiled the majority of this "God's Phone# Directory" page. Dave's a great encourager -- May God continue to bless you mightily, brother.

Thank you, Lord for your immense grace to us all... and to me personally.

While I've devoted today's "feature" at IndyChristian.com to "Thankfulness" on a wider-group basis, I'd also like to quickly add a personal note of thanks to my personal roots in Christ.... going back to a little country church in the heartland of Illinois...

Back-log: (circa 1950's & 60's) It was here that our extended family worshipped together, and taught future generations to know how much Jesus loves us and offers us a tremendous plan for our lives.... "an offer too good to refuse". We have so much to be eternally thankful for, including God working significantly through my family & their community church.

Da Bears! Da Colts! Win alike

We were there (at Memorial Stadium in Champaign). What an awesome comeback at the proverbial 'eleventh hour' of regulation time -- and then a spectacular finish in OT!

Isn't the Christian life like that sometimes? Just when things look really tough, God calls for us to just continue being faithful & persevere. And who knows what He has in store. Maybe a fantastic 'eye-spy' of God in action. Be there. Don't leave 'the game' too early. **smile**

"Transform Indiana"... This past Thursday was really encouraging. This visionary/planning group met, now for the 7th time, and continues to hang in there against all odds. Their bright hope is to actually see a "paradigm shift" (and I'm not talking about the www, you netizens...LOL) in the way we live our daily lives in our communities. They're praying, planning, and working toward the day that Christians lay self-interest on the altar -- even churches laying self-interest aside -- for the good of our neighbors & whole communities, by modeling & sharing the Good News and its abundant life application.

And "as iron sharpens iron, so one city sharpeneth another" (forgive my modifications) -- this Indianapolis group is greatly encouraged by Chicagoland pastors & leaders involved in their "One Great City" initiative. In fact, we spent a good portion of our meeting, going through a PowerPoint presentation that they have on their website... a good example of how the web does help us "spur one another on toward love & good deeds".

We're also greatly heartened by the Mission America Coalition (Lighthouse Movement) and their thrust toward city-reaching. Yesterday, on their national teleconference call with city-reps, they invited George S. Gallup, Jr. to address issues & answers. What a terrific resource. And as all Christian coalitions, it comes as a result of us putting aside a certain amount of self-interest, and working primarily toward the glory of the name of Christ.

Another great encouragement? These "Transforming Indiana" folks were willing -- in fact inspired -- to continue meeting at the emerging "Urban Collaborative Center". It's hardly because of the facilities at this early stage of its life.... but rather because of their hearts for any and all peoples of Indiana. I call these types of leaders "Driven Christians in the Racing Capital of the World". **smile**

Back-log: (Circa 1970) -- My personal story....

Btw, this story and the personal stories of others, are now being collected & posted, city by city, at... DoYouKnowForSure.com . [Please pass the word among your friends who might be willing to venture to post their testimony of God's grace... which could be meaningful to someone in your city.]

Dare we read "alternative" Christian views? ...
Do we really want to change? If so, perhaps there are times we need to deliberately venture a little time in reading & discussing alternative points of view... which, if we end up accepting them, turn out to no longer be an alternative point of view for us. **smile**

Such is the case of a great article I picked up yesterday -- thanks to a tip from "blogs4God".... "The Call of the Wild", by Trygve Johnson.

Voters Change the Senate...
Any way you slice it, it appears that the people have spoken, and President Bush has been blessed with an ability now to get solid court nominees acted upon. Even assuming God is not necessarily a Republican, we do know that He himself is perfect justice and desires that we "act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God". So my hat is off to voters nationwide who essentially voted against the unprecedented injustice of Democrats stymying conservative appointees. Allow me to praise God for this change.

Btw, who could have guessed, that having only narrowly won election himself two years ago, that his personal influence would defy the normal off-year trend and effectively carry the day yesterday? May we as Christians continue to hold him (and all our elected leaders) up in prayer every single day.

And now, for the lighter side...
Rudy has picked up this tidbit -- Florida voters again disgruntled over the voting apparatus. LOL.

It gives me a chance to run one of my favorite pix.... Florida voting machine for 2004...

Sometimes No Amount of Logic Can Help...

I thank our syndicated blogging friend, Rudy Carassco at UrbanOnramps.com, for pointing out a funny statistic cited in a Miami Herald article this week, about a poll they cited which claimed that 11% of Americans believe the NASA moon landing was a fake. Pardon me for LOLLLLLLLL.

Suddenly though it didn't seem so funny as I remembered Barna research which indicates that now only appx 5% of Americans would fall into a belief category we would call "evangelicals"...

...who say their faith is very important in their life today; believe they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians; believe that Satan exists; believe that the eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works; believe that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and describe God as the all-knowing , all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today.
(definitions & stats from Barna.org)

Shall we then conclude that it is apparently TWICE as easy to convince Americans that the moon landing didn't happen, than to convince them of the core body of truth taught in our Bible-believing churches today?

At the very least, these polls simply bear out what we perhaps already knew... When people don't want to believe something, no amount of logic or evidence will convince them otherwise. It first takes an act of God's Spirit... just as the Bible says. The logic of it all becomes obvious once we get over the hurdle of pride and stop being god.

How can I change? How can anyone change? Step One... pray, repent of our former beliefs & actions, acknowledge Truth. The rest may be easy.

How about this for a "change", on Halloween?

Look what showed up at our door...

 

Or how about this for a change on Halloween? "Wicked, Wacky Wicca"

Naming Names: The authors of that article, Dan & Agusta Harting, readily admit they were former members of a different type of cult. Dan's been an encouraging Christian brother and a member of the accountability group here in Indy that we call our "Ministry Forum". I praise God for this dear brother and for their testimony of "change".

Life... in the final analysis... must be about meetings. Isn't it? I mean, it must be -- look at all the meetings we seem to need to go to these days. LOL. More about yesterday's "Tranforming Indiana" meeting, when I get the minutes from our fearless leader. Til then, I'm busily preparing for another meeting -- this time, a board meeting on Saturday; how unjust is that?

Hey, at the Urban Collaborative Center, one of our very first objectives is to enlist our co-conspirators-for-life (well, at least for the length of our lease). That is, we can have nearly a whole floor there, and are quickly trying to find great collaborative type partners who are also looking to co-locate near other strategic Christians.

Urban Collaborative Center... Today's the day... for initiating a nonprofit corporation to encompass the long-awaited "Urban Tech Ministry" concept, and to co-labor with others. Cyberspace has come down to the ground today. And it is birthed quietly, with corporate signatures & prayer among our friends... today at 5:15pm (Indiana Time).

(Click for
slide-show)

Naming Names: God has had so very many people involved in the emergence of such a venture -- I could not begin to name them all. Primary among though though, is my good friend and brother in Christ, Ian Hookfin. When Ian was Community Ministries Director at Tab, we conceptualized the value of Christians helping urban communities cross the great "digital divide", thus giving them skills, capabilities and opportunities to compete in a market-driven society which otherwise leaves them further & further behind. We believe God's sense of love & justice demands attention by the Church, to help people cross this widening chasm. In the process, we intend to work shoulder to shoulder with many different peoples, thus closing the multicultural divide as we go. And as we help them cross these great divides, most importantly we want to overtly help them know how they may cross God's eternal divide and enjoy peace with God and the abundant life in Christ... now & forever.

More recently, our mutual friend, Marvin Gainer -- formerly dean of students at The Oaks Academy -- has joined the venture towards collaborating together. Marvin is co-locating his consulting business there, as he seeks to connect urban Christians & their ministries to the resources they need most.

And this short list wouldn't be complete, without crediting some 'driven Christians' who have greatly influenced our thinking as to urban or digital matters... Dr. John Perkins, Dr. Charles Ware, Tim Voorhees, Rudy Carrasco, Jeff Koenig.

And what about our wives who have been supportive of this faith vision? Bobbi Hookfin, Jerylyn Gainer, and my life-partner, Janice... may God specially bless them for their patience & prayerful support.

And this leads me to an unknowing contributor to the puzzle... Andy Stanley is perhaps best known as son of Dr. Charles Stanley. But to me, he's best remembered as author of "Visioneering"... a terrific book on implementing God's vision in our lives. It had monumental impact on the delayed start of the Urban Tech Center entity.

Back-log: (circa 2001) As I contemplated leaving "Tab" and trying to determine "What's Next, Lord?", I very much wanted to immediately launch the Urban Tech Ministry as a 501c3. But it seemed unrealistic as a means of support for my family. How does one know the will of God, anyway? Doesn't that question come up all too often? I mean, the apostle Paul almost always is writing to his constituents that he is praying that they will know the will of God, and live it out. But how do we know His will? Andy Stanley provides great thoughts on the subject -- but I wouldn't want to spoil the reading. [This one's a 'keeper'... I'm headed out to buy the hardback today, for posterity.] My point? Visioneering helped me to better understand where our vision for urban technology would fit nicely into the overall "Transforming Indiana" vision for collaborative ministry in Greater Indianapolis... or for that matter, all of Indiana.

Future-log: Indeed, what will God do among us, if together we aspire to know Him better and to make Him known?

In all our ways, may we trust in the Lord with all our hearts, leaning not on our own understanding, but acknowledging Him... fully assured that He will direct our paths. (Prov. 3:5-6)

Audit: It's never a pleasant word, is it? Yesterday and today, I'm involved in preparation for an audit, so forgive me for speaking the word -- but it's in the very front of my mind right now. If the Enron & WorldCom fiascos have taught us anything, they've highlighted the importance of the "audit" function, in building quality. Choosing good auditors is imperative.

Who do we have "auditing" our Christian lives, in order to help us build the Christ-like qualities we say we seek?


Naming Names: Jan... my wife... my life companion. Among the many great reasons God gives us these life-companions, one such reason has to be this "accountability" factor. Who else will give us some of the hard feedback at times, except those closest to us and who share the risk of bad decisions? I thank God for my wife... a 'means of grace' in my life.

Me? I didn't go to the White House today... (like one of our blogging friends and his wife & sister), BUT... I feel like I traveled the world today, and just got home. Whew.

At a breakfast meeting this morning, I listened to an inspired talk by Dr. R. Pudaite, Founder of Bibles for the World. We all know that the Word of God is always instrumental in people everywhere coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Dr. Pudaite simply inspired us to take that to heart and do whatever we can to make it possible for EVERY home in the world to have a Bible. He alluded to the (high) number of Bibles we probably all have in our homes, and said their goal was to have ONE Bible in each home before anyone has TWO. **smile** One of their major fields, is India.

Over lunch, I met with my "accountability" group -- a handful of other parachurch leaders here who get together monthly to encourage one another and to get updates, prayer concerns, etc. One of them is Jim Smith, the U.S. Director for Middle East Christian Outreach (MECO). He shared about his organization's zeal for assisting churches in that area of the world... to bring muslims to Christ.

And just now, I finished my "world tour" by meeting with Craig Dyer, President of Bright Hope International -- a Christian relief organization targeting Zambia this year.

I know, I know... the question is obvious... "Where did you find time to go to all these meetings today? Don't you have to make a living?". Yep. "Ministry Support Services" -- that's me. At least in between meals. **LOL**

Naming Names: My Bright Hope connection comes via (the NET, of course... LOL) my praying friend from Chicago, Phil Miglioratti, (National Pastors Prayer Network) involved in PrayChicago.net ... and the national "city-reaching" initiative by the Mission America Coalition (Lighthouse Movement). Btw, Phil is the author of the short-but-inspiring piece called... "Living In a Prayed-for City".

Ok, ok... the guy who DID go to the White House today is a digital co-conspirator in Christ (via LiveChristian.com -- the "Blog Blurb Syndicate")... Rudy Carrasco (UrbanOnramps.com).

At least I got home before you did, Rudy.

Whistlestops? As our lives barrel down the high-speed rails God predestined for us, what are some of the mile-markers along the way... the 'whistlestops', if you will? Perhaps they're the only things we have much time to journal about anyway, huh? This morning's 'stop' occurred at a little place here in the Broadripple area of Indianapolis, sitting on the old Monon railbed-turned-trail. Not surprisingly, it's known as... "The Whistlestop".

We met for coffee and hammered out the precise mission and key functions of a brand new 501(c)3 organization...

Perhaps to be called the "Christian Collaborative Network"... we share the historical mission of the Church of Jesus Christ -- to "Glorify God and Enjoy Him Forever... Together". Our particular emerging role & unique purpose is... "to model & accelerate God's message of reconciling love & justice -- by intentionally facilitating collaboration in diverse settings during an increasingly digital age."

Naming Names? (Stay tuned... )

Thursday... How many people have an occasional morning like this, I wonder... We WANT to do God's will today, we say. But we oversleep... we don't feel like doing early-morning Bible reading & pray... and when we click on our computers (instead... **rolling eyes**), the darned thing is all haywire. That's the way my morning has gone today.

But did God change? Nope. Was He surprised? No. Did He cause my computer to screw up? Maybe. LOL. My point? He wants me to "Glorify God and enjoy Him... Together", anyway. Rejoice in all things -- even when I don't feel like it. He is good, and He's looking out for our best interests, always. Even on these "bad days".

Just checked... My name's still written in 'the book'. And that's the main thing today.

Btw, it was FrontPage that was giving me fits -- but that's another story.

Naming Names: Evelyn Cosby. Neat lady. She's been involved in a number of urban-related things I'm in touch with, here in Indy. May God bless her this special day.

Now... back to FrontPage... Why was it so important this morning, anyway?

Back-log: (circa 1997) Decided to acquire a new capability -- to publish on the WWW. Why? ...because I had concluded that the capability to publish... at the speed of Light... would help accelerate the Church... and thus, to change the world for Christ. Why FrontPage? Because I have a Microsoft 'tatoo' of sorts -- because when it comes to profane things, I like to leverage the existing COMMON technologies rather than chronically swim upstream against the flow. I've never intimated MS is the best -- it may not be -- but it's the most common, and that serves our higher purpose, Christians, when it comes to COLLABORATING in love & unity.

Future-log: So whatever is the most common techno-playing-field, let's use it -- and let's sharpen each other. That being said, anyone want to advise a better overall publishing software for Christian webmasters? Email me.

Sunday.... If I had but 3 wishes today...
#1. I wish everyone could enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
#2. I wish I was more Christ-like.
#3. I wish everyone could go to River Oaks, if for no other reason than to someday be able to say, "I was there the day Marcus' streak came to an end and he inadvertantly preached his first bad sermon." [It's what gets us all out of our beds on Sunday morning... we don't want to take a chance on missing that day. LOL]

Fact is, Marcus is a great teacher & model... and it's a neat place. Btw, what makes a good church a "good church", anyway?

Naming Names: I'll even name the name-namer... Tim Voorhees, Covenant.net... the first person mention the name "IndyChristian.com" for the Christian web-portal I had just started for Greater Indianapolis. I also credit Tim with a profound statement about our collaborative internet strategies. To this day, I remember the conversation in a restaurant parking lot, when Tim hit the proverbial nail on the head as we parted... "You go long; I'll go deep." [Hmmm. Stay tuned...]

Tim, as you'll come to know, is one of the innovative Christians who truly grasps the potential of this great gift God has given the Church today, to change the way we live personally... and "do church" corporately.

Other "malcontents" **LOL** ...dissatisfied with just "doing church" here in Suburbia... were Jeb Gaither, Grace & Peace. Jim Furey, Trinity PCA... guys driven to "do church" better than we've been doing it. They dared to pose the question we've all pondered at one time or another.... ie, "What is a MODEL church?". But thinking back, we not only pondered....

Back-log... (circa 2000) Setting... a "Bob Evans" restaurant in suburbia... any suburbia, really. 6:00am. Hoosier roosters hadn't even had their coffee yet. But four of us met monthly at this ungodly hour.... to discuss the question, and hope to build a (clickable) "model" of the MODEL church.

After all, when congregations want to build a new building, what do they do? Early on, some of them get together over coffee and start scratching it out on a restaurant napkin first, right? LOL. Then what? An architect draws it officially. And often they have to build a scale model for people to really catch the vision, right? Now imagine if that little model has tiny swinging doors, windows that open & shut, moveable furniture, a little bell in the tower that really rings, and some life-like little figures to go with it all. A "life-like model", you might say.

Future-log: Someday soon, we'll share our 'clickable' collaborative model(s) out here on the net. In the meantime, you thought-leaders out there might want do Tim's online questionaire about the model "Covenant Community"... ie, use the net today, to make a difference tomorrow. Encourage your blog-roll to do likewise?

Saturday... Thank you, Pam Kemp, for the perfect quote to go with the "Got Change, Baby". Too perfect to pass up when I saw it. LOL.

This was a great week. I enjoyed the opportunity to teach a segment re "Finances & Stewardship" at Crossroads Bible College... where they "Train Christian Leaders to Reach a Multiethnic Urban World for Christ." Great mission. Great school. Great young potential leaders.

Another huge milestone event this week: Our vision is starting to meet reality. The 'virtual world' hits 'the ground'. Ian & I were approved for a most unique setting as we launch the long-awaited "Urban Tech Centers" ministry here in Indianapolis. It's been a long wait, but we praise God for supplying exactly what we dreamed about as a sign to 'get going'. Lord willing, we will do our share to "Bridge the Great Divides"... ie, the Digital Divide, the Multicultural Divide and God's Eternal Divide... and utilize the technologies & trained workers there, to provide the future digital needs of Greater Indianapolis Christian initiatives.

One such venture that is also just now starting to take shape now is the "Transform Indiana" initiative among Greater Indianapolis churches & ministries. We met Thursday night for the 5th monthly meeting, and have finished hammering out some of the necessary organizational items, and are now ready to get down to work making a difference, Lord willing. We're greatly moved by the "Transformational Video" about change occurring in other cities. Not coincidentally, our monthly meetings fall on the same day as Mission America's (Lighthouse Movement) teleconference calls to a 100 city-reachers across the U.S. [IndyChristian.com represents Indianapolis, of course, and ChristianCities.net would lead you to many other such web-portals hoping to stimulate and support change in their cities, through Christians coming together in love, for prayer & action in the name of Jesus.]

And last but not least, despite having tornadoes hit in several places across Indy yesterday, not a life was lost. The IndyStar called it a "miracle". Certainly one lady believes in miracles, as she & her son were spared their lives after riding in a funnel cloud and living to tell about it. Hmmmm.

Even 'ol St. Nick dodged the bullet. LOL.

Sunday... It's been a good & busy week. Thanks Lord, for creating a special day per week to deliberately take a break and be able to spend time together with others, reflecting on you. Really enjoyed worship this morning with other believers in our community. That's one terrific part of living here in the Greater Indianapolis area -- there's no shortage of Christ-honoring churches to become a part of. River Oaks is no exception. But the list goes on & on.

Naming Names: Had coffee yesterday with one of my "Monon Trail" friends. Steve Ellson has a heart for networking among likeminded believers. Accordingly, he's involved in a number of church/ministry/business activities around the city. He always seems to be helping one of them or another -- and very capably at that -- putting good people in touch with other good people he knows. Example: CBMC Indiana -- he's helping get a "Communications Team" going which will have impact all around the state of Indiana. And he's actively involved with some Christian 'singles' initiatives around town. But when he's not doing something for others, he's out looking for his next (real) job. Steve has a resume filled with HR & training experience -- but with the job market being soft right now, personnel departments often seem to get hit first. I keep trying to talk him into taking on a collaborative development of a city-wide Christian jobs network. He knows it'd be a great thing, but to date, it hardly appears that it could pay its way. Could it? Would area churches support such an endeavor? Any ideas, anyone? I continue to pray that God will place my good friend Steve in just the right situation next.

Back-log: (circa 2001) Wanting to see e-connected Christians start networking more easily in real-time (via chat presumably), I started LiveChristian.com as a gathering place. Remember LivePerson.com? Anyway, I co-parked it with ChristianCities.net in hopes of 'cross-pollinating' Christians from one school of web-thought to another nearby school of web-thought. Btw, I had previously started ChristianCities.net as an encouragement to other webmasters who might start a city-portal in their area, as I was trying to model at IndyChristian.com. The vision for "LiveChristian" (also an alias on AOL, so add us to your Buddy-list) was/is to enlist 7 e-capable, C-centered Christians in each of the 24 time-zones around the world, to man the AOL alias "LiveChristian"... and thus post a "friendly doorman" for the Church, online 24x7... capable of cogently sharing our faith, referring people with heartfelt needs, and just generally directing traffic among driven, 'collaborative Christians'.

Future-log: Now fast-forward that concept to today's "blogging" craze! LiveChristian.com today introduced the first in a series of up & coming 'syndicated' Christian bloggers. It's a collaborative effort initiated with the Harambee team hiding out at Urban Onramps. The vision is not terribly unlike "Leap-Blogging", as coined by Bene Diction, hoping to accelerate this new capability among Christians. But how would I have heard of it but for one of my favorite internet evangelism bloggers... Andrew Careaga? Our vision version is to rapidly build a network of solid born-again, well-connected, thought-leaders to provide fresh content to city-portals such as IndyChristian.com . By providing this new capability, we desire for Christians to be able to readily 'connect' with other Christians in their area, for impact in the name of Christ. I guess we'll see where it goes, huh? Pray that God may bless all efforts in faith around the world, at the speed-of-Light.

If YOU'RE one of us -- or as we say of Christians in Indy, if you're living "New Life In The Fast Lane" and would be interested in joining this syndicated effort, we'd be glad to have you join the race. Just email us.

Wednesday... Sept. 11 -- a big day for all of us. At IndyChristian.com today, our special "Site of the Day" was primarily a poem, "9/11 Before and After", by a Christian web-log author and friend of mine. It's beautiful.

I spent the day as a volunteer chauffeur, driving an ex-NFL pro around to schools in Indy, to talk with the kids. Sports World, Inc. provides pro athletes as speakers for public and private schools around the country. At 6' 6", 315, John Earle was not only fascinating to me as an adult, but these kids were spellbound, listening to this powerful giant of a guy. Sept.11, 2001 had special meaning to him, as a native from N.J... just outside NYC. This big fella could hardly speak of it at first. He then energized these kids to dream and set goals, to learn every day from wise people around them, and to persevere in hard work. He gave them hope and inspiration. Then he shared his personal experiences, including some rough spots and the wisdom and eternal insights given to him by some very godly people in his life. Every kid left with a football card... and a dream to (truly) succeed in life.

Along the way, we also met Roy, a young African-American teacher in the public school system. He too is a Christian who has succeeded in his own right, and also is revered by these kids. He's is a professional in his field... impacting his kids with solid values and backing it up as a role model himself.... every day of the week.

I was honored to have encountered them both.

Future-log: So who will impact our future the most? Terrorists? Or solid Christian leaders like these two men? I'll bet on the Johns & Roys every time. Terrorists are unusual... so they make the news occasionally. But way more prolific are the effects of Christians, past and present, as evidenced when we drive by our hospitals, missions, schools and churches, on our way to our productive jobs, and back to our (usually) peaceful neighborhoods and safe homes. Yeah, I'll bet on the Word of God and those who will learn from it, and teach others to set goals based on it.

Monday... Got a big week ahead, huh... what, with 9/11 nearly upon us again. Think back to 9/9 of 2001. It's hard to even be able to remember our pre-911 naivete. And then suddenly, 2 days later, a quantum-leap in "learning" -- we're aware of so much more. Is this the way we humans are forever doomed to learning, or isn't there something in between? Is "shock-value" our only teacher?

Saturday... Gotta love Saturdays, huh? After updating IndyChristian.com in a few moments, I'll be heading out to the trail to log some time with friends. But first, the site update. Today's the kick-off of a new syndicating technique we're developing in order for city-webmasters like myself, to easily feature a different blogger each day. The technique may be ours, but the programming subroutine is borrowed from DynamicDrive. So in the upcoming week, we'll be featuring some different faces daily... stay tuned.

Naming Names: He jests that 'great minds run the same channels', but Rudy Carrasco, Urban Onramps, scares me. Yesterday, as I theorized about a "day in the life of a Christian student" blog, he emailed me the link to his "Harambee Diaspora", where we're introduced to a number of Harambee students... Von, Deon, Rebecca, Donald, Brandon, Kariem, Flo, Victor, Jamaal... oh, and a teacher... Rudi's wife, Kafi... and last but not least, Derek Perkins -- Harambee's director. Did you know Harambee Center was founded by Dr. John Perkins? Btw, Rudy has a few other friends around the country... here's one...

Btw, the guy on the right is Rudy. Can't really tell who the other fellow is with his back to us.

Back-log: (circa 1999) I was considering going on staff at Tabernacle Presbyterian Church here in urban Indianapolis, as Administrator. I had just founded IndyChristian.com, expressly to help the Greater Indianapolis church community negotiate change during the 'paradigm shift'. And as one of our 'racing team' "Sites of the Day", I had featured TabPres.org. I remember to this day, that one particularly cool element of their site at that time was a VRML controllable fish-eye view of their historic old gymnasium at the church. Among other good reasons to accept the position, I really appreciated the fact that apparently there were some innovative Christians who hung out there. And I was right. After I joined the staff, Jeff Koenig -- Tab's webmaster -- became a good friend and a chronic encourager of 'new paradigm' thinking. Drowning in a sea of historic traditionists there **LOL**, we huddled monthly with the few other off-beat bravehearts of innovation and enjoyed brainstorming about how God had gifted the Church of Jesus Christ with this new-found capability of spreading the Gospel at the speed-of-light. Jeff & I have since moved on, but our impact at Tab was felt... Now they're REALLY terrified of change! LOL.

Future-log: However, the internet continues to develop as a change-agent's best tool. IndyChristian.com has blossomed and spawned several other new sites... such as DoYouKnowForSure.com to do outright evangelism... 24x7. In fact, I'll hope to participate in the upcoming, first of its kind, Internet Evangelism Conference to take place in Chicago later this month. How cool is that? The internet and its daily impact on lives, continues to flourish; while traditional churches stagnate and dwindle. So what is the future of the Church? Does it take a prophet to predict it.... or just a good mathematician? (Thoughts anyone?)

Friday... Man, where did this week go?????? I love "(new) life in the fast lane", but when it's going so fast you don't even have time to write down the significant elements, that's what you call a race! **smile**

Labor Day... I just finished updating IndyChristian.com -- "Starting-line for Greater Indianapolis Christians". We feature a different local ministry every day. Pretty typically on holidays, I do what everyone else does... get outta town. LOL. So our featured "Site of the Day" isn't locally-driven today. I took everyone to ChristianityToday.com's special Labor Day page. Interestingly though, one of their articles is on "God's Contractor" -- Millard Fuller, Founder, Habitat for Humanity... who is coming soon to Indy to pray with our city leaders at the Indianapolis Leadership Prayer Breakfast. I'm on the prayer breakfast committee... as if you couldn't tell from our chronic promos at IC of the breakfast. LOL.

Naming names: Btw, the committee also includes Eldon Kibbey, my good friend and the Indiana director for CBMC (fka/ Christian Businessmen's Committee). He's been a great friend and helpful networker in the business-professional community... and a godly example for me. Gotta love him. Thanks God, for Eldon.

Back-log: (circa 1987) When I first came to Coral Ridge, a gentleman with a disarming smile, Mr. Charlie Hainline, (another CBMC'er, btw -- a great organization of leader-builders) immediately took me under his wing and greatly influenced my life in the area of goal-setting. To know him was to know humility -- a self-described 'poor Kentucky farm-boy'. Yet not a person of low self-worth or direction, his worth was found in where he was headed and the 'checks' he could cash or better still, give away. His winning smile endorsed his challenges, and we listened. While there's so much that could be said about him, I believe his final set of annual goals -- at age 78 -- speak most eloquently for themselves.... (click)

Future-log: From that moment on, I've started understanding more & more about the value of having a godly mentor. The times I've failed the worst, are the 'vacation-years (lapses) from setting goals and exchanging them with an accountability mentor to pray for me. [Maybe I'll introduce you to some other mentors in the near future.] "We make it our goal to please Him." Lord willing, I intend to set goals, as Charlie did... til I reach my goal... of being with Christ. Thus the motivation to start Goalies.net. I wonder if anyone else sees the value?

Sunday... Gotta love "Punky" (littlest family member). No bother; loves to love & be loved at just the right times; did I mention "no chewed-up glasses"? She's great. On the other hand... ahem... Mr. "Scout" ... well that's a story for another time. Anyway, we just got back from church. I couldn't help but be moved by worship today. One of the songs we sang this morning took me back a few years and really sums up my sentiments to this day...

"Knowing You, Jesus... There is no greater thing."
Back-log: (circa 1996) I sat on the back row of a South Florida church... mortified at how I could fly in the face of God... and yet still He loved me... and forgave & forgives me. (II Tim 2:11-13). Knowing Jesus, there is no greater thing... indeed.

Future-log: How can I NOT want to know Him better, respond to His love more obediently, walk more humbly, and truly 'love my neighbors as myself'... starting by keeping Jesus and my closest "neighbors"...well, closest.