Church Signs

Check out this site called Church Sign Generator. The sign I made above was inspired by one I saw on Noland Road Baptist Church's sign a few years ago.

Revolution in World Missions

Excerpts from Revolution in World Missions by KP Yohannan:

When commerce had been established with the Fiji Islanders, a merchant who was an atheist and skeptic landed on the island to do business. He was talking to the Fijian chief and noticed a Bible and some other paraphernalia of religion around the house.
"What a shame," he said, "that you have listened to this foolish nonsense of the missionaries."
The chief replied, "Do you see that large white stone over there? That is a stone where just a few years ago we used to smash the heads of our victims to get at their brains. Do you see that large oven over there? That is the oven where just a few years ago we used to bake the bodies of our victims before we feasted upon them. Had we not listened to what you call the nonsense of those missionaries, I assure you that your head would already be smashed on that rock and your body would be baking in that oven."
There is no record of the merchant's response to that explanation of the importance of the Gospel for Christ.


Just before China was taken over by the communists, one communist officer made a revealing statement to a missionary, John Meadows: "You missionaries have been in China for over a hundred years, but you have not won China to your cause. You lament the fact that there are uncounted millions who have never heard the name of your God. Nor do they know anything of your Christianity. But we communists have been in China less than 10 years, and there is not a Chinese who does not know...has not heard the name of Stalin...or something of communism...We have filled China with our doctrine.
"Now let me tell you why you have failed and we have succeeded," the officer continued. "You have tried to win the attention of masses by building churches, missions, mission hospitals, schools, and what not. But we communists have printed our message and spread our literature all over China. Someday we will drive you missionaries out of our country, and we will do it by means of the printed page."

New Testament Cigarettes

Ah, those were the days. Nothing like lighting up during Holy Communion.

Advocate for Majority Rights follow up, kinda...

I am finally starting to see some intelligent people roaming the Raytown streets. On my way back from lunch today, I brought the camera with me to do some Meershaum follow up work. This young fella chose wisely and decided to use the sidewalk, instead of the street to ride his bicycle. Wise choice my son, you just might have saved your life today.

Web of Destruction

Against my better judgement, I recently joined the Facebook ranks. What was kind of fun the initial few times, has turned into a smothering trap of interconnected keystrokes. It's seductiveness lures you deeper and deeper in, with all kinds of walls, newsfeeds, superwalls, quizes, comparisons, gifts, posts, in-boxes, wall-to-wall, comments, pokes, requests, and confirmations. In addition, every time anything even indirectly concerning me happens on Facebook, I'm notified by email to confirm, deny, ignore, or view what has happened! I can see how people become consumed with it. The complexity, yet triviality, is too much for me.

I've determined the Canteen is much preferred to Facebook, and propose we redirect all related traffic here.

Nothing like advocating sex to get a few more worshipers.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Sexually themed billboards have shocked some drivers traveling on Blanding Boulevard and in Clay County, but more surprising than the billboards themselves is what they're advertising -- a church.

"At first, I thought it was a porn site thing," said one passerby.

However, that's certainly not what the billboards are promoting. They're promoting a series of sermons called Pure Sex God's Way at New Life Fellowship in Orange Park, according to WJXT-TV.


"You sure a church put that there? I think they need to change the sign," said another passerby.

The billboard has raised eyebrows among drivers, but that's the idea of the church hoping to draw people into their Sunday-morning service.

"It's a little provocative, but it doesn't bother me any," one driver said.

The pastor of New Life Fellowship, Bob Morro, said the billboards promote a series of sermons at the church concerning the role of sex in Christian life.

"We're giving people the way God created sex for us, and what his intentions for sex are. It seems like the world has lost its value of sex nowadays. STDs are up, divorce is up and we just want to show them God has designed sex. He wants us to have great sex, but he wants us to have it in his parameters," Morro said.

The pastor told WJXT that the billboard campaign has been working for the new church, which started just months ago next to a pizza parlor.

With the recent boost in numbers, he said the church has begun looking to buy land for a new site.

"We've had a great turnout at church just from billboards alone -- a few negative comments, but it seems like you do anything outside the box where church is related you're going to have the pros and cons with it," Morro said.

One of the groups I belong to on Facebook is "You're not making Christianity cooler, you're making Rock n' Roll worse" which is a quote from Hank Hill, and I found the above photo on their page. I guess if I were God I'd totally listen to Slayer over Stryper.*

*The last sentence used to read "I guess if I were God I'd probably listen to Slayer over Stryper." After DMS/Sarge's comment I've decided to use stronger language.

Taking the scenic route

In this instance, I think I'll walk

Recalcitrant, r-e-c-a-l-c-i-t-r-a-n-t, Recalcitrant

My boss, who is categorically a curmudgeon, and who never neglects an opportunity to say an ill word about anyone, not surprisingly has an arsenal of negative adjectives at his disposal for ready use. Sometime during last week, while describing two majors who have been less than stellar in their duties, he used the word recalcitrant to describe both of them,e.g., "How have our two recalcitrant majors been doing this week?" This, of course, he says with all of the over-emphasized enunciation and exaggerated syllable stresses - in other words, smugness - a word like recalcitrant necessarily brings with it. Impressed by this rather apt display of wordsmithing I've been using the word recalcitrant every chance I get, and so thought I'd share my new word with you: recalcitrant, r-e-c-a-l-c-i-t-r-a-n-t, recalcitrant.

The following definition is from dictionary.com

1. resisting authority or control; not obedient or compliant; refractory.
2. hard to deal with, manage, or operate.

MY HERO

My thoughts exactly! Anyone care to debate?

Radiohead - House Of Cards (Scotch Mist Version)

Favorite track on the new album.

Nice Kitten

This was sent around the office today.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Theres been a lot of speculation lately about whether Jeong's was even open.
I think this picture says it all. Maybe we can get them to change the name to Jeong's Canteen!

Rambo...I can't wait

First came a new Rocky, and now this! What else could we ask for? Only a cameo appearance by Richard Crena could make this better. I'm counting the days til January 25th...we may have our next Canteen outing.

Quote(s) of the Day

I enjoy reading quotes, especially those that originated in the past but are still relevant today. I recently came across a rather powerful one by Teddy Roosevelt (listed first), so I decided to research some more of his.

Below is a small sampling of some of his words of wisdom:

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly...who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat.

A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.

Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.

Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.

If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.

Speak softly and carry a big stick.

The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight.

The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.