Uncommon Christian Ministries (UCM)

Happy New Year 2012 . . . "My only resolution, 'trust in Christ, daily and hourly'" . . . New Year's Day 1843 with "uncommon Christian" Mary E. Van Lennep (1821-1844)

2011-12-31T23:56:00.000-08:00

From Port Angeles, Washington, USA, Uncommon Christian Ministries wishes you a Happy New Year!

To encourage and inspire the follower of the Lord Jesus Christ to continue to grow and mature in his or her faith in 2012 (Hebrews 6:1, 2 Peter 3:18--UCM's key Bible verses), here are some excerpts from the private journal of one of the earliest American missionaries to Turkey, Mary E. Van Lennep (1821-1844). The journal is dated January 1, 1843.

At the time of writing, Van Lennep was 21-years-old and just 8 months away from marriage and sailing overseas. She was in the midst of making final preparations for foreign missionary service in Turkey with her soon-to-be husband. As was somewhat common then, she left for overseas service (October 11, 1843) just weeks after getting married (September 4, 1843). The couple had their honeymoon in Niagara Falls, New York.

Twenty-one months after writing the journal entry, Van Lennep died at the age of 23.

Lord willing, one day I would like to write a biography on the "uncommon Christian" Van Lennep. For now, online excerpts such as this will have to suffice. (Van Lennep was born and raised only 4 miles from where I grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut, 1976-91).

About Van Lennep, the below biographical sketch is from the online Portraits of American Women in Religion, a part of the Library Company of Philadelphia (est. 1731 by Benjamin Franklin). I have added some additional information to the sketch.

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Mary Elizabeth Van Lennep graduated from the Hartford Female Seminary in 1838.

Her father, the Rev. Joel Hawes (1789-1867), who had studied theology at Andover Theological Seminary and was an influential Second Great Awakening pastor-author of the First Congregational Church in Hartford (est. 1632, called today Center Church or First Church of Christ), was an advocate of missionary work.

Frontispiece to the Memoir of Mrs. Mary E. Van Lennep.
With Mary's imprinted signature and vow,
"Jesus, I give my all to Thee."

After battling a long illness which kept her bedridden through much of 1841, she spent a year teaching Sunday school to other females, and in 1843 married the widower Rev. Henry J. Van Lennep (1815-1889), a missionary for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). Shortly thereafter, Mary sailed with him and her father to the mission in Smyrna, Turkey (modern-day Izmir).

She died of dysentery in Constantinople, Turkey (modern-day Istanbul) a year later at the age of 23. Her grave remains at the Ferikoy-Istanbul Protestant Cemetery.

The Memoir of Mrs. Mary E. Van Lennep, Missionary in Turkey (1847) was compiled by her mother (Louisa Fisher Hawes) from her journals and correspondence. The preface quotes one of Mrs. Van Lennep’s friends about her character, which she believed made her a model for other young women.

*NOTE: The 382-page memoir is available online and at no cost via Google Books.

JOURNAL EXCERPT

Sunday, January 1, 1843. This morning was our communion, and it did seem pleasant to have it come on the first day of the year. We sang "Our God, our help in ages past," a sublime hymn, and "On Jordan's stormy banks I stand."

My dear father's sermon was from Colossians 1:12; showing what was necessary in order to be prepared for the happiness of heaven. I could answer all the solemn tests with some satisfaction.

It was sweet to be around His table, and I did enter with my whole soul into the consecration of myself to Christ; and I did pray, that when the year came round again, I might be engaged for him [as a missionary] far away among the heathen. These precious privileges, these dear friends, are very dear to me, but I do hope I can leave them all, and I pray God that I may not be in the slightest thing deceived about my state.

I have resolved to go no step alone. I consecrate to Jesus, my time, my studies, my friends, my earthly store, and ask him to guide me every moment. O, he whose love brought him to die for us, will he not give us all things necessary to enable us to live for him? O, I know he will. My only resolution, or rather all my resolutions, are comprised in this one thing, 'trust in Christ, daily and hourly' . . . .

And now I give up myself, and all my dear friends, and my interests to Jesus, praying that this may be a year of the right hand of the Most High; that his kingdom may come, not only here, but in all our world. Amen.

I must notice the beautiful day which smiles upon us. The sky is bright and softly blue, and the snow lies upon the ground, and gives a sweet, home-like aspect to all the dwellings around. Yes, all is calm and bright and beautiful. My Father makes it all. And He who makes the natural world so lovely, is making the moral world shine brighter and brighter, and all the dark clouds of pollution shall be chased away.

One thing I like, and 'tis that I am learning to read the revealed word of God, as well as the natural word, and I am thankful that I am beginning better to comprehend and love its sacred pages.

*Taken from Louisa Fisher Hawes, Memoir of Mrs. Mary E. Van Lennep (Hartford, Conn.: Belknap & Hamersley, 1847), pages 175-76.

First Congregational Church (Center Church).
675 Main Street. Hartford, Connecticut.
The current (fourth) church structure built in 1807,
thus the church of Mary E. Van Lennep and her
pastor father, the Rev. Joel Hawes.

Inside of First Congregational Church (Center Church).
675 Main Street. Hartford, Connecticut.

King James Version (KJV) Bible, 400th anniversary . . . James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829) and his "dear little book"

2011-11-18T22:41:00.000-08:00

Throughout 2011, churches, seminaries, universities, historical associations and Bible societies throughout the English-speaking world are commemorating the 400th anniversary of the completion of the King James Version (Authorized Version) Bible.

For instance, on November 16, 2011, England's Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the British royal family attended a commemorative event at Westminster Abbey in London. The event was sponsored by the King James Bible Trust.

On the King James Bible Trust's website is a wealth of information and videos about the history and influence of the KJV, including videos from Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II.

No other English translation has had more influence on American and British language and culture than the KJV. It is indeed the book that has changed the world, as this 5-minute video from the New Zealand Bible Society shows:

The 1611 translation was done by 47 scholars, all of whom were members of the Church of England (Anglican Church). The New Testament was translated from Greek and the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew. The 7-year translation work (1604-11) occurred during the time of the famed playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

In 1982, the New King James Version (NJKV) Bible was published by the American publisher Thomas Nelson Inc. It took 7 years for the committee of 130 biblical scholars, pastors and theologians to complete the translation. As with the KJV, so the NKJV also used the Textus Receptus (Received or Majority Text) for its translation of the New Testament.

James Brainerd Taylor, Dr. Peter Parker and Taylor's "dear little book" in China

Peter Parker (1804-1888), missionary to China

The American evangelist James Brainerd Taylor (1810-1829) made much use of his KJV Bible in his effort to be an "uncommon" Christian, defined by Taylor as "an eminently holy, self-denying, cross-bearing, Bible, everyday" Christian.

In God's providence, when James' brother Fitch W. Taylor (1803-1865) was in Canton (Guangzhou), China, serving as a chaplain on the first American naval ship to circumnavigate the globe (May 6, 1838–June 1840), Fitch was surprised to find his late brother’s "dear little book," his morocco-covered pocket KJV Bible.

The Bible was in the possession of the Yale-educated Dr. Peter Parker (1804–1888), the first Protestant medical missionary to China. The Bible was given to Parker by Fitch’s sister-in-law (the wife of brother Knowles Taylor) before Parker left New York City for China.

Fitch remembered seeing James “for hours, and daily, in absorbed and delightful study” with the “identical little volume” that Parker showed him. (As of this writing, the Bible has not been located yet by this biographer on J. B. Taylor.)

See Fitch W. Taylor, A Voyage Round the World, and Visits to Various Foreign Countries, in the United States Frigate Columbia; Attended by Her Consort The Sloop of War John Adams, and Commanded By Commodore George C. Read. . . ., 5th ed., vol. 2 (New Haven: H. Mansfield, and New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1846), page 137. Available online and for free at Google Books.

"O, to be mighty in the Scriptures" (Acts 18:24) . . . Of Intense Brightness excerpts

Below are some excerpts from my second book on Taylor entitled Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor (University Press of America, 2008), pages 10-13.

The excepts about J. B. Taylor's spirituality of biblicism are taken from the introductory essay to the 168-page work.

“Next to personal holiness, Mr. Taylor desired to be ‘mighty in the Scriptures’. . . . ‘O to be mighty in the Scriptures’ [Acts 18:24], was his frequent petition at the throne of grace.” (Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor, 2nd Edition, 1833, page 437).

That this desire of Taylor’s was not merely an intellectual one is known from comments by one of his contemporaries:

With constancy he searched the Scriptures—not for subjects of speculation—not as a mere intellectual exercise—but with a strong desire to ascertain what affections ought to be cherished, and what duties performed.

In the Bible, as in a mirror, he looked at himself; and in light of the Bible he contemplated every object that claimed his attention or solicited his affections. He was indeed a Bible Christian. Perhaps no one ever more implicitly subjected his whole being to the inspired word. (Memoir, page 428.)

In a “Note by a friend,” we learn more about this seemingly “walking concordance” from another of his contemporaries:

Mr. Taylor’s familiarity with the contents of the Bible was observable by all with whom he associated.

It was an interesting trait in his habits of intercourse with friends, that, when the conversation seemed at a stand, he would take out his little pocket Bible, saying, “I guess I can find something here to amuse us;” and then would give a familiar exposition of some passage, and connect with the illustration some anecdote; at the same time repeating, and turning to parallel passages; so that no one could listen to him without being deeply interested.

So peculiarly happy was he in these familiar illustrations, that it was not an unfrequent thing to see those around him smile with delight, and at the next moment weep with deep emotion. There are many, who were often in his society, who will recognize the truth of this remark in their own experience.

He would often speak of his Bible, as “the dear little book.”

I was present at his examination [for a license to preach the gospel, October 7–8, 1828, in East Haddam, Connecticut], and never heard any man quote the Sacred Scriptures with such fluency, for confirmation of his doctrinal views, as the questions were successively proposed to him. (Memoir, page 43-44 footnote.)

Indeed, the Princeton University and Yale Seminary-educated J. B. Taylor was, as John Wesley (1703–1791) claimed to be, homo unius libri (“a man of one book”).

And, like his deceased theological mentor Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), Taylor was

Resolved, To study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly, and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive, myself to grow in the knowledge of the same. (Resolution 28 of Edwards’ 70 Resolutions)

Due to Taylor's frequent usage of Scripture, some verses seemed to have been particularly treasured. These include (and are presented with the NKJV text):

● Deuteronomy 3:27: “Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift your eyes toward the west, the north, the south, and the east; behold it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.”

● Joshua 13:1: “There remains very much land yet to be possessed.”

● Ecclesiastes 9:10: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.”

● Daniel 12:3: “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”

● Matthew 10:16: “Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

● John 13:7: “What I [Jesus] am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”

● 1 Corinthians 15:10: “By the grace of God I am what I am.”

● 2 Corinthians 12:15: “I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls.”

● 1 Peter 1:8: “Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.”

Taylor hid the Word of God in his heart by memorizing Scripture so that he might not sin against God (Psalm 119:11).

Book Review, "Encyclopedia of New England" . . . New England Historical Association, Fall 2011 issue

2011-10-05T23:28:00.000-07:00

As an independent scholar on early 19th-century America and the Connecticut-born evangelist James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829), my book review of the 1,596-page The Encyclopedia of New England: The Culture and History of an American Region (Burt Feintuch and David Watters, editors; Yale University Press, 2005) appears in the Fall 2011 issue (Vol. 37, No. 2) of NEHA News: The Newsletter of the New England Historical Association.

To read the 600-word review on the NEHA website, click here or here. See pages 18 and 19.

Also, one can read the same review on Uncommon Christian Ministries' Amazon.com "Book Review" page by clicking here.

Formed in 1965, the New England Historical Association has about 800 members. It is the regional affiliate of the 14,000-member American Historical Association (est. 1889).

The purpose of NEHA "is to promote scholarly interchange and to enhance teaching and scholarship in history. While most of its members are college and university faculty, its active participants also include independent scholars, preservationists and museum-based scholars, historical society administrators, and secondary school faculty."

Though not a member of NEHA, I am a member of, among others, the American Society of Church History.

10th anniversary of 9/11 . . . Sermon: "Comfort for God's People in Our Uncertain Post-9/11 World" . . . Matthew 7:7-8

2011-09-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

"Comfort for God's People in Our Uncertain Post-9/11 World" was the title of my sermon preached on the 10th anniversay of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.

The sermon was based on the New Testament verses of Matthew 7:7-8.

The familiar words spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ--and that speak of persisent prayer--appear towards the end of his famous Sermon on the Mount:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

To listen online to the audio of the 50-minute sermon preached at Grace Church in my native West Hartford, Connecticut, click here or here (see 9/11/2011 date).

Grace Church (est. 2005) is pastored by Dr. Ted Bigelow, author of the recently released (January 2011) The Titus Mandate: Rescue, Protect, Reform (Paul's Plan That Rescues Christians From Dangerous Churches).

NOTE:
Just weeks after 9/11 took place, I preached a message from the Old Testament passage of Isaiah 55:1-13. The October 2001 sermon occured at Joyce Bible Church in Joyce, Washington.

If interested in a free audio CD of the message, contact Uncommon Christian Ministries.

Summary of 26 months in Israel, May 2009 to July 2011 . . . sabbatical, pilgrimage, ministry

2011-08-31T20:58:00.000-07:00

A dream that began as a non-Christian at age 18 (1989) became reality for an amazing 26 months, May 9, 2009 to July 5, 2011. "Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart," Psalm 37:4.

With the first visit being for 10 days in December 2005/January 2006, I revisited Israel for the sake of spiritual pilgrimage and ministry.

The over two years of living and ministering in the land of the Hebrew prophets, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostles, the early church and 19th-century Protestant pioneer missionaries also served as a self-imposed and self-funded sabbatical.

Below are the four main entities I was involved with. Two were Christian, one Jewish-based but very secular, and the other one non-religious/secular. All great cross-cultural volunteer experiences and highly recommended.

But first . . .

In addition to the below, I made visits to Germany (February 2010), Jordan (April 2010), Egypt (October 2010), the Palestinian Territories (numerous visits) and a 5-week break in Canada and the U.S. (June-July 2010).

With use of a vehicle for 5 months in 2009, and use of the inexpensive public transportation system (buses, trains), I was able to visit most of the major Israeli national parks that preserve archaeological remains from Old Testament, New Testament and post-biblical times. It helped that Israel is small (about the size of New Jersey).

Plus, I visited a wide variety of museums (art, historical, military), nature parks (for hiking) and beaches, and attended Hebrew-speaking Messianic church services, Arab Christian services, Jewish synagogue services, Christian Zionist conferences and one Christian anti-Zionist/pro-Palestinian conference in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, Arab and Jewish concerts, films (including the annual Jewish Film Festival in Jerusalem), lectures, Holocaust memorials, sporting events, English-speaking theatrical performances and cultural festivals.

On a sad note, two acts of terrorism in which a Christian was killed occurred during my time in Israel. On December 18, 2010, CMJ U.K. worker Kristen Luken was stabbed to death while hiking in the Jerusalem Forest. On March 23, 2011, Wycliffe Bible Translator missionary and Hebrew University-Jerusalem student Mary Jane Gardner was killed at a Jerusalem bus stop bombing.

(1) CMJ Israel -- Investing in the Spiritual Rebirth of the Jewish People since 1809 . . . . Christ Church Guest House (Jerusalem)

The Church's Ministry Among the Jews (CMJ) was founded in 1809 in London by such prominent Christians as Charles Simeon and William Wilberforce. Although not the first evangelical Christian (Protestant) organization founded to serve the Jewish people, this Anglican missionary society is the longest standing.

The year 2009 marked the ministry's 200th anniversary as well as the publication of Kelvin Crombie's Restoring Israel: 200 Years of the CMJ Story.

CMJ has branches in Australia, Ireland, Israel, South Africa, U.K. and U.S.

To view a 10-minute video highlighting the history and current work of CMJ and entitled "Grafted Branches (Romans 11:24)", click here.

Completed in 1849 by CMJ, Christ Church in Jerusalem's Old City is the oldest Protestant church in the Middle East. The Jewish symbols and Hebrew texts found in the church are reminders that the Christian faith is built upon the foundation of God's promises to the Hebrew patriarchs and prophets and that His covenant purposes for Israel have not been canceled (Romans 11). Christ Church is a founding member of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (est. June 2008).

In exchange for free housing, food, educational opportunities and a periodic group outing, I volunteered 40-hours per week as a front desk receptionist at the CMJ-owned and operated Christ Church Guest House.

A team of 10-15 international volunteers worked alongside paid local staff at the 30-room guest house. The paid local staff consisted of both Arab and Jewish believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Currently, the guest house is #2 of the 40 B&B's/Inns in Jerusalem ranked on TripAdvisor.com.

Living and working among the tourists and 35,000 or so Christian, Jewish and Muslim inhabitants of Jerusalem's .35-square-mile Old City was a tremendous international cross-cultural experience.

(2) Voice in the Wilderness -- Preaching the Gospel in Israel

Founded in the early 1990's by a Jewish convert to Christianity, Voice in the Wilderness is a church and evangelistic ministry.

The British-born founder leads church services three times per week (one in English, two in English but with translation into Russian) and organizes weekly outreaches of Bible distribution, literature, CDs and DVDs throughout Israel and the Palestinian Territories/West Bank. For instance, every Friday night VIW ministers among the many African and Asian immigrants in Tel Aviv, some of whom escaped from war-torn Darfur.

VIW also organizes periodic missionary trips to Egypt, Jordan, Kurdistan and Turkey.

I especially liked the times of fellowship with other believers when on a VIW weekly desert hike in the Judean Mountains. Fond memories created.

Located just outside of Jerusalem's Old City, VIW served as my home church. I had the privilege of helping VIW by means of street evangelism and substitute preaching. With the founding pastor, I also attended the monthly Men in Ministry gatherings in Jerusalem.

Here is a 10-minute video of VIW founder Antony S. and the story of his conversion to Christianity. It is entitled "How I Found the Jewish Messiah in Israel."

VIW is a member of Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals (F.I.R.E.).

It is supported by, among others, the U.S.-based Action International Ministries, Heart Cry Missionary Society and Zion's Hope Ministries.

Contact VIW if divinely led to volunteer or give financially.

(3) Sar-El -- The National Project of Volunteers For Israel

An affiliate of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Sar-El volunteers do non-combat civilian ("jobnik") work on an IDF base alongside and under the direction of the soldiers.

I spent a cumulative total of 10 weeks volunteering with Sar-El on 3 different Army bases: May 2009 and February 2011 (base on the Israel-Lebanon border), May 2011 (base near Beersheba in the Negev desert) and June 2011 (base in the Galilee area between Nazareth and Tiberias).

The 5-day, 40-hour work week (Sunday-Thursday) was mainly in the logistical, maintaining, catering, supply and medical services.

In the evenings, there were various activities and educational presentations on such topics as the modern Hebrew language, Israel's ancient and modern history, Jewish holidays and traditions, and social and political issues in Israel.‏ Also, there were two Sar-El sponsored site-seeing trips for every 3-week program.

To view the 5-minute video "The Sar-El Volunteer Experience" produced by the IDF Film Unit, click here.

Since its beginning in 1982--during the First Lebanon War (Operation Peace for the Galilee)--and through the end of 2010, over 125,000 international volunteers have participated with Sar-El.

Last year (2010), 3,367 volunteered, with the most being from France (1,098) and the U.S. (1,045), and with 559 being non-Jewish (mostly Evangelical Protestant Christians), and with most being under the age of 25 (1,655).

Volunteers For Israel is the U.S.-based non-profit organization responsible for recruiting Americans to Sar-El. VFI seeks to "promote solidarity and goodwill among Israelis, American Jews and other friends of Israel."

(4) Servas International -- Open Doors for Peace and Friendship

Founded in 1949, Servas International is the world's oldest international cultural exchange hospitality network. Its over 15,000 members are spread out in over 125 countries.

Though it has lost some of its early emphasis on world peace/pacifism, Servas has consultative status as a non-governmental organization (NGO) with the United Nations Economic and Social Council since 1998.

Though not a pacifist, I nevertheless signed up as an International Traveler with the U.S. Servas office. Over a 15 month period (April 2010 to June 2011), I visited 13 host families throughout Israel for a total of 38 nights.

Most of the hosts lived in rural areas (my favorite) and hosted me for 2-3 nights. All except one wife were secular/non-religious Jews (along with her husband, they were "illegal" settlers in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank), and all except one couple were over age 55.

Ramat Gan, Israel June 2011

Once given a country's Host List, members schedule their own trips and pay for their own travel expenses.

Overnight lodging with the host is free though it is up to the host whether or not he/she/they have the time, energy and interest to accept a request for hosting.

Though not required, many hosts also fed me and gave me a tour of area sites.

Arad, Israel May 2011

For those wanting to meet locals in the country they are visiting, I recommend Servas and (for 18-35 year-olds) Couch Surfing.

Or, for those with space and a heart for people, become a host. (Travelers are not required to reciprocate and become hosts.)

Whether as a traveler or host--and though Servas is a non-religious organization--opportunities abound to be an ambassador for the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20).

"Essays to Do Good" by Cotton Mather . . . James Brainerd Taylor, do-gooder for God . . . Galatians 6:10

2011-07-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

As I plod away at reading some of the influential 16th- to 19th-century books in the life of the American evangelist James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829), the latest one was Essays To Do Good: addressed to all Christians, whether in public or private capacities (abridged title).
It was written by the prominent New England Puritan, Cotton Mather (1663-1728).

Among the 17 editions that appeared between 1800 and 1840, the 1816 "new and improved" London edition by editor George Burder is available online and for free at Google Books. It is a manageable and spiritually challenging 172 pages. (Burder's 1826 edition is also available at Google Books.)

Written in 1710, Essays To Do Good was popular among American and British Christians up to the mid-1800's. Harvard historian Perry Miller (1905-1963) considered it one of the most important books of the early eighteenth century.

The work even had a shaping influence on the non-Christian (Deist) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). The famed American diplomat-statesman-scientist read the work when eleven years old. At sixteen, he borrowed from the book's theme when he pretended to be a middle-aged widow named Silence Dogood. The fourteen satirical letters from his pseudonym Silence Dogood were published in the New England Courant from April to October 1722.

Here are some quotes from Essays To Do Good. All page numbers are from the 1816 edited edition by Burder.

+ A power and an opportunity to do good, not only gives a right to the doing of it, but makes the doing of it a duty. (pp. vi, 4)

+ The firstborn of all devices to do good is in being born again [John 3:3,7; 1 Peter 1:23]. (p. 22)

+ Without abridging yourselves of your occasional thoughts on the question, 'What good may I do today?', fix a time, now and then, for more deliberate thoughts upon it. Cannot you find time (say, once a week and how suitably on the Lord's Day/Sunday) to take this question into consideration, 'What is there that I may do for the service of the glorious Lord, and for the welfare of those for whom I ought to be concerned?' (p. 35)

+ Those who devote themselves to good devices [works], and who duly observe their opportunities to do good, usually find a wonderful increase of their opportunities. The gracious providence of God affords this recompense to his diligent servants, that he will multiply their opportunities of being serviceable. (p. 36)

+ What I aim at is this: Let us try to do good with as much application of mind as wicked men employ in doing evil. When 'wickedness proceeds from the wicked [1 Samuel 24:13], it is done with both hands and greedily.' Why then may not we proceed in our useful engagements 'with both hands,' and 'greedily' watching for opportunities. . . . 'If you will not learn of good men, for shame, learn of the devil; he is never idle' (Hugh Latimer). (p. 27)

+ A workless faith is a worthless faith. (p.31)

+ Let no man pretend to the name of a Christian who does not approve the proposal of a perpetual endeavor to do good in the world. What pretension can such a man have to be a follower of the Good One? (p. 18)

+ Protestants, will you be out-done by Popish idolaters? O the vast pains which those [Roman Catholic] bigots have taken to carry on the Romish merchandise and idolatry! (p. 155)

+ 'Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience.' . . . 'A good action is its own reward.' Indeed, the pleasure that is experienced in the performance of good actions is inexpressible, is unparalleled, is angelical; it is a most refined pleasure, more to be envied than any sensual gratification. Pleasure was long since defined, 'The result of some excellent action.' This pleasure is a sort of holy luxury. Most pitiable are they who will continue strangers to it! (p. 170)

With an emphasis on self-denial, "Up and be doing" as a life maxim, and Galatians 6:10 as an oft-repeated Bible verse in James Brainerd Taylor's journal and letters, it is easy to see the impact that Essays To Do Good had on the "uncommon" Christian.

On June 19, 1820, the then 19-year-old Taylor wrote from Lawrenceville, New Jersey, to one of his sisters:

'To do good and communicate forget not' [Hebrews 13:16] is a maxim which we should keep in continual remembrance. The more we conform our lives to it, the greater will be our resemblance to our blessed Savior as he lived among men [Acts 10:38]. To do good, we must seek opportunities; and then opportunities will frequently find us.

Since reading Cotton Mather's 'Essays To Do Good,' I feel that I have been exceedingly deficient. In looking back to the time when I first made a public profession of religion [September 15, 1816] . . . I am constrained to say, O what a barren fig-tree I have been [Luke 13:6-9]! My leanness! My leanness! But blessed be the Lord, I have a desire to do good now.

*From John Holt Rice and Benjamin Holt Rice, Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor, Second Stereotype Edition [New York: American Tract Society, 1833], 45-46.

In my estimation, Galatians 6:10 could really be used to summarize the Second Great Awakening that Taylor participated in. The verse reads:

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Because of the multitude of domestic and foreign Evangelical Protestant ministries that were established during the early 19th-century spiritual revival, this formative period of American history has been dubbed by some scholars as the Evangelical Empire and the Benevolent Empire. There was a great balance of the integration of faith and good works (Ephesians 2:8-10), with the student-evangelist J. B. Taylor being one of many examples that could be given.

Today's church in Mather and Taylor's native U.S. could learn much from Essays To Do Good. May we be striving uncommon Christians, "zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14) in response to our being justified by faith in Christ.

"Go West, Young Man!" . . . The Great American "Wild" West, 20th anniversary (1991-2011) . . . U.S. national parks--Glacier, Big Bend, Olympic . . . 19th-century frontier missionaries

2011-06-23T13:24:00.000-07:00

This month (June 2011) marks the 20th anniversary of the fulfillment of my boyhood dream of leaving the east coast of West Hartford, Connecticut, for the Great American "Wild" West.

I am so thankful for the geographic change as it was used of God to change my life forever. To God be the glory for placing the desire (Psalm 37:4) and giving me the courage to heed the call to "Go West, Young Man!"

It was as a struggling 20-year-old University of Hartford student that I went west for the first time during the summer of 1991.

After working in the hotel/restaurant industry in three national parks--Glacier National Park (Montana), Big Bend National Park (Texas) and Olympic National Park (Washington) --I settled in Port Angeles, Clallam County, Washington, in 1992. Except for six school years of Bible college and seminary in Canada (1994-2000) and the last two years in Israel (May 2009-June 2011), I have mostly lived in Port Angeles ever since.

Upon taking Amtrak trains "Lake Shore Limited" (New York City to Chicago) and "Empire Builder" (Chicago to East Glacier, Montana), I worked the summer of 1991 as a security guard at the historic, 214-room Many Glacier Hotel (built 1915) in Glacier National Park.

It was the best summer of my life in one of America's "sacred cathedrals."

The scenery of Montana's Rocky Mountains combined with the North American and international tourists and 150 co-workers I met--including special friend and co-worker Stephanie B. Freedman from Marblehead, Massachusetts (now Stephanie Mizrahi of Jerusalem, Israel)--made for an unforgettable summer. It was my first solo time away from home, thus adding to the adventure.

After Montana, I worked for seven months (October 1991-April 1992) as a hotel receptionist at Chisos Mountains Lodge in west Texas' Big Bend National Park. My hiring via a brief phone interview came after I quit my studies at the University of Hartford a month after the fall semester had begun. Quitting my studies was a big financial risk as I had free tuition because my mother worked at the university.

In May 1992, I began what turned out to be my first of nine summers (1992-97, 1999-2001) as a seasonal waiter at Lake Crescent Lodge in Olympic National Park. Soon after arriving at Olympic, I attended my first-ever Evangelical Protestant church at Independent Bible Church (IBC) in Port Angeles, Washington.

Six months later, in October 1992 and when 21.5-years-old, I became "born again" in a Lake Crescent Lodge employee dormitory room. On November 1, 1992, I was baptized at IBC by Associate Pastor Mike Chinn.

Some resources that have helped me appreciate more the Great American "Wild" West--and its 19th-century frontier missionaries--have been the below items.

Most of these same resources were used in my organizing the October 31, 2004, event "Go West, Young Man! A Tribute to Lewis & Clark and the Western Pioneer Missionaries that Followed." Sponsored by the Pensinsula College Christian Student Fellowship (where I served as founding advisor), the 2-hour Port Angeles, Washington, event saw about 200 in attendance. For a free video of the event, contact UCM.

+ DVD (1996), "The West," 8-part documentary series by PBS's Ken Burns and Stephen Ives . . . "journey through a boundless landscape where myth, vision and dream seem to shape to historical reality"

+ DVD (1997), "Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery," documentary series by PBS's Ken Burns

+ DVD (2009), "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," 6-episode documentary series by PBS's Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan

+ DVD (2008), "Great Lodges of the National Parks," documentary series by PBS

+ Music CDs by Montana's David Walburn, especially his albums "Lewis & Clark: West for America" (1999) and "Montana: Life Under the Big Sky" (2002). . . "captures the songs of Montana and Glacier National Park like no other artist. Whether historical ballads, love songs or personal tunes, David's Montana Music flows easy, like a cool mountain stream" . . . every summer, Walburn performs live shows six nights a week at Glacier Park's Many Glacier Hotel

+ Book (1971), Bible in Pocket, Gun in Hand: The Story of Frontier Religion by Ross Phares (Bison Books)

+ Encyclopedia (1998), The New Encyclopedia of the American West by editor Howard R. Lamar (Yale University Press)

+ Book (1997), Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose (Simon and Schuster)

+ Book (4 volumes, 1931-46), Religion on the American Frontier, 1783-1850 (Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists, Presbyterians) by William Warren Sweet (1881-1959) (University of Chicago Press)

+ Museums, National Museum of the American Indian (part of Smithsonian Institution) in Washington, D.C., and New York City . . . and Jefferson National Expansion Memorial's Museum of Westward Expansion (and the adjacent Gateway Arch), St. Louis, Missouri

"Eastward I go only by force; but westward I go free. . . . I must walk toward Oregon, and not toward Europe."

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), Walking (1862)

40th birthday . . . "40" in the Bible . . . celebrating with Sar-El (Volunteers For Israel) on IDF Army base

2011-05-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

Today I celebrate my 40th birthday. I was born in the U.S. on Tuesday, May 18, 1971.

Amazing and hard to believe in light of the first 21.5 years (1971 - October 1992) that were filled with deep spiritual darkness, hopelessness and despair.

Along with King David after the Lord made a historic covenant with him, so with similar conviction I say,

Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house/family, that You have brought me this far? And yet this was a small thing in your sight, O God.
2 Samuel 7:18-19 (also 1 Chronicles 17:16-17)

While I do not believe in biblical numerology or gematria, nonetheless some major events in the Bible occurred in 40 days, 40 weeks and 40 years. The list includes the Israelites' 40 years of wandering in the desert and the Lord Jesus Christ's 40 days of fasting while being tempted by the devil and prior to beginning his public ministry. For some of the many occurrences of the number 40 in the Bible, click here and here.

Please join with me in praying for Divine guidance as this striving uncommon Christian begins a 5th decade of living today. After a 25-month sabbatical/pilgrimage/ministry venture in Israel (May 8, 2009 - July 5, 2011), I return to my native United States in early July.

As I "number my days" that I may gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:2), I do so with eager anticipation and expectation as I discover/learn for the first time what the Sovereign Lord has already decreed from "before time began" (in eternity past, Titus 1:2; cf. Psalm 5:3, Psalm 139:16). Concerning my near and distant future, what I know not now I shall know hereafter/later (John 13:7).

I will be celebrating my 40th birthday by doing a third "tour of duty" with Sar-El: The National Project for Volunteers For Israel.

The first two "tours" were in May 2009 (3 weeks) and February 2011 (2 weeks) on a base in northern Israel on the Lebanon border. This "tour of duty" (3 weeks) will be on a base in the Negev desert near Beersheba and about 15 miles from the Gaza Strip. Next month (June 2011), I plan to do a fourth and final "tour of duty" (2 weeks) on a base in northern Israel near Nazareth and Tiberias.

An affiliate of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Sar-El volunteers do non-combat civilian ("jobnik") work on an IDF base alongside and under the direction of the soldiers.

The 5-day, 40-hour work week (Sunday-Thursday) is mainly in the logistical, maintaining, catering, supply and medical services.

In the evenings, there are various activities and educational presentations on such topics as the Hebrew language, Israel's history, Jewish holidays and traditions, and social and political issues in Israel.‏ Also, there are two Sar-El sponsored site-seeing trips for every 3-week program.

Since its beginning in 1982 (during the First Lebanon War [Operation Peace for the Galilee]) and through the end of 2010, over 125,000 international volunteers have participated with Sar-El. Last year (2010), 3,367 volunteered, with the most being from France (1,098) and the U.S. (1,045), and with 559 being non-Jewish (mostly Evangelical Protestant Christians), and with most being under the age of 25 (1,655).

Volunteers For Israel is the U.S.-based non-profit organization responsible for recruiting Americans to Sar-El. VFI seeks to "promote solidarity and goodwill among Israelis, American Jews and other friends of Israel."

While most of my pacifist and Christian pacifist (anti-war, anti-violence) friends may not agree with my non-combat military and political involvement with Israel, I politely remind them that members of the Islamic terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah are not very nice people. Israel is not a perfect democracy, but it is the only one in the Middle East and a "work in progress." With the continuance of anti-Semitism in the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere, I believe Israel has the right to exist and defend itself against her enemies.

Also, my love does not discriminate between Jew and Arab (of whom I have friends on both sides), for both need to hear and respond by faith to the "gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24) as it is found in the Messiah for both Jews and Gentiles, the Lord Jesus Christ:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek/Gentile. Romans 1:16

Cretans and Arabs--we hear them speaking [on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended] in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. Acts 2:11

Via YouTube and produced by the IDF Film Unit, here is a 5-minute video about Sar-El:

Easter 2011 in Jerusalem . . . The Garden Tomb . . . "He is not here; for He is risen, as He said" (Matthew 28:6)

2011-04-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

This Easter/Resurrection Sunday, I will be attending the sunrise worship service at Jerusalem's Garden Tomb.

In addition to the 4th-century Church of the Holy Sepulchre within the walled Old City of Jerusalem, The Garden Tomb is a possible (though less likely) location of the burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Both locations claim to be adjacent to Calvary/Golgotha where Christ was crucified.

An oasis of calmness in the midst of a tension-filled and Muslim-dominated East Jerusalem, The Garden Tomb is popular with Evangelical Protestant pilgrims visiting The Holy Land.

Entitled "The Garden Tomb: Where Jesus Rose Again?", here is a 5-minute news video from CBN.com (April 1, 2010):

Uncommon Christian Ministries wishes you a blessed and Christ-focused Easter 2011. "None but Christ ~ All for Christ" (UCM's motto).

The Lord Jesus Christ, "declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:4).

UPDATE:

Here is the video of the 1 hour, 15 minute worship service, recorded and broadcasted live by CBN.com on April 24, 2011:

James Brainerd Taylor, 210th anniversary . . . J.B.T. at findagrave.com . . . J.B.T. book review in New England Historical Association News

2011-04-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

In honor of the 210th anniversary of the birth of James Brainerd Taylor (born April 15, 1801), Uncommon Christian Ministries is pleased to announce that a photo of J. B. Taylor's gravestone has been online since September 8, 2008.

Grave Memorial No. 29657825 at findagrave.com correctly records the inscription found on the gravestone located at Hampden-Sydney College Church's Presbyterian cemetery in Prince Edward County, Virginia:

James B. Taylor.
Of Middle Haddam, Conn.
A Preacher of the Gospel.
Died in this County.
At the house of his friend
Doctor Rice [John Holt Rice, 1777-1831].
On the 29th of March, 1829.
In the 28th year of his age [actually, 17 days shy of his 28th birthday].

Reader, his epitaph is,
what he would have yours to be.
A sinner saved by grace.

There also exists an obelisk (memorial monument/stone) to J. B. Taylor in the Taylor Family burial plot at Union Hill Cemetery in rural Middle Haddam, Connecticut.

Ten years ago, on April 15, 2001, it was fitting that the bicentennial anniversary of J. B. Taylor's birth fell on Easter/Resurrection Sunday. Though once well known among mid-to-late 19th-century American and European Christians, it is nice to see the American evangelist's "uncommon Christian" life and ministry being resurrected in the early 21st century via books and the Internet, including the free online (Google Books) editions of the two memoirs published on him in the 1830's.

Also, a book review of An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist in America's Second Great Awakening (University Press of America, 2008) appears on page 16 in the 24-page spring 2011 newsletter (Vol. 37, No. 1) of the New England Historical Association (est. 1965).

The review is by Dr. Leslie P. Fairfield, Professor Emeritus of Church History, Trinity School of Ministry: An Evangelical Anglican Seminary (est. 1975), Ambridge, Pennsylvania. In it, Prof. Fairfield states in his closing paragraph,

Francis Kyle has written a thorough, careful, balanced biography of this evangelical saint, so influential in mid-19th century America and so little known today. Based on exhaustive research in the relevant sources, this book offers a grass-roots view of New England revivalism in the 1820's, as the foundations of the antebellum "Evangelical Empire" were being laid. Readers interested in early New England and undergraduate studies of American religion should find this work accessible, interesting and useful.

Regarding the review's author, the first-ever issue of Trinity Journal for Theology and Ministry (Fall 2007, Vol. 1) was devoted to "Anglicanism, Past and Future: Studies in Honor of the Rev. Dr. Leslie P. Fairfield." Prof. Fairfield (B.A., Princeton; Ph.D., Harvard) is the author of John Bale [1495-1563]: Mythmaker for the English Reformation (2006) and--among other online and print articles--"The Trinity and Postmodern Evangelism" (The Anglican Quarterly, Fall 2010).

May today's church, seminary and university be instructed and challenged upon learning about the Princeton University and Yale Seminary-trained Taylor and his advocacy for uncommon Christianity--"eminently holy, self-denying, cross-bearing, Bible, everyday" Christianity.

Mary Jane Gardner (1956-2011), uncommon Christian Bible translator . . . victim of terrorism, Jerusalem bus stop bombing (March 23, 2011)

2011-03-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

The wrong place at the wrong time.

Yet God is sovereign with not even birds (sparrows) falling to the ground outside of the Father's will (Matthew 10:27-31).

Scottish Bible translator Mary Jane Gardner is the second Christian (Evangelical Protestant) in 3 months to be the victim of Palestinian terrorism.

Of the 50 or so innocent bystanders who were injured by a bomb at a crowded 3:00 p.m. Jerusalem bus stop on March 23, 2011, the 55-year-old Gardner was the only person who died. On her day off from school, she was walking by the bus stop in order to have lunch with an Irish friend who had just arrived in the city with a tour group. Though not a suicide bombing, it was the first bus bombing in The Eternal City since 2004 and the Second Intifada.

Gardner was a missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators since 1986. She served in a remote area of Togo, West Africa, for 20 years, and helped complete the New Testament translation into the Ife tribal language in 2009. A short-term student studying biblical Hebrew at Hebrew University's Rothberg International School, the never-married Gardner was preparing herself to go back to the Togo tribesmen this summer in order to translate the Old Testament into Ife.

After arriving in Jerusalem in January 2011, she lived at the Home for Bible Translators and Scholars in Mevaseret Zion, a suburb of Jerusalem. Gardner also frequented Yad Hashmona, a Finnish Christian moshav in the Judean Hills near Jerusalem.

Born in Nairobi, Kenya, and the daughter (oldest of five children) of British missionary parents, she was a graduate of St. Andrews University (Class of 1977) in Scotland. A biographical summary of Gardner's life is available at Wycliffe Bible Translators' U.K. blog--click here.

As posted last month on this blog, on December 18, 2010, Christine Luken died of a stabbing attack by Palestinian terrorists while hiking just south of Jerusalem. An American Christian and lover of the Jewish people, the 44-year-old Luken worked in the U.K. office of the Church's Ministry among the Jewish People (CMJ). Since June 2009, I have been volunteering with CMJ Israel's Christ Church Guest House in Jerusalem.

Here are some news articles on the Jerusalem bus stop bombing and death of the "uncommon Christian" Bible translator Mary Jane Gardner:

+ Woman killed in Israel bus bombing remembered

CBN.com, April 4, 2011 . . . includes this 3.5 minute news video:

+ Mary Gardner, 1955-2011
Wycliffe Bible Translators blog (U.K.), March 28, 2011
(full biography)

+ Friends of Jerusalem bombing victim grapple with her loss: Bible translator Mary Jane Gardner "longed to give other people the same access to the scriptures" that she had enjoyed
Jerusalem Post (Israel), March 31, 2011

+ Terror bombing in Jerusalem
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, March 23, 2011

+ Scottish Bible translator killed by Jerusalem bus bomb
The Telegraph (U.K.), March 24, 2011

+ Jerusalem bus bomb victim was British Bible translator studying Hebrew
The Guardian (U.K.), March 24, 2011

+ Jerusalem bus bomb: Mary Gardner's family pay tribute
BBC News (U.K.), March 24, 2011

+ Distraught parents of Bible scholar killed in Jerusalem bomb blast pay tribute to "very special" daughter
Daily Mail (U.K.), March 25, 2011

+ Prayers tribute for Scot killed in Jerusalem
Herald Scotland (U.K.), March 26, 2011

Kristine Luken (1966-2010), uncommon Christian lover of the Jewish people and Israel . . . Kay Wilson, survivor of attempted murder . . . CMJ Israel, U.K., U.S.

2011-02-28T07:37:00.000-08:00

Kristine Luken

Since June 2009, I have served as a volunteer at Christ Church Guest House in Jerusalem's Old City. I will remain here until this summer.

Christ Church is the oldest Protestant church in the Middle East. Built in 1849, the church was founded by the Church's Ministry among the Jewish People (est. 1809, formerly called the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews). With founders such as British church leaders William Wilberforce (1759-1833) and Charles Simeon (1759-1836), CMJ remains today an Anglican (Church of England) missionary society in the Evangelical Protestant tradition. Christ Church is a member of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (est. June 2008).

The world of CMJ was shocked to learn of the December 18, 2010, murder of one of its newest staff members. Kristine Luken was stabbed to death by two Muslim terrorists from the West Bank/Palestinian territories while hiking with a friend in the Jerusalem Forest southwest of the city.

A 44-year-old American Christian with a love for the Jewish people and Israel, Kristine worked for CMJ's U.K. office since 2009. I had met her briefly when she visited Jerusalem's Christ Church a year ago (winter 2009-10). A graduate of Virginia's George Mason University (Class of 1988), the non-Jewish/Gentile uncommon Christian Kristine had resigned from her comfortable 15-year federal government job in Washington, D.C., in order to serve the Lord in full-time vocational ministry, first at Patrick Henry College in Virginia, then with CMJ U.K. Click here to read her obituary.

Kay Wilson

The brutal and senseless murder made front-page news in the Israeli media (see below links), as well as international headlines. A month after the murder, the Israeli police announced 13 arrests. The 13 Muslim men were members of a Palestinian terrorist group that formed in 2009. Miraculously, Kristine's hiking companion, the 46-year-old British-born Israeli Kay Wilson, survived the attack of 12 stab wounds, helped police in locating the attackers, and lived to tell about it (see below links to her interviews). Kay is the main educator/tour guide for CMJ Israel's Shoresh Study Tours.

Please join me in praying that the Luken family be comforted by the Divine Comforter during their time of loss, and that the Lord will be glorified in this tragic death (John 11:4). Also, consider giving to the Kristine Luken Memorial Fund via CMJ's U.K., U.S. or Israel office. Pray for Kay Wilson, too, as she heals both physically and psychologically.

SOME NEWS LINKS

+ Slain U.S. tourist was a spiritual Christian with deep ties to Israel, say friends
Haaretz, December 20, 2010

+ "Street smarts" saved wounded victim: Messianic Judaism community "in shock"; praying for recovery of tour guide stabbed in brutal attack
Jerusalem Post, December 20, 2010

+ Last message of American stabbed to death hiking in Israel : "Remember to search out the goodness of God in the face of tragedy"
Daily Mail (U.K.), December 21, 2010

+ 100 gather at memorial service for Kristine Luken
Jerusalem Post, December 24, 2010

+ Family and friends remember murdered Notts missionary worker
This Is Nottingham (U.K.), January 13, 2011

+ 13 arrested in terror cell behind US's hiker's death
Jerusalem Post, January 26, 2011

+ "What a waste, I'm 46 years old and I'm being murdered" (interview with Kay Wilson)
Jerusalem Post, January 27, 2011

+ Survivor of stabbing attack that killed friend recalls "unimaginable barbarism" (interview with Kay Wilson)
Haaretz, January 27, 2011

Kristine Luken memorial service.
Holy Trinity Church. Southwell, U.K.
January 12, 2011.

Kristine Luken memorial service.
Christ Church. Jerusalem, Israel.
December 23, 2010.

Raymond Berry, uncommon Christian Pro Football Hall of Famer . . . "Receiving Fundamentals" DVD . . . childhood memories, mid-1980's New England Patriots

2011-01-18T15:09:00.000-08:00

With the 2011 NFL playoffs upon us and Super Bowl XLV (45) next month (February 6), this is a good time to announce the recent DVD release of "Raymond Berry: Receiving Fundamentals."

An Uncommon Christian

The man featured in the 2-DVD set, Raymond Berry (born 1933, Corpus Christi, Texas), is not only one of the greatest wide receivers in the history of the National Football League, a former NFL head coach and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but he also has been a committed "uncommon" Christian since 1960. In the online article "More to Life than Football" (January 27, 2002), Berry stated,

I stand on Jeremiah 9:23-24:

"Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord" (NKJV).

In this passage God tells us where life is and where it is not. God’s priority is that we have a relationship with Him. I found a relationship with God more than 40 years ago and it is still going on.

Another online article, "Raymond Berry: Hands of Glue, Transformed Heart," is equally edifying in that it points the reader to Berry's and our only hope in this life and in the life to come, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. Click here to read the article from the September 2009 newsletter of Spirit of Grace Ministries (McKinney, Texas).

Long retired and with 9 grandchildren, Berry now lives in Murfreesboro, Tenn. His son Mark is a Presbyterian (PCA) missionary in Lima, Peru--click here to watch a video of Mark's church-planting ministry.

"Raymond Berry: Receiving Fundamentals" DVD

Concerning the instructional DVDs for the football player or coach or Berry fan, current Indianapolis Colts All-Pro quarterback Peyton Manning stated, "Every receiver will benefit from Raymond Berry's route and receiving techniques."

According to the producers, the DVDs are "an educational, entertaining and inspirational way to learn the essence of the wide receiver position." Here is an excerpt from the DVDs:

Click here for the December 10, 2010, news release of the DVD set. Also, visit RaymondBerry.com to purchase the $29.95 set.

Pro Football Hall of Famer (Class of 1973)

As the main wide receiver (1955-67) for the famed Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas, Berry caught a then-record 631 passes for 9,275 yards and 68 touchdowns in his 13-year career.

A perfectionist, Berry fumbled the football only once during his entire playing career.

Both Berry and Unitas played in the NFL's "Greatest Game Ever Played," the 1958 NFL championship game versus the New York Giants at Yankee Stadium (December 28, 1958). A good read is Mark Bowden's book The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008).

Click here for a full biography on Berry via Wikipedia.org, here for a tribute to him from his alma mater of Southern Methodist University (SMU), here for his page on the Texas Sports Hall of Fame website (Class of 1974), and here for his Pro Football Hall of Fame page.

Among the many YouTube videos on the football legend, a unique and funny one is his November 9, 1958, appearance on the popular TV show (1950-67) "What's My Line":

Childhood Memories, New England Patriots . . . mid-1980s, Connecticut

When Berry was the head coach of the NFL's New England Patriots (1984-89), I used to correspond with him through letters/fan mail.

When the letter writing began just prior to the 1985-86 season--the season the Patriots appeared in Super Bowl XX against the Chicago Bears (of which January 26, 2011, is the 25th anniversary)--I was a spiritually lost 14-year-old living in West Hartford, Connecticut.

The letter writing hobby was followed-up by periodic in-person visits to the Patriots training camp in Smithfield, R.I., and to some Patriots games in Foxborough, Mass.

In 2001, I donated to Canton, Ohio's Pro Football Hall of Fame archives the many letters and autographs I received from Berry, as well as his signed football cards and signed book he sent me, Raymond Berry's Complete Guide to Coaching Pass Receivers (Parker Pub. Co., 1982).

I also donated the letters and autographs I received from some of the 1950's and '60's Colts players and head coach who knew Berry and who were fellow members of the of Hall of Fame, namely, head coach Weeb Ewbank (Class of 1978), quarterback Johnny Unitas (Class of 1979), and running back Lenny Moore (Class of 1975). In his hand-written letter, Moore shared about his and Berry's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Though not a member of the Hall of Fame, also donated was a 1986 letter from Don Shinnick, a former Colts teammate of Berry's and fellow Christian. Shinnick served as a Patriots assistant coach (linebackers) under Berry.

Additionally, the dozen or so letters I received from Berry's boss at the time, Patriots founder and then-owner (1959-88) William "Billy" H. Sullivan, Jr., were gratefully received by the Hall of Fame archives department.

To my teenage delight, Mr. Sullivan at one point gave me his home phone number in order for me to call him and set up an appointment to meet him in his Sullivan Stadium office prior to a Patriots game. With my parents, I took him up on the offer during the 1986-87 season.

Thanks for the memories, Mr. Berry.

With you, and by His sovereign grace,
I glory in the fact that the one and only
true God "understands and knows me."

Jeremiah 9:23-24

UPDATE

After sending the now 78-year-old Raymond Berry a printed copy of this blog post, I received a letter in response.

With the letter, Berry also enclosed an autographed football card of his that has on it, "Raymond Berry, Baltimore Colts 1955-1967, Hall of Fame 1973."

On the back of the card, Berry explains how his Baltimore Colts teammate Don Shinnick (1935-2004) led Berry to placing his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. After their playing days were over in the 1960's, Berry hired Shinnick as his linebackers coach when Berry was head coach of the New England Patriots (1984-89).

In the November 9, 2011, letter, Berry wrote of the success he hopes the new DVD will have and how the DVD came about. The Hall of Famer wrote,

As a brother in Christ, you may be interested to know how this DVD ever came to be. I was coaching with the Cowboys (Tom Landry) in 1968 and 1969. In January 1970, the Lord spoke clearly to me one Saturday afternoon: 'Quit your job--finish that film.'

Well, it took another 30 years but Berry finally made the film. Better late than never. I am so glad he made the DVD for the sake of the future generations of football wide receivers who can learn from his knowledge and experience of the position.

Berry also wrote in his closing remarks,

By the way, the Lord turned my attention to the Jews and Israel when I was a Babe in Christ [New Testament, 1 Peter 2:2]. He put a love for them in my heart.

Berry writes this as I had just spent 26 months of sabbatical/pilgrimage/ministry in Israel, May 2009 to June 2011.

NOTE:

On December 29, 2011, the NFL announced that Berry will participate in the Vince Lombardi Trophy ceremony at the conclusion of Super Bowl XLVI. Berry will carry the trophy to the stage and deliver it to Commissioner Roger Goodell who will present it to the Super Bowl champion. The ceremony will be televised live by NBC at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, February 5, 2012.

ALSO:

As an aside, Robert Kraft, the Jewish philanthropist and owner (1994- ) of the NFL's New England Patriots, began the Israel Football League (Kraft Family IFL) in 2005. The Jerusalem-area teams play at Kraft Family Stadium, the same stadium that hosts the annual Israel Bowl (2008- ).

IFL games can be heard in English and online for free on Israel Sports Radio. The season runs November to March.

After the NFL season is over, Kraft normally visits Israel where he has a business. Some past and present Patriots players often accompany him on the trip, including Pro Football Hall of Famer (Class of 2008) Andre Tippett who converted to Judaism during his playing days (1982-93).

When living in Jerusalem, I saw Kraft, Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick and others during the Kraft delegation's visit to Kraft Family Stadium in March 2011.

From Israel, Happy New Year 2011 . . . from USA, uncommon New Year 1824 with James Brainerd Taylor

2010-12-30T16:58:00.000-08:00

From Jerusalem, Israel, Happy New Year from Uncommon Christian Ministries.

May your 2011 be filled with the joy and peace that only the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), the Lord Jesus Christ, can give.

As a means of inspiration and encouragement to use this annual time for healthy self-examination--spiritual and otherwise--below are excerpts from the personal writings of James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829). The "uncommon Christian" American evangelist wrote in his journal on December 31, 1823:

Looking at my record made one year ago this evening, I find my testimony to the Lord's goodness the year just then ending, and an invocation for the continuance not only, but for an increase of his favor and love, during the succeeding year. My prayer has been heard. Great and glorious things have been done for my soul, in secret with my God; and of all men I am under the strongest bonds of gratitude, of love, and of praise to him in return.

Why may I not expect greater things the coming year? "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more to the perfect day" [Proverbs 4:18].

Lord God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, whose I am, thine would I be. To thee, through the beloved [the Lord Jesus Christ], I renewedly and solemnly engage my love and obedience. O keep me--save me from all evil [Matthew 6:13]--and bless me abundantly, more than I can ask or think [Ephesian 3:20]; all things are possible with thee [Philippians 4:13].

And in his journal on January 1, 1824, the cousin of the famed missionary David Brainerd (1718-1747) wrote the following "short but expressive notice" while a first-year student at Princeton University:

The Lord has indeed given me a happy beginning of a new year. At evening devotion, had a blessing so rich and full that there seemed a want of room to receive it. Carry on, carry on thy glorious work, O my God, and make me more like Jesus.

For further reflection, here is part of Taylor's annual New Year's letter (1824) to his family in Middle Haddam, Connecticut. The letter is "full of affection, filial and fraternal" and is "strongly expressive of gratitude and piety towards the Giver of every good and perfect gift" (James 1:17).

Reviewing the past year, many things which awaken pleasing reflections rise to my recollection. No period of my life has been marked with clearer indications of the Lord's goodness to his unworthy servant. . . .

As to religious enjoyment, no year has witnessed such displays of divine love. And I may humbly and joyfully say, I have grown in grace [2 Peter 3:18]. My trials have been few, and have all worked for good [Romans 8:28]; my temptations many, but in heaven's armor I have overcome [Ephesians 6:13]. . . .

To look forward a year! It is a precious--an invaluable--period of time. Thus, more than we do, the ransomed of the Lord, and the spirits of the lost view it. O that we may be wise, to make the most of the year that is before us! What new plans, then, for doing good can we devise [Galatians 6:10]? Or how can we improve those already adopted? Why should we not strive, as individuals, to make our influence to be felt all over the earth [Acts 1:8]? The Lord help us to labor faithfully. And this we should do, not merely from a sense of duty, as obligatory upon all, but as binding upon each, and that too now, as we know not but, ere the close of 1824, we may be summoned hence. Has not heaven something for us to do; something to make known for the good of mankind through us? Let us pray over this interrogatory until we are satisfied.

What is before us as a family, and as individuals, we know not; but to Him who hath brought us hitherto, all is plain [Psalm 139:16]. Concerning this we should not be anxious [Philippians 4:6-7]; for, "shall not the Judge of all the earth do right" [Genesis 18:25]?

As for myself, I feel that the seeds of mortality have taken deep root within me, and I am frequently reminded of my latter end. But does this alarm me? No; for every evidence of the approach of the messenger, death, I have cause to rejoice, rather than to be terrified. It is a sweet exercise to pass the valley, in imagination, and look beyond, upon the pearly gates. Faith enters within the city, and walks the golden streets [Revelation 21:21].

"O glorious hour! O blest abode!
I shall be near, and like my God!"

Excerpts taken from:

John Holt Rice and Benjamin Holt Rice, Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor, Second Edition (New York: American Tract Society, 1833), 178-82. Memoir viewable online via Google Books. Click here to read.

Also, click here to read the memoir's sequel/companion volume A New Tribute to the Memory of James Brainerd Taylor (1838) by James' younger brother Fitch W. Taylor.

Merry Christmas from Israel . . . "looking unto Jesus" with James Brainerd Taylor and Hebrews 12:2, Christmas 1823

2010-12-19T08:11:00.000-08:00

From the land of the Bethlehem-born Jesus, Uncommon Christian Ministries wishes you a Christ-focused and joyful Merry Christmas.

With tourism currently booming, over 90,000 tourists and pilgrims are expected to visit Israel during the Christmas season.

May the below Christmas 2010 meditation inspire us to likewise be "looking unto Jesus" (Hebrews 12:2) with the same uncommon focus and intensity as the "uncommon Christian" James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829).

Written the day prior to Christmas Eve, below is a portion of a December 23, 1823, letter from the evangelist Taylor to his "aged clerical friend" and mentor, Frederick William Hotchkiss (1762-1844). At the time, the then 22-year-old "uncommon Christian" was a first-year student at Princeton University, and the Yale-educated Hotchkiss was the long-time pastor (1783-1844) of the First Congregational Church in Saybrook, Connecticut.

This evening my mind has been led to look to Jesus, as the apostle says, 'Looking unto Jesus.' I was thus led, more particularly, because tomorrow [Sunday] is to be our communion season [the Lord's Supper].

'Looking unto Jesus.' Before the world was, he dwelt with the Father. And, O what glory and delight he must have had from all eternity! We may look unto him as God, by whom the worlds were made [John 1:3, 10]. But had he need of worlds? What do they add to his infinite, underived, eternal glory? For whom, but for man, was this fair fabric formed, and lighted up, and adorned so richly? Upon God's equal we may gaze with wonder, and adore his condescension. O what pity touched his sympathizing soul! What the might of that love which brought him down! Well might the plains of Bethlehem resound with glory to God in the highest; peace on earth, and good will to men [Luke 2:14]. And well may we join the heavenly host in praising God; for unto us a Savior was born, who is Christ the Lord [Luke 2:11].

'O for this love, let rocks and hills

Their lasting silence break.'

Let us look to Jesus during his state of humiliation, for from the manger to the cross he was preparing the way to bring many sons unto glory [Hebrews 2:10]. O the contradictions he met from sinners! What temptations in the wilderness! What agony in the garden! But the wonders of the cross! It is here our hopes center. For the hope which the cross inspired, the primitive Christians were ready to suffer; nay, did suffer and die. However opposed, they preached its doctrines, and said, 'God forbid that we should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ' [Galatians 6:14].

Extending our view beyond the cross, we may profitably look upon him whom we have pierced [Zechariah 12:10], as arising from the dead. 'He rose again for our justification' [Romans 4:25]. What joy his disciples felt when their eyes once more beheld their Lord, whom the Jews had crucified and slain! But he was soon to leave them, and triumphantly ascend up where he was before.

Thither our forerunner hath entered--our captain has led the way; and now we may look unto him at the right hand of the Majesty on high. By faith, too, we may look at the mansions he hath prepared [John 14:2]. But what is faith's vision? It is indeed a blessed reality; 'it is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen' [Hebrews 11:1]. But we want more, and more we shall have. Not through a glass darkly shall we see him, but face to face--see him as he is [1 Corinthians 13:12]. 'Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom' [Luke 12:32].

Do we want stronger faith? To Jesus must we look, who is the author and finisher of faith [Hebrews 12:2]; and pray, as by example we are taught, 'Lord increase our faith' [Luke 17:5]. Would we be what God would have us to be, what do we need but to be conformed to the image of his dear Son [Romans 8:29]? And how shall this be effected but by looking continually unto Jesus?

Are we ignorant? He is our Prophet. Are we sinners? He is present to plead our cause--a Priest whom the Father heareth always, and whose blood cleanseth from all sin. Would we have all things brought into complete subjection to his law? As King, he is on the holy hill of Zion. Where is such an example of patience under suffering? And he knows how to succor them that are tempted. In doing the will of his heavenly Father, how assiduously and perseveringly did he accomplish his work!

What we find to do, may we do it with our might [Ecclesiastes 9:10]. The more steadily we look to Jesus, the faster we shall run, the higher will be our attainments, the happier we shall be, and the more we shall honor God.

Taken from:
John Holt Rice and Benjamin Holt Rice, Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor, Second Edition (New York: American Tract Society, 1833), 172-77. Memoir viewable online and at no cost via Google Books. Click here to read.

Also, click here to read the memoir's sequel/companion volume A New Tribute to the Memory of James Brainerd Taylor (1838) by James' younger brother Fitch W. Taylor.

The unknown "uncommon" Christian . . . my Boss, the once-unknown Jewish carpenter from Nazareth . . . Ordinary Pastors Project

2010-11-27T07:43:00.000-08:00

Are you an obscure and unknown "nobody" living to honor and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ?

Does hardly anyone know your name as you say along with James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829) and from the depth of your very being/soul, "None but Christ; all for Christ" (the catch phrase of Uncommon Christian Ministries)?

Like J. B. Taylor sought to be and encouraged those converted to Christ under his ministry to be, so are you striving to be an "uncommon Christian"--defined by Taylor as an "eminently holy, self-denying, cross-bearing, Bible, everyday" Christian? Yet in your striving, are you off, under or not even on the radar that is your local neighborhood or that is popular American Evangelicalism?

Is your Christian-themed blog not part of the Top 100 Church Blogs? Are your books ranked 3,014,783 and 3,291,944 with Amazon.com Bestsellers Rank (such are the rankings of my An Uncommon Christian and Of Intense Brightness)?

If so, may the Lord bless you as you are among the majority of Christians throughout the ages and have the privilege of being able to identify more intimately with the once-obscure and unknown first-century Jewish carpenter from Nazareth (Matthew 13:55). The Lord Jesus' public ministry lasted about three years while his work as a carpenter lasted for about the first 30 years of his life.

Whether fame and notoriety come our way or not, may this not be our life's ambition. Such ambition is sin and the Lord will not bless it. The Lord blesses obedience. He blesses when His people make Him their true Boss; their Boss above all bosses. If such obedience leads to your name being in bright lights, on most-visited blog lists and bestseller lists, and being invited to speak at conferences, so be it. May His name be praised. If not, so be it. May His name be praised.

Please join me in living intentionally and intensely for the Lord no matter what the consequences and however large or small the sphere of influence He gives us. "So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do’” (Luke 17:10).

Joe Carter's recent blog entry "Note to Young Evangelicals: You Can't All Be Elite" provides a wise observation about today's younger generation. On the First Things blog, Carter writes (November 12, 2010):

Matt Anderson makes a very astute observation about the younger generation of evangelicals:

Here’s my hypothesis as to why young evangelicals tend to be drawn toward Randian libertarianism or Obama-style pragmatic liberalism: we think of ourselves as elites, even though most of us aren’t. This is particularly true of white, college-educated younger evangelicals who went off to Wheaton and Biola, and who are the only young evangelicals the media ever seems to talk about.
Our dissatisfaction with the mainstream evangelical populism we grew up in makes us particularly susceptible to either top-down statism or ubermensch libertarianism. Obama or Ron Paul, Jim Wallis or Ayn Rand. Both appeal to our elite aspirations, as in the former we can politically engineer society to bring about the Kingdom and in the latter we get to be captains of industry.

Exactly. And, like many others of their generation, they think they should be able to take an advance now on their future potential. Since it’s inevitable (so they believe) that they’ll be successful writers/pundits/leaders, etc., we old Gen X and Baby Boomer geezers should just step aside and let them run the show. They are the ones they’ve been waiting for.

The fact that they aren’t qualified for such roles doesn’t seem to daunt them in the least. They have energy and ambition and opinions of their own. What else could they possibly need?

The problem is not just that such an attitude is off-putting (though it definitely is obnoxious) but rather that it prevents young talented evangelicals from adequately preparing to live up to their elite aspirations. They need to spend many years (ideally between ten to fifteen) in preparation and service to others before they can fully grasp how the world works, much less how they can fix it.

Of course, being told they need to gain wisdom and experience before they can be truly effective is the last thing any young person wants to hear. But young evangelicals should humbly consider the example of our Lord: If the savior of the world saw fit to toil in working-class obscurity for thirty years before embarking on his cosmos-changing mission, it probably won’t hurt you to spend a bit more time forming your intellect and character before you’re ready to make your mark on the culture.

Relatedly, U.S.-based The Gospel Coalition has recently begun (September 2010) the Ordinary Pastors Project.

The project is inspired by D.A. Carson's book about his father entitled Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson (Crossway, 2008).

Click here (Matt B. Redmond) and here (Justin Taylor) for more information and how you can give an online testimony about your beloved "ordinary pastor."

Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization . . . USA's Mission America Coalition . . . James Brainerd Taylor on evangelism

2010-11-03T08:43:00.000-07:00

The Third International Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization took place in Cape Town, South Africa, October 17-24, 2010. It was held in collaboration with the World Evangelical Alliance (est. 1846).

"Perhaps the widest and most diverse gathering of Christians ever held in the history of the Church," Cape Town 2010 (Lausanne III) "drew 4,000 selected participants from 198 nations. Organizers extended its reach into over 650 GlobaLink sites in 91 countries and drew 100,000 unique visits to its web site from 185 countries during the week of the Congress."

For a report of the historic event and its document "The Cape Town Commitment: A Declaration of Belief and a Call to Action," click here. Also, read here attendee and New Testament scholar Darrell Bock's blog entry concerning his reflections.

To view videos of most of the sessions, including John Piper's exposition of Ephesians 3 (see World Faiths: Plenary I, October 20), click here.

The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization is "a worldwide movement that mobilizes evangelical leaders to collaborate for world evangelization." Lausanne I--LCWE's first International Congress on World Evangelization--was held in 1974 in Lausanne, Switzerland. Lausanne II was held in 1989 in Manila, Philippines.

In 1974, LCWE produced The Lausanne Covenant, one of the most influential documents in modern Evangelical Christianity. Click here to read the document in various languages.

Mission America Coalition, National Association of Evangelicals & UCM

Since its founding in 2007, Uncommon Christian Ministries (UCM) has been a member of LCWE's American affiliate, Mission America Coalition: Uniting Christians for Evangelism and Revival. Begun in 1995, leaders from 81 denominations, 350-plus ministries and dozens of ministry networks have been involved in MAC. Some members of the coalition's staff and national committee were among the 400 U.S. delegates at Lausanne III. MAC's Chairmam/CEO Paul Cedar wrote an endorsement for my 2008 edited anthology Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor.

As a follow-up to the Congress, MAC is co-sponsoring a leadership consultation forum in Orlando, Florida, April 4-7, 2011. For more information about "From Cape Town 2010 to Orlando 2011 . . . and the Future: Accelerating the Church toward the Great Commission," see MAC's website. Among others, the forum is also being sponsored by the National Association of Evangelicals as NAE also sent representatives to Cape Town 2010. Both MAC and I individually (as founder of UCM) are members of NAE.

James Brainerd Taylor

The Princeton University and Yale Seminary-trained evangelist James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829) would no doubt have been pleased with Lausanne III/Cape Town 2010 and the work of Mission America Coalition in his native U.S. That J. B. Taylor lived and breathed evangelism is evident by such comments as these from his journal entries and letters included in the Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor (1833) and A New Tribute to the Memory of James Brainerd Taylor (1838):

O, may we enter the work [of ministry] to win souls to Christ, and have, as our great motive, the honor of our blessed Redeemer. (Memoir, page 80)

I know that my object, my highest wish while on earth, is to be instrumental in bringing souls to Christ. (Memoir, 181)

The spare time I have from my college duties, I would rather spend with the sick--the indigent; and that, too, to win souls. (Memoir, 233-34)

I feel willing to live a hundred years on earth if I might work for God and bring souls to Christ, and then have nothing diminished from eternity. . . . I fell before the throne and had a longing for souls--I thirsted to bring souls to Christ. I groaned to win souls and almost with agony pleaded to have souls for my hire. I think I felt willing to lay out my life for souls. Souls, souls, I want souls. (Memoir, 268-69)

Peter Gulick (1797-1877), missionary in Hawaii . . . new book on James Brainerd Taylor's "uncommon Christian" classmate at Princeton

2010-10-12T02:26:00.000-07:00

Missionaries in Hawai'i: The Lives of Peter and Fanny Gulick, 1797-1883 is a new book on an "uncommon Christian" classmate and close friend of James Brainerd Taylor.

Especially noteworthy is Peter Gulick's emphasis on self-denial, one of the five pillars or traits of uncommon (biblical) Christianity as stressed by J. B. Taylor. Gulick wrote in 1841,

I trust our [eight] children will all learn that life is not given us, that we may enjoy ourselves, but that we may glorify God by denying ourselves.

During the revival-filled 1820s of the Second Great Awakening, Peter Johnson Gulick (1797-1877) and James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829) were students together at the two New Jersey schools of Lawrenceville Academy (now The Lawrenceville School) and Princeton University. In fact, at Lawrenceville the two were roommates.

James Brainerd Taylor

Upon beginning his studies at Lawrenceville, Taylor wrote on January 23, 1820, that Gulick is "a pious, humble Christian, and I think as suitable a companion for me as could be found. He is about three weeks ahead of me in pursuit of the same object" (i.e., Christian ministry).
--> See page 39 in John Holt Rice and Benjamin Holt Rice, Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor, Second Edition (New York: American Tract Society, 1833). Free online copy available here.

Along with two other students, Gulick and Taylor founded one of America's earliest student religious societies, the Philadelphian Society of Nassau Hall (1825-1930). The Philadelphian Society is the spiritual parent to today's Princeton Evangelical Fellowship (1931- ) on the Princeton University campus.

Author Clifford Putney's book is the first extensive work devoted to the progenitors (patriarch and matriarch) of the missionary-rich Gulick family.

For 46 uninterrupted years (1828-74), Peter and Fanny Gulick served as pioneer missionaries in The Aloha State. Some structures Peter helped build still stand today and are on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, including Kaua'i Island's Gulick-Rowell House on the former Missionary Row in Waimea.

From the 1820s to the 1960s, members of the Gulick clan could be found throughout the world doing missionary work. This makes them one of America's greatest missionary families and most important evangelical dynasties.

For a synopsis of Missionaries In Hawai'i, click here (University of Massachusetts Press).

For my "Customer Review" of the book at Amazon.com, click here.
--> UPDATE: For my full review of Putney's book, see the online journal Global Missiology, January 2011 (Vol. 2, Nov. 8)

I am persuaded God leaves his children on earth for the sole purpose of glorifying Him and the Great Question with every one should be by what use of my time and talents can I most effectively promote this object?
Peter Johnson Gulick, 1840

Perhaps you would ask if we were not sometimes sorry we were missionaries. No never never. I thank the Lord almost daily that He permitted me to be a missionary.
Fanny Gulick, 1875

German Christian resources . . . James Brainerd Taylor books at Amazon.de . . . Germany trip, February 2010 . . . prayer request

2010-09-13T04:54:00.000-07:00

For free online Christian resources translated into German, see the U.S.-based Desiring God and Gospel Coalition web sites by clicking here (Desiring God) and here (Gospel Coalition). Also see the new Gospel Translations web site (est. 2007) and its German page for additional translations.

The founder of Desiring God, John Piper, is an American theologian-pastor-author with a Ph.D. in New Testament from Germany's University of Munich. The Gospel Coaltion (est. 2007) is "a fellowship of evangelical churches deeply committed to renewing our faith in the gospel of Christ and to reforming our ministry practices to conform fully to the Scriptures."

Though not translated into German, the recent (2008) University Press of America biographies An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist In America's Second Great Awakening and Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor are available at Germany's Amazon.de (click here for An Uncommon Christian and here for Of Intense Brightness). The books also are available from the publisher's European distributor (click here). Relatedly, the Bavarian State Library (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, est. 1558) in Munich purchased Of Intense Brightness for their over 9-million collection.

See my May 10, 2010, blog post for a report on my visit to Kofering, Germany (and, relatedly, my June 30, 2010 post about my trip to New York City's Ellis Island). It was in the rural Bavarian village of Kofering (8.5 miles south of Regensburg) that my beloved American immigrant grandmother, Marie Gangl Kyle (1905-1992), was born.

In addition to Kofering, I visited the following towns and cities during my 2-week trip to Germany, February 16 to March 2. Though in the dead of winter, the trip was a nice break from my current 2-year stay in Israel.

Bad Doberan
Former East Germany/DDR, near the Baltic Sea, pop. 11,000
+ Molli (historic late 19th-century steam engine)

Berlin
Capital of Germany, pop. 3.4 million (Germany's largest, European Union's second largest)
+ Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom, built 1451)
+ Brandenburg Gate
+ Checkpoint Charlie (and remnants of the Berlin Wall)
+ DDR Museum (exhibit on what everyday life was like in the former East Germany/DDR)
+ German Historical Museum (Deutsches Historisches Museum)
+ Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Holocaust Memorial, inaugurated 2005)
+ Humboldt University (est. 1810, Berlin's oldest university)
+ Pergamon Museum (part of Museum Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999; contains displays of the Pergamon Altar, Market Gate of Miletus, Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way of Babylon, etc.)
+ Reichstag (Parliament) building
+ TV Tower (Fernsehturm Berlin, 1,207-foot lookout tower near Alexanderplatz)

Gustrow
Former East Germany/DDR, pop. 30,000
+ Castle (Schloss, built 1589 in Renaissance style, residence for the dukes of Mecklenburg)
+ City Museum
+ Dom (Brick Gothic Cathedral, built 1226-1335, includes W.W. I memorial "Hovering Angel" sculpture by local expressionist artist Ernst Barlach)
+ Ernst Barlach Theater
+ Fountain fox and the hedgehog (sculptures at entrance to the town, from a story by local author John Brinkman)
+ Gertrude Chapel (Ernst Barlach Studio)
+ Krippen Museum (North German Nativity Museum, housed in the Holy Spirit Church)
+ St. Mary Church (19th century, Brick Gothic)
+ Town Hall (built 13th century)

Leipzig
Former East Germany/DDR, pop. 519,000
+ Auerbach's Cellar (Auerbachs Keller, 15th century, second oldest restaurant in Leipzig, entrance statues depict scenes from Goethe's tragic play Faust I)
+ Old City Hall (Altes Rathaus, built 1556)
+ St. Nicholas Church (Nikolaikirche, built 1156, Lutheran, bust of Bach, first performance of the St. John Passion play by Bach on Good Friday 1724)
+ St. Thomas Church (Thomaskirche, Lutheran, 13th century building, Bach served as cantor [1723-50] and is buried, outside monuments to Bach and Mendelssohm, Martin Luther preached on May 25, 1539)
+ University of Leipzig (est. 1409)

Regensburg
In Bavaria (8.5 miles north of Kofering), pop. 134,000
+ Regensburg Cathedral (Kathedrale St. Peter, Roman Catholic, built 1275-1634)
+ New Parish Church (Neupfarrkirche, Lutheran, built 1519-1863)
+ Old Town city center (UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2006)
+ Remains of the Roman fortress' walls including the Porta Praetoria
+ Stone bridge (Steineme Brucke) over the Danube River (built 1135-46)
+ University of Regensburg

Rostock
Former East Germany/DDR, port city along the Baltic Sea, pop. 201,000
+ University of Rostock (est. 1419)
+ St. Mary's Church and St. Nicholas Church (built 13th century, Brick Gothic)
+ Town Hall (15th century)

Highlights included learning about

~ the former East Germany (German Democratic Republic [DDR], 1949-90) and especially the Mecklenberg-Vorpommern district of northern Germany and its towns of Bad Doberan, Gustrow and Rostock;

~ the Berlin Wall (1961-89);

~ the European Route of Brick Gothic (a tourist route connecting 31 cities with Brick Gothic architecture in 7 countries along the Baltic Sea);

~ the cultural, political and religious impact of different movements and eras of German history (Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, etc.);

~ Germany's contribution to Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern-era music; and

~ the world of Medieval European castles and dukes, princes and princesses.

Please join me in praying for Germany, that the spiritual-theological flame of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation and the 17th and 18th-century Pietist movement would be re-ignited both in-and-out of the Lutheran state church.

James Brainerd Taylor, boyhood home . . . "The Hill," Middle Haddam, Connecticut

2010-08-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

Alas, after some 10 years of personal searching in libraries and online, a sketch of the boyhood home of James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829) is found!

Via Google Books' digitalization (February 11, 2010) of Columbia University Library's copy of A New Tribute to the Memory of James Brainerd Taylor (New York: John S. Taylor, 1838), the sketch appears in the book's frontispiece.

For some reason, every copy this J. B. Taylor researcher has come across thus far of this second 1830's memoir on the Second Great Awakening "uncommon Christian" evangelist did not contain this frontispiece sketch. That such a sketch existed is known from pages 263-64 of A New Tribute when the compiler Fitch W. Taylor (1803-1865, James' younger brother) wrote in a footnote:

[The Hill] is the name by which the family residence of Mr. Taylor was known among his friends. See the sketch on the Title page. The scenery at this point of the Connecticut [River] is considered to be very fine.

The footnote is included in a paragraph from a July 29, 1828, letter from J. B. Taylor to his family and friends in New York City and elsewhere. The paragraph reads,

When shall we see you at the Hill? You know how gladly we all would welcome you. The Hill looks finely. The trees are doing well, and grow luxuriantly. The lover of scenery will never tire here, but always find enough to feast his love of the beautiful amid so much enchantment of nature.

"The Hill" most likely refers to the Hog Hill section of the early 19th-century ship building town of Middle Haddam, Middlesex County, Connecticut (est. 1767). Located on a summit overlooking the Connecticut River, Hog Hill was so named because a hog was once stuck underneath the Hill's now non-existent Congregational Church (built 1744). Today's Hog Hill Road is adjacent to the Middle Haddam Historic District (part of East Hampton, Connecticut, click here for photos). Since 1984, the district has been listed on the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places.

Andrew Versteeg, Ethel, Ontario, Canada . . . uncommon Christian wedding

2010-07-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to groom Andrew J. Versteeg and his new bride Patricia!

With over 300 in attendance, the "uncommon Christian" wedding took place July 17, 2010, in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.

After a honeymoon on the Canadian Atlantic island of Newfoundland, the couple will settle where Andrew has lived since 2001: rural Ethel (pop. 216) near Listowel in the eastern portion of Ontario's "west coast" of Huron County (pop. 59,325).

I served as Andrew's best man as I took a 5-week break from my 26 months of sabbatical/pilgrimage/ministry in Israel.

What an honor and privilege from my best friend during and after my student days (1994-2000) at Canada's Prairie Bible College (Three Hills, Alberta) and Toronto Baptist Seminary (Ontario).

While past joint travels included trips throughout the U.S. and Canada and to England, Scotland and Israel, Andrew will now have a new traveling partner.

In addition to being now a husband and step-father to four wonderful teenagers, the pig farmer-laborer-preacher serves as an elder at Ontario's Gorrie Bible Fellowship (est. 1985).

Click here to listen to some of Andrew's sermons.

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Genesis 2:24 (Matt. 19:5, Mark 10:7, Eph. 5:31)

UPDATE

On August 6, 2011, Patricia Versteeg gave birth to a son, Cornelus Samuel John Versteeg. He is named after Andrew's father (Cornelus), Patricia's father (Samuel) and Andrew's middle name (John).

In summer 2011, Andrew became an elder and pastor of Brussels Community Bible Chapel in Brussels, Huron County, Ontario, Canada. To listen online to some of Andrew's sermons, click here.

Independence Day 1826 with James Brainerd Taylor, uncommon American Christian . . . Nassau Hall, Princeton University. . . fireworks vs. God's light

2010-07-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

From Granby, Connecticut, Uncommon Christian Ministries wishes all Americans a happy Independence Day (Fourth of July). Happy 234th birthday, America!

Appropriately, here is the Tuesday, July 4, 1826, diary entry of the "uncommon Christian" American James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1826) as recorded in Fitch W. Taylor's A New Tribute to the Memory of James Brainerd Taylor (1838, available online and for free via Google Books). At the time, the Middle Haddam, Connecticut native and aspiring evangelist was a graduating senior at Princeton University (est. 1746), and America was celebrating its 50th birthday. Taylor is the primary founder (February 1825) of what is now called Princeton Evangelical Fellowship.

The candles in the windows that Taylor mentions in his diary were in Nassau Hall, his place of residence (student dorms) that also housed classrooms and offices. Completed in 1757, Nassau Hall is the oldest building on the Princeton campus. It was one of the largest buildings in colonial New Jersey. (See modern-day photo above.)

Interestingly, on the same festive day the "father of American music" and writer of such classics as "Oh, Susanna," "My Old Kentucky Home" and "Hard Times Come Again No More," Stephen Foster, was born in Lawrence, Pennsylvania. Sadly, and along with the young nation, J. B. Taylor and his fellow Princetonians mourned that day as its country's second and third presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, died.

This evening the bell rung, and summoned each man to his post. Another bell was the signal to illuminate the windows in front. I was on my knees and alone, conducting our stated prayer meeting. By and by I walked out and beheld the illumination and the crowd. Did some hand light up these tapers [candles]? "God said, let there be light, and there was light" (Genesis 1:3).

For a half hour the crowd gazed at the illumined windows. Had one of ten of them during their lives ever spent a half hour in looking at their hearts in the light of conscience—the grave—the bar of God—of heaven and hell? Who of them had solemnly and seriously and prayerfully retired, even once, to investigate their character?

"This is the condemnation, that Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved" (John 3:19-20)—or lest they should be brought under conviction. Happy they "into whose hearts God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Assist me, Holy Spirit, and thus fit me for that city [the new Jerusalem] whose "light is the Lamb" (Revelation 21:23).

Kofering, Germany to NYC . . . immigrant Marie Gangl Kyle (1905-1992) . . . Parkway Baptist Church, Queens (Rosedale) . . . pro-Christ sermon

2010-06-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

How fitting to have visited New York City this month, just 4 months after visiting the rural village of Kofering, Germany, where my beloved paternal grandmother was born. (Click here to read the May 10 blog entry about the February 20, 2010, trip). My visit to Kofering this year was only the fourth visit by a Kyle family member in 64 years.

It was at New York City's Ellis Island Immigration Station that Marie Gangl Kyle (1905-1992) first arrived via boat as an American immigrant in 1922 (age 17). Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the site of the nation's busiest immigration station from 1892 to 1954. In the mid-90s, I had my grandmother's name engraved on Ellis Island's American Immigrant Wall of Honor (panel 240). Next to Ellis Island is Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty sits.

Though not my first visit to NYC, this month's 7-day visit comes during my 5-week break from Israel, June 9 to July 20. The break includes visits to my home of Port Angeles, Wash.; friends in NYC; family in Granby and New Hartford, Conn.; and friends in Burlington, Huntsville and Listowel, Ontario, Canada. I am the best man in my friend's July 17 wedding in Burlington, thus the main reason for the North American trip. On July 21 I return to Israel to begin my second and final year of volunteer work and ministry there. (Click here to read the February 11, 2010, summary of my happenings in Israel so far.)

While in NYC, and in addition to trips to the boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan, I had sweet and renewed fellowship with "Brother" Rizzo (Robert F. Rizzo), Pastor Vincent Williams and the kind people at Parkway Baptist Church (est. 1989) in the NYC borough of Queens (town of Rosedale). The church consists primarily of Caribbean/West Indies immigrants (Jamaica, Trinidad, etc.) and some African immigrants. On Sunday morning (June 27) I delivered a sermon entitled "Pro-Christ and Pro-Eternity, not Pro-Israel or Pro-Palestinian."

Kofering, Germany . . . Marie Gangl Kyle (1905-1992) . . . beloved grandmother + German Catholic turned American Protestant . . . pray for Bavaria

2010-05-10T08:26:00.002-07:00

For 6 hours on February 20, 2010, I visited the rural and adjacent villages of Kofering and Scheuer in Bavaria in southeast Germany. It was a very precious and memorable visit.

With a population of about 2,400 and located 8.5 miles south of the historic city of Regensburg (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), it was in Kofering that my beloved maternal grandmother was born on January 25, 1905.

BIOGRAPHY & PRECIOUS MEMORIES

At the age of 17 in November 1922, Marie Gangl left Kofering and sailed, via Hamburg, Germany, to the United States of America. She landed on New York City's Ellis Island near Liberty Island's Statue of Liberty. Evidently, there was a wealthy family that was friends with the Gangls who helped secure the hard-to-obtain immigration papers for Marie. Marie was the only family member among her seven siblings (3 brothers, 4 sisters) to leave Germany after World War I (1914-18). As a teenager, it appears that adventure and seeking a better life were the main motives behind Marie's decision.
--> NOTE: In the mid-1990s, I purchased an engraving with my grandmother's name on it during a centennial anniversary fundraising project to restore Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. The engraved name is located on Ellis Island's American Immigrant Wall of Honor, panel 240.

After marrying Irvin Frielinghausen Kyle (died 1967) in Wichita, Kansas, on September 8, 1926, Marie gave birth to my father, Irvin Francis Kyle Jr. (1927-2006), and my aunt, Lenore Anita Kyle (later Lenore Anita Thomas, 1928-2009).

After living in Germany (Kofering), Kansas (Wichita), Nebraska (Omaha), Oregon (Hood River), Illinois (Alton) and Ohio (Toledo), Marie Gangl Kyle died of Alzheimer's Disease (a form of dementia) on March 21, 1992 in West Hartford, Connecticut. Sadly, her dementia began soon after she was violently assaulted/mugged in the mid-1980s in Toledo, Ohio. At the time, she was on her way to get breakfast for me and a sibling while my family was visiting her on a summer vacation. (Just a year prior or later--I cannot remember--a teenage female cousin of mine was killed by a drunk driver on September 16, 1982. This also took place in Toledo.)

Marie Gangl Kyle is buried next to her husband at Hillcrest-West Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Omaha, Nebraska. A "Together Forever" emblem, Bible emblem below Marie's name and a Masonic Lodge emblem below her husband's name are engraved on their gravestone.

Except for Kansas and Illinois, I have now visited and seen all the homes where Grandma Kyle lived. My time with her in Ohio during my foundational infant years of 2-to-5-years-old (1973-76) are my most precious memories of her, followed by the family vacations we took to see her in Toledo and her trips to see our family in Connecticut at Christmas (1976-85). It was when I left Grandma Kyle and moved to Connecticut with my family in 1976 that my life took a downward turn--click here to read the story on the Uncommon Christian Ministries' website.

TRIP DETAILS

My visit in 2010 was only the fourth visit to Kofering by a Kyle family member in 64 years. In 1946, my father visited Kofering while on a weekend leave from the U.S. Army (see above Army photo). In the early 1950's, Marie returned to her native village for the first and only time since immigrating to the U.S. And in October 1997, my father, mother and a sister visited.

The trip to Kofering was extra special and timely in that

+ my father and his sister (my aunt) died recently (August 2006, November 2009);

+ two of my grandmother's nephews are still alive--Walter Brombierstaudl and Paul Gangl, both in their 70s--and remembered many things about my grandmother and my father's two visits which were separated by 51 years;

+ many buildings that existed during my grandmother's brief 17 years in Kofering (1905-22) still exist, including the town's Roman Catholic Church (St. Michael's Parish, see above photo), inn (now a restaurant/bar owned by Regensburg's Brauerei Kneitinger), railroad station building, castle (schloss) where Marie and some family members worked (see above photo), and the Gangl family home which is still owned by the family (see above photo);

+ the Roman Catholic Church in the nearby village of Scheuer (one mile from Kofering) also stands today (the name of Faver Gangl is engraved on a memorial outside the church that is dedicated to those from the area that died during W.W. II); and

+ I had a German-to-English translator in my native German friend Friederike who I met here in Israel--I will forever be grateful to her.

REFLECTION

Uncommon Christian Grandmother? . . . German Catholic turned American "Born Again" Protestant . . . pray for Bavaria

I am so grateful to the Lord that He took my grandmother out of Kofering, Germany and sent her to America at age 17 (1922). For it was in America that she heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ and apparently and hopefully "fled the wrath to come" and was "born again." I explain . . . .

Though impossible to know for sure, it appears Grandma Kyle was a Christian--that is, was born again, was a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ--and thereby had her sins forgiven and has been granted eternal life by God the Father. I hope I will see her in heaven but it is only a hope, I realize.

Grandma Kyle did not speak to me about the Gospel during my 21 years with her (1971-92). However, with only a third-to-fourth grade education, and with a son (my father) and daughter-in-law (my mother) who were raising their six children in the Roman Catholic Church, her silence on spiritual and eternal matters to me and her seven other grandchildren is somewhat understandable. Plus, during the last of these 21 years with her she was unable to remember things and speak clearly due to her dementia.

What is known and what I do remember from my childhood is that Grandma Kyle read her Bible regularly, was a woman of prayer (including before meals), attended church every Sunday (including the evangelical Washington Congregational United Church of Christ in Toledo, Ohio, under one of her beloved pastors, Donald W. Fothergill, a Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary graduate), attended periodic "revival" meetings, never took the Eucharist when attending a Catholic Mass with my family, and had evidence in her speech and actions of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, namely, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22).

From what I have pieced together over the years is that my grandmother may have become a Christian in the 1940s (age 45ish) during a series of revival meetings by evangelist-pastor-radio preacher Dr. R. R. Brown (1885-1964) at the Omaha Gospel Tabernacle (Christian & Missionary Alliance [C&MA] denomination). Founded in 1921, "The Tab" is now called Christ Community Church.

It appears that her daughter Lenore got saved first and then brought her mother (my grandmother) to the revival meetings. Lenore would later go on to St. Paul Bible College (Minnesota) and marry Meredith Thomas, a Baptist minister and Air Force chaplain. My father told me he attended the meetings only once and hated it. He never went back and would later convert to Roman Catholicism in Lourdes, France (of apparitions of the Virgin Mary fame) while a 19-year-old soldier in Germany at the end of W.W. II.

As I learned first-hand in February, the villages of Kofering and Scheuer, nearby Regensburg and all of Bavaria are steeped in Vatican-style Roman Catholicism. Sadly, the Martin Luther-led Protestant Reformation did not penetrate as much into Bavaria as it did in other parts of Europe. Even today, only Saarland has a higher percentage of Catholics among the German states. While 56.4% of the population adhere to the Catholic Church, 21% are affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. The current pope, Benedict XVI (Joseph Alois Ratzinger), was born in Upper Bavaria. Religion remains important to many in the region, as expressed by the typical Bavarian, Austrian and Swabian greeting: "Grüss Gott!" (Greet God!, originally es grüsse Dich Gott--"God may bless you").
--> NOTE: In the U.S., particularly among German Americans, Bavarian culture is viewed somewhat nostalgically, and many "Bavarian villages," most notably Frankenmuth, Michigan and Leavenworth, Washington (east of Seattle), have been founded.

An interesting observation and question was made my grandmother's nephew Walter while we were having dinner in Kofering. A Catholic himself along with his wife Trudy, he asked why my grandmother converted to Protestantism after she left Germany. To add to his observation, I commented that her son (my father) converted at age 19 from nominal Protestantism to Catholicism, attended a Catholic university (Creighton University [Jesuit] in Omaha) and that he even studied for the Catholic (Benedictine) priesthood. And that I converted (was born again) at age 21 from nominal Catholicism to Evangelical Protestantism and graduated from three Baptist schools.

Please join me in praying for more Gospel-centered Evangelical Protestant workers to go to Kofering (and Scheuer), Regensburg and other parts of Bavaria where spiritually lost people are blinded by the deceitfulness and darkness that is Roman Catholicism. "The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few" (Matthew 9:37; Luke 10:2).

Strength in weakness through Christ . . . appearing strong vs. being weak

2010-04-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

"So many things about you annoy me. . . .You appear to be strong but you really aren't. You are weak. I need a strong man."

Such were the words spoken to me recently by a, sadly, now ex-real time and ex-Facebook friend here in Jerusalem.

I will spare the reader of the other comments made about my alledged pride, self-pity, brainwashing ability, talkativeness and other non-glorifying-to-God behavior and character.

May the words spoken produce a spiritually poor and broken spirit in me.

"But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite/broken spirit, and who trembles at My word" (Isaiah 66:2).

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3).

Upon reflection--and with my Bible-based masculinity intact--I praise the Lord for such a comment, one that I hope is and will always be true as I continue on my Christian pilgrimage of faith.

Yes, I privately and publicly confess that I am a very, very weak and desperate man in need of and dependent upon God's grace moment-by-moment and for everything, be it the constant fight against sin and temptation, wisdom in decision-making and relationships, desire to pursue and love God and not the lies of this materialistic and sin-loving world, courage to face reality and obstacles, guidance in writing a book or preparing a sermon, and even the motivation to get out of bed each morning.

It has been a glorious and adventurous 17.5 years since I began being a weak man and finding my strength in Someone much more stronger and powerful than me, namely, the God-Man and Jewish Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I can do everything through [Christ] who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:19

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
Ephesians 6:10

[The] joy of the Lord is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:10

Here are some verses from the New Testament (NIV) on weakness for my fellow striving uncommon Christians:

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.
Matthew 26:41 (Mark 14:38)

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
Romans 8:26

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
1 Corinthians 1:26-29

I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. . . . We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! . . . . To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
1 Corinthians 2:3, 4:10, 9:22 (Apostle Paul)

If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. . . . I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. . . . Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take [the thorn in my flesh] away from me. But [Christ] said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 11:30, 12:5, 12:8-10 (Apostle Paul)

[Christ] is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will live with him to serve you. . . . We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is for your perfection.
2 Corinthians 13:3b-4, 13:9

For we do not have a high priest [the Lord Jesus Christ] who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
Hebrews 4:15

[Those who walked by faith] whose weakness was turned to strength.
Hebrews 11:34

Celebrating the Gospel this Easter . . . Gospel defined . . . James Brainerd Taylor, Gospel-centered uncommon Christian

2010-04-01T00:23:00.000-07:00

From Jerusalem, Israel, Uncommon Christian Ministries wishes you a blessed Easter/Resurrection Sunday.

For the sake of those who are still spiritually "dead in [their] transgressions and sins" and are thus "by nature objects of [God's] wrath" (Ephesians 2:1-3), please join me in praying that the Gospel be preached in churches and street corners throughout the world as God's people celebrate the life, death/crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-8). May many people repent of their sins and place their faith in Christ this Easter season and thereby advance God's global and eternal kingdom.

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written [Habakkuk 2:4]: "The righteous will live by faith."
Romans 1:16-17

Relatedly, I am excited to learn of and wholeheartedly recommend two American Evangelical Christian entities that the Lord has raised up recently to unashamedly defend and proclaim the Gospel.

Led by D.A. Carson and Tim Keller, The Gospel Coalition (est. 2005) exists to equip "the next generation for Gospel-faithful ministry and promote church reform and culture transformation." The Coalition does this by

+ providing Gospel-centered online resources;

+ posting blog entries by various theologians and pastors;

+ hosting national and regional conferences (the next national conference is April 12-14, 2011 in Chicago);

+ publishing Themelios: An International [Online] Journal for Pastors and Students of Theological and Religious Studies; and

+ helping like-minded, Gospel-centered Christian individuals and churches encourage each other--both in-person and online--via the The Gospel Coalition Network.

For the Foundational Documents of The Gospel Coalition--The Gospel for All of Life, Confessional Statement and Vision for Ministry--and a list of its members, click here.

The other Gospel-centered entity is Together for the Gospel (est. 2006). Led by friends Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, C. J. Mahaney and Albert Mohler, T4G hosts a conference every two years to encourage Christians, and especially pastors and church leaders, to stand "together for the Gospel." The next conference is this month (April 13-15, 2010) in Louisville, Kentucky.

T4G is "convinced that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been misrepresented, misunderstood, and marginalized in many churches and among those who proclaim the name of Christ. Compromise of the Gospel has led to the preaching of false gospels, the seduction of many minds and movements, and the weakening of the church’s Gospel witness. The goal of [T4G's] friendships, conferences, [blog] and networks is therefore to reaffirm this central doctrine of the Christian faith and to encourage local churches to do the same." T4G provides a nice summary of the Gospel when they state,

The Gospel is the joyous declaration that God is redeeming the world through Christ (Matt 1:21; Luke 1:68; Eph 1:7; Col 1:20), and that he calls everyone everywhere to repent from sin and trust Jesus Christ for salvation (Mark 1:15; Acts 2:38, 17:30).

Each of us has sinned against God (Rom 3:23), breaking his law and rebelling against his rule, and the penalty for our sin is death and hell (Rom 6:23). But because he loves us, God sent his Son Jesus (John 3:16; Eph 2:4; 1 John 4:10) to live for his people’s sake the perfect, obedient life God requires (Rom 8:4; 1 Cor 1:30; Heb 4:15) and to die in their place for their sin (Isa 53:5; Matt 20:28, 26:28; Mark 10:45, 14:24; Luke 22:20; John 11:50-51; Rom 3:24-25, 4:25; 1 Cor 15:3; 2 Cor 5:21; Eph 5:2; Heb 10:14; 1 Pet 3:18). On the third day, He rose bodily from the grave (Matt 28:6) and now reigns in heaven (Luke 22:69, 24:51; Heb 8:1), offering forgiveness (Eph 1:7), righteousness (Rom 5:19), resurrection (Rom 8:11), and eternal blessedness in God’s presence (Rev 22:4) to everyone who repents of sin and trusts solely in Him for salvation.

For the Affirmations and Denials document of T4G (in both English and German), click here.

James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829), Gospel-centered uncommon Christian

Interestingly--and unlike Christmas, Independence Day (4th of July) and New Year's--the uncommon Christian and American evangelist James Brainerd Taylor never mentions Good Friday or Easter in his (extant) letters and journal entries. Nonetheless, we know that Taylor loved to preach "the truth of the Gospel" (Galatians 2:5, 2:14) by which repentant and Christ-believing sinners "are saved" (1 Corinthians 15:2).

+ I have longed to live and preach the Gospel. (Letter from Princeton University. February 13, 1825.)
+ That I have a call of God, besides, to preach the Gospel, I have no more doubt than of my existence. . . . It did not become mine but through strong cries, and many tears and wrestlings, when I was in college. . . . It is a blessing of great worth to any one who attempts to preach the Gospel to feel that he has a commission from God. I now feel as I have felt: "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel" (1 Corinthians 9:16). (Letter from Trumbull, Connecticut. May 3, 1827.)
+ Never, perhaps, did any one more intensely desire to preach the Gospel than did James B. Taylor. (Memoir compilers John Holt Rice and Benjamin Holt Rice.)
+ A preacher of the Gospel. (Inscribed on Taylor's gravestone, located in the Hampden-Sydney College Church cemetery, Prince Edward County, Virginia.)

Excerpts (pages 273, 364 and 112, respectively) are from the Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor, Second Edition (American Tract Society, 1833). Available online via Google Books--click here.

Christ at the Checkpoint . . . conference in Bethlehem, Palestine (West Bank) . . . thoughts and reflections, eternity and social justice

2010-03-18T13:41:00.000-07:00

From March 12-17, 2010, Bethlehem Bible College (est. 1979) in Palestine/West Bank sponsored its inaugural conference devoted to theology and social justice.

I was able to attend the last 3 days of the conference. (The follow-up/second conference is scheduled for March 5-9, 2012.)

With its title being "Christ at the Checkpoint: Theology in the Service of Peace and Justice" (also "Theology of the Land"), the international conference sought "to equip the global church to understand Scripture as it relates to the Palestinian context, and to discuss the theological importance of peace and justice in an evangelical context."

Held at Bethlehem's Intercontinental Hotel (Jacir Palace), BBC's hope was "to provide a forum for evangelicals who take the Bible seriously to prayerfully seek a well-informed awareness of issues of peace, justice and reconciliation which are contextually sensitive as well profound to scriptural scholarship."

Over 15 speakers from the U.K., U.S. and Palestine/West Bank delivered lectures to the over 400 in attendance.

While most all of the speakers were from the political, social and theological left (liberal/progressive), the conference did invite two well-known conservative evangelical scholars (both whom I highly respect) to give opposing views, and especially concerning the role of ethnic and national Israel in regard to the "Promised Land"/"Holy Land" and the end times (eschatology).
--> For the full list of speakers, click here. For the lectures (downloadable in PDF format) and conference schedule, click here and here.

Though he was not able to be present in-person but only via a taped video, Systematic Theology scholar John S. Fienberg of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Illinios) gave a lecture entitled, "Must Dispensationalists Support the State of Israel--No Matter What?" And New Testament scholar Darrell Bock of Dallas Theological Seminary (Texas) spoke on "The Land in Light of the Reconciliation in Christ: A Dispensational View."

Other aspects of the unique conference featured such things as the following:

+ cultural night consisting of a traditional Palestinian dinner and a Palestinian youth and young adult dance by Diyar Dance Theater group at Dar Annadwa (International Center of Bethlehem), adjacent to the Evangelical Christmas Lutheran Church; the dance depicted the struggle between Palestinians and Israelis;

+ newly released film "With God on Our Side" by director Porter Speakman Jr. which takes a look at the theology of Christian Zionism and its emphasis on the divine right of the Jewish people concerning the land of Israel (title inspired by Joshua 5:13-14a); the film seeks to demonstrate "that there is a biblical alternative for [liberal/progressive] Christians who want to love and support the people of Israel, a theology that doesn't favor one people group over another but instead promotes peace and reconciliation for both Jews and Palestinians;"
--> UPDATE: For a review, see Gerald McDermott's Jan. 18, 2011, review on the Christianity Today Entertainment Blog, "A one-sided attack on Zionism: The many problems with the documentary 'With God on Our Side'"

+ visit to the Jewish settlement of Efrat (est. 1983) in the West Bank which included a Question and Answer session with three of the settlers;

Aida Refuge Camp, West Bank

+ trip to and video about the United Nations-sponsored Aida Refugee Camp (est. 1950) adjacent to Bethlehem (see above photo of Aida's key-shaped entrance, based upon the Palestinian Right of Return as stated in U.N. Resolution 194 from 1948); the camp's adjacent Israeli-West Bank security barrier/wall stands in stark contrast to the now no longer Berlin Wall (1961-89) in Germany that I visited last month;

+ surprise visit and talk by Salam Fayyad, the Prime Minister of the Palestine National Authority (click here to read about the visit); and

+ written draft of the Bethlehem Evangelical Affirmation.

According to a World Vision press release after the conference (click here),

The population of Palestinian Christians in the occupied Palestinian territories currently stands at about 51,710 or approximately 1.37 percent of the Palestinian population. Numbers have been declining for the past century, especially since the early 1990s because of lack of freedom and security for Palestinian Christian families, as well as political instability in the region.

Thoughts & Reflections

While the conference did provide increased insight, understanding and compassion towards the plight of the oppressed and minority-within-the-minority-within-the-minority Palestinian Evangelical Protestant Christians--minority compared to Israeli Jews and West Bank Muslims and West Bank Roman Catholics and Mainline Protestants--I pray the believers in Bethlehem and the entire West Bank will not lose sight of the spiritual and eternal welfare of the lost/unsaved people around them as they fight for their political rights and social justice.

"Christ is the Checkpoint" (not "at the Checkpoint") would also have been an appropriate title for such a conference, for one day all, including Jews and Arabs,

must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
2 Corinithians 5:10

May Evangelical Christians--and especially all aspiring "uncommon Christians"--throughout the globe have a proper balance and avoid extremes when it comes to being concerned about peoples' eternal and temporal welfare. May we be pro-Christ rather than pro-Israel or pro-Palestine or pro-whatever.

While I do what I can by God's grace and within my sphere of influence regarding my three main social justice concerns--namely, racial equality, religious freedom for all and peace in the Middle East--I want my social activism to be based upon the theological truth that all are made in God's image (Genesis 1:26-27) and thus deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. At the same time, I do not want to lose sight that each one of us will, upon death, either go to a sinless and Christ-exalting heaven or a miserable and Christless hell.

Therefore, we need to intentionally and lovingly tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ with our lips (verbally) along with our actions/good deeds.

Whoever believes in the Son [the Lord Jesus Christ] has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.
John 3:36

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Matthew 28:16-20 (The Great Commission)

Israel update, May 2009 - February 2010 . . . uncommon Christian sabbatical + pilgrimage + ministry

2010-02-11T07:12:00.001-08:00

Shalom from Uncommon Christian Ministries in Jerusalem, Israel!

It has been an amazing 9 months so far, with 5–16 months to go of my sabbatical, spiritual pilgrimage and ministry trip. This is my second trip to Israel, with the first being for 10 days in December 2005/January 2006. Below is a summary of the happenings so far. (Click here to view my June 23, 2009 blog entry on my initial update from Israel.)

Sabbatical. It has been very relaxing to not have any deadlines to meet or a regular schedule to keep. It has been an exciting but sometimes hectic 18 years since my conversion to Christ (1992), with a rest now needed during this major transitional time of life. I am currently seeking the Lord for direction for my near and distant future (Proverbs 3:5-6). Though a self-imposed and self-funded sabbatical, and in exchange for free room and board, I am working 40 hours per week as a volunteer receptionist at Christ Church Guest House in Jerusalem’s Old City. With only 23 guest rooms, my job is relatively easy compared to other jobs I have had in the tourism industry. From 1991–2001, I worked seasonally in the hotel-restaurant industry in 3 U.S. national parks (Glacier in Montana, Big Bend in Texas and Olympic in Washington State). Plus, the job is fun as I interact with guests from within Israel and around the world. The guest house is adjacent to Christ Church (built 1849), the oldest Protestant church (Anglican) in the Middle East.

Pilgrimage. I have visited most all major Jewish (Old Testament) and Christian (New Testament) sites in Israel, and some sites in the West Bank/Palestine. Some Muslim sites have also been visited. For 5 months, I had the unexpected luxury of an inexpensive use of a car (1992 Daihatsu Charade). With Israel being only the size of New Jersey, it does not take long to travel the entire country. Israel is a beautiful and geologically diverse country, with the Negev Desert, Galilee and Golan Heights rural areas being my favorite.
--> NOTE: For the original inspiration to make pilgrimage to The Holy Land, click here to read my August 29, 2009 blog entry about my reading of Halley's Bible Handbook in 1989 or 1990.
--> NOTE: Christianity Today magazine's April 2009 issue included a cover story on Christian pilgrimage. Two of the articles were "He Talked to Us on the Road: The surprising rewards of Christian travel" (for the online version, click here) and "Pilgrim's Regress: Classic places where Christians have gone for centuries" (click here).

Ministry. My home church is a Reformed Baptist church just outside the walls of the Old City. When time allows, I assist the British-Israeli pastor with substitute Bible study teaching, outreaches to the refugees in Tel Aviv and students at Hebrew University, and with baptism classes. In January, the pastor and I baptized a Hebrew University student who was on a study abroad semester with Massachusetts’ Smith College. In May and October, I attended a university student conference for believers. Also, I have visited many Jewish- and Arab-background congregations throughout the land (Beersheba, Eilat, Haifa, Jerusalem, Kiryat Gat, Nazareth Illit, Tel Aviv). Moreover, twice a month I attend a young adult Bible study, and every month I attend a Jerusalem-based Men In Ministry gathering.

Other highlights. Since arriving in May 2009, some other highlights have included the following:
+ three weeks volunteering with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)-related Sar-El (called Volunteers For Israel in the U.S.);
+ in partnership with the Jewish National Fund, planting trees in a forest in the Judean Mountains near Jerusalem and the John F. Kennedy Memorial--click here to read my November 23, 2009 blog entry;
+ participating in the Temple Mount Sifting Project (archaeology)--click here to read my December 19, 2009 blog entry;
+ attending professional Israeli/Euroleague basketball games (Hapoel Jerusalem team);
+ attending various concerts, festivals and lectures;
+ participating in the 7th annual International Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem--click here to read my October 1, 2009 blog entry;
+ experiencing some of the major Jewish feasts and holidays, including Hanukkah (Festival of Lights), Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year), Shavuot (Pentecost), Succott (Feast of Tabernacles), Tisha B'av (Ninth of Av), Tu B'Shvat (New Year for the trees), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), and the weekly Shabbat from Friday sun down to Saturday sun down;
+ experiencing some of the major Muslim feasts and holidays, including Ramadan;
+ experiencing the major Christian celebrations of the liturgical Eastern and Western churches, including Pentecost, and Advent and Christmas;
+ visiting art, holocaust and Israeli cultural, military and political history museums (Israel has more museums per capita than any other country);
+ hiking in Israel’s beautiful national parks and nature reserves (purchased a one-year membership), 7 of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites and include the ancient Nabatean Incense and Spice Route;
+ viewing some of the movies offered during the 11th annual Jewish Film Festival (took place during the week of Hanukkah);
+ touring the Knesett, home of the Israeli parliament;
+ riding in the boat Faith with the Sea of Galilee Worship Boats;
+ attending a Paul Wilbur outdoor concert in Ein Gedi along the Dead Sea, part of the 30th annual Feast of Tabernacles (Succot) celebration sponsored by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem--click here to read my October 1, 2009 blog entry;
+ making several trips to the West Bank/Palestine, including to Bethlehem Bible College and Mount Gerizim near Nablus;
+ enjoying the festivities of the 100th anniversary of the city of Tel Aviv and Israel's oldest kibbutz, Degania Alef;
+ and swimming in the Red Sea in Eilat, Israel's southernmost city and popular resort town on the border of Egypt and Jordan.

Germany. I am set to make my first-ever visit to Germany and continental Europe this month. Some Martin Luther (1483-1546) sites and meeting some distant relatives near Regensburg are on the itinerary. My beloved paternal grandmother was born in Kofering in 1905. When 17-years-old in 1922, Marie Gangl immigrated to the U.S. via Hamburg and New York City's Ellis Island. She died in 1992 in Connecticut.

Bible reading plan "for the love of God" . . . uncommon Christianity in action

2010-01-24T06:35:00.001-08:00

For those without a regular Bible reading plan--or who want a change from their regular Bible reading habit--I highly recommend D.A. Carson's two-volume For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God's Word. While here in Israel (May 2009- ), I just completed volume one as I meditatively and prayerfully work my way through the Bible for the 16th time as a Christian (1992- ).

Carson's devotional work follows the Bible reading plan of the 19th-century Scottish minister Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1813-1843). If M'Cheyne's plan of reading four chapters per day is followed, then the reader will have read through the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice in a one-year period. (Click here to read the four-chapters-per-day plan.)

According to M'Cheyne, the individual and corporate advantages of reading the Bible according to his plan are:

(1) The whole Bible will be read through in an orderly manner in the course of a year.
(2) Time will not be wasted in choosing what portions to read.
(3) The pastor will know in which part of the pasture (Bible) the flock are feeding.
(4) The sweet bond of Christian love and unity will be strengthened in a congregation.

Unlike most Christian devotional works, and among other benefits, For the Love of God helps the reader understand the big picture of the Bible's storyline (redemptive/salvation history). Of volume one, the publisher (Crossway, 1998) summarizes the book as follows:

In a world that views absolute truth, right and wrong, and salvation as being subject to individual interpretation, the Bible’s unwavering proclamations and miraculous stories seem obsolete in modern times. But it is not God’s Word that has changed. Indeed, its relevancy and its power to transform lives are intact. What has changed is the number of people who consult it. Now more than ever the need to read the Bible, to understand the big picture of its storyline, and to grasp the relevance this has for your life is critical.

As with its companion volume, "For the Love of God, Volume Two," this devotional contains a systematic 365-day plan, based on the M’Cheyne Bible-reading schedule, that will in the course of a year guide you through the New Testament and Psalms twice and the rest of the Old Testament once.

In an effort to help preserve biblical thinking and living, D. A. Carson has also written thought-provoking comments and reflections regarding each day’s scriptural passages. And, most uniquely, he offers you perspective that places each reading into the larger framework of history and God’s eternal plan to deepen your understanding of his sovereignty—and the unity and power of his Word.

Indeed, "Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 8:3b; Matthew 4:4).

I pray the Lord raise up more "Bible Christians," one of the five traits or characteristics of James Brainerd Taylor's (1801-1829)--really the the Lord Jesus's and the Apostles's--uncommon Christianity. M'Cheyne's Bible reading plan and Carson's companion devotional can help much in this regard.

Click here (volume one) and here (volume two) to view excerpts from or to purchase For the Love of God.

Or, for a free online version of each day's Bible readings (four chapters) plus Carson's devotional commentary, click here (For the Love of God blog/digital version).

Happy New Year 2010 from Jerusalem . . . 1825 New Year's Day with James Brainerd Taylor . . . "That [God] is on the throne is enough for me"

2009-12-31T06:46:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year 2010 from Uncommon Christian Ministries in Jerusalem, the Eternal City and Capital of Israel.

It has been a divinely blessed and amazing 7.5 months (arrived May 8, 2009) of living, volunteering, ministering, site-seeing and worshiping in various Jewish/Israeli and Arab/Palestinian churches in Jerusalem and throughout The Holy Land. Alas, I will soon provide a summary of my many activities; the list is long and thus the reason for the delay. See past blog entries to read about some of my activities so far. Another 6-19 months remain of my time here.

Above is a picture of my volunteer workplace (reception/front desk) at Christ Church Guest House, located just inside Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem's Old City. The adjacent Christ Church (Anglican, built 1849) is the oldest Protestant Church in the Middle East. I attended the Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve services at Christ Church.

Below is an 1825 New Year's Day journal/diary entry of the "uncommon Christian" James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829, cousin of the famed American missionary to the Native Americans, David Brainerd [1718-1747]). At the time, Taylor was a second-year student at Princeton University. It was Taylor's habit to recognize the beginning of a new year by writing in his journal/diary and writing a letter to his family. Of the January 1, 1825 entry, the compilers of the Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor wrote,

As Mr. Taylor closed the former year, so, with the spirit of genuine piety, he began the new year with God. Perhaps no man more strictly complied with the injunction, "In all thy ways acknowledge him;" and none seemed more confidently to expect the fulfillment of the promise, "He shall direct thy paths" [Proverbs 3:5-6]. The commencement of his diary for this year is an interesting and instructive exhibition of his obedience and faith in this respect.

May the entry prove encouraging as we say goodbye to 2009 and hello to 2010. Like J. B. Taylor, may we--by God's grace--desire and strive to be uncommon Christians, namely, and according to Taylor, eminently holy, self-denying, cross-bearing, Bible, everyday Christians.

January 1, 1825
Princeton University
New Jersey, USA

That another year has rolled away is to me no matter of regret. In time, and beyond time, it will be remembered as a season of distinguishing mercy. Thanks to the good Shepherd [the Lord Jesus Christ, John 10:11; etc.] for "the green pastures" [Psalm 23:2] of the past year; to my heavenly Father, for his smiles; my Comforter [the Holy Spirit], for his presence.

What will occur this year is hid from mortal man. But O, it is in the mind of the omniscient [all-knowing] God. And this God is my God [John 20:28], to whom I am willing to refer all, both for myself and others. That he is on the throne is enough for me [Hebrews 12:2; Rev. 4:2; etc.]. And his glory he will not give to another [Isaiah 42:8, 48:11].

Direct me, O Lord, in the right way. Lead me in a plain path all paved with love—the path that leadeth upward, and reacheth the land of rest—the way of holiness—the King's highway [Isaiah 35:8; etc.].

I believe there are richer blessings in store for me; if not on earth, in heaven. And the Lord's will being done, it is not a matter of much concern to me whether on earth or in heaven. But should my life be spared this year also, may my soul sink—and sink— and sink into God, day by day. Then I shall grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus [2 Peter 3:18]—deny myself, take up my cross, and follow Christ [Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34]—live to God [Galatians 2:19]—be a light in the world [Matthew 5:14]—salt of the earth [Matthew 5:13]—wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove [Matthew 10:16]—spiritual, and not carnal [1 Corinthians 3:1].

O that the lives of my relatives who are not yet for God, might be spared, to repent this year, and come to Christ; that my friends, who love the Lord, may honor him more, by bringing forth much fruit [John 15:16]. May this year be a favored season for Zion.

Lord, increase piety in the watchmen. Make the under-shepherds careful of the flock. May the flock be purified. Let souls be joined to the Lord in thousands. Prepare candidates for the holy ministry for their office. Make all that come after more holy and self-denying than those who have gone before.

Prepare me eminently to win souls to Christ [Proverbs 11:30], and build up the church [Ephesians 4:12]. This is all I ask in this world in regard to my relation to sinners. For thee would I labor; for thee, O Christ, would I die, rather than be a hinderance to thy cause. But here I am; do with me as seemeth good in thy sight. Thy will be done.

Taken from:
John Holt Rice and Benjamin Holt Rice, Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor, Second Edition (New York: American Tract Society, 1833), 258-60.

Memoir viewable online and at no cost via Google Books. Click here to read. Also, click here to read the memoir's sequel/companion volume A New Tribute to the Memory of James Brainerd Taylor (1838) by Fitch W. Taylor.

Archaeological sifting project . . . Temple Mount in Jerusalem

2009-12-19T05:31:00.001-08:00

"You will arise and have mercy on Zion;
for the time to favor her, yes, the set time, has come.
For Your servants take pleasure in her stones and show favor to her dust."

Psalm 102:13-14 (NKJV)

On December 8, 2009, I volunteered for the unique and historically significant Temple Mount Sifting Project (or Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation).

Located in Tzurim Valley National Park near the Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, the project consisted of sifting through part of the 300 truckloads (600 tons) of topsoil that was illegally removed (1996-99) from the southeast corner ("Solomon's Stables") of the Muslim-occupied Temple Mount in Jerusalem's historic Old City.

Bones, glass shards, metals, mosaic stones, pottery and worked stones were the six main items that project participants were looking for. (See the picture above for some of my and my German friend's discoveries.) Unfortunately but understandably, rarer fines such as coins, seals and jewelry were not found by us.

The discoveries found that day "are unique because they are part of the first archaeological project that has ever examined artifacts from the Temple Mount. Therefore, every find is very important and exceptional. Even the smallest piece of pottery that [is found] can be dated to a certain period of history which, when processed statistically, will help [the expert archaeologists and historians] understand the amount and types of activities that took place on the Temple Mount throughout history."

According to the project organizers, and thanks to past volunteers numbering over 40,000, "Among the clods of earth some very exciting findings have been discovered, including a bulla on which there is the impression of the seal of a kohen (priest) from First Temple times (Solomon's Temple) [960 - 586 B.C.], fragments of stones decorated with magnificent frames from the Second Temple (Herod's Temple) Period [516 B.C. - 70 A.D.], arrowheads from various periods, hundreds of coins including 'Herut Tzion' (Free Zion) coins from the days of the Great Revolt against the Romans and much more."

Biblical archaeologists Drs. Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Zweig, Ir David (City of David) Foundation, Israel Nature and National Parks Authority and private donors note that the "project is not a task for a small clique of archaeologists, but rather a responsibility, duty and privilege of the entire Jewish people and those who support them [including many Christian archaeological students and tourists]. Therefore, this undertaking cannot be a brief operation over within a few months, but a meaningful and sustained project lasting many years." Since the major project began in 2004, only 1/3 of the illegally removed Temple Mount topsoil has been sifted.

For more information and/or to volunteer for the Temple Mount Sifting Project (or Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation) while visiting or living in Jerusalem, click here (Wikipedia) and here (blog) and here and here (City of David National Park web site). Included on the TMSP's blog is the history of the project, recent updates, related articles and selected media reports.

NOTE: The Winter 2009 issue (Vol. 22, No. 1) of Bible and Spade is devoted to the TMSP. Click here or here for the PDF version of the issue. Bible and Spade is a non-technical quarterly publication of the Associates for Biblical Research (ABR).

Planting terebinth trees in Israel . . . Jewish National Fund + Karen Kayemeth LeIsrael (JNF-KKL) . . . Stephanie B (Freedman) Mizrahi, Marblehead, Mass. + Jerusalem

2009-11-23T04:20:00.000-08:00

"And when you shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food . . . ." Leviticus 19:23

On November 9, 2009, three trees were planted in the 7,000-dunam Aminadav Forest in the Judean Hills near Jerusalem. (One dunam is equivalent to 1/4 of an acre or 1/10 of a hectare.) The trees were terebinth trees (pistacia palaestina), a member of the pistacia family.

The terebinth is mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures (or Old Testament), where the Hebrew word "elah" (plural "elim") is used, although the word is sometimes translated as "oak." The most well-known clear reference to a terebinth (elah) in the Hebrew Scriptures is that of the Valley of Elah or "Valley of the Terebinth" (עמק האלה), where David fought Goliath (1 Samuel 17:2, 19). (I visited the Valley of Elah last month.)

Being an American citizen, the newly planted trees are fittingly near the Kennedy Memorial (Yad Kennedy, built 1966). The monument depicts a felled tree trunk symbolizing the 41-year-old U.S. President John F. Kennedy whose life was prematurely cut off (November 22, 1963). The surrounding Aminadav Forest--formed with the help of German Jewry--is "the largest and most impressive open, green space available to Jerusalem residents."

It was nice to see the 3-fold ethnic partnership take place in the planting of the trees. The trees were purchased from a Jewish Israeli JNF-KKL worker (Eli) and planted by an American (me) with the help of an Arab Israeli JNF-KKL worker (see photo above).

The planting of the trees was through the Jewish National Fund (JNF)/Karen Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL). Over the past 108 years, JNF-KKL has "evolved into a global environmental leader by planting 240 million trees, building over 200 reservoirs and dams, developing over 250,000 acres of land, creating more than 1,000 parks, providing the infrastructure for over 1,000 communities, bringing life to the Negev Desert and educating students around the world about Israel and the environment."

If visiting Israel and want to plant a tree with your own hands in Jerusalem's Judean Hills, click here (see the left tab menu "Touring In Israel?"). If not visiting Israel but want JNF-KKL to plant a tree to recognize or memorialize friends, family and loved ones, click here.

Why three trees?

Spiritually, I planted three trees in honor of God the Father, God the Son (the Lord Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit (the Holy Trinity) for His saving and sustaining grace in my life.

On a human level, the three trees are in honor of the estimated 1.5 million children murdered in the Holocaust (Shoah), and of Stephanie B. Freedman, a young lady friend from Marblehead, Massachusetts whom I met while working at Many Glacier Hotel in Montana's Glacier National Park during the summer of 1991.

Stephanie played a major part in my decision to leave the east coast and West Hartford, Connecticut for the Great American West (Texas's Big Bend National Park, then Washington State's Olympic National Park) in 1991-92. Being Jewish and having had worked on a Reformed Jewish kibbutz in southern Israel's Negev desert prior to our meeting, she also increased my desire to one day visit Israel.

After we met in Montana, we kept in touch during the fall/winter/spring/summer of 1991-92 as she was in Arad, Israel, studying at the U.S.-funded World Union of Jewish Students school (moved to Tel Aviv in fall 2008), and I was working at Big Bend National Park. We eventually discontinued contact with each other by 1995 as our lives took different spiritual-theological and geographic directions. At the time (1995), she was a student at Jerusalem's Hebrew Union College.

Married now to an Israeli and with children, Stephanie Mizrahi now lives in Jerusalem.

--> For the full story/biography of how the geographic move to the American West was instrumental in my conversion to Christ, see the paragraph "'Go West, Young Man!', Jewish Romance, Conversion" on Uncommon Christian Ministries' "Biography" page

Planter's Prayer

On a final note, and though not an environmentalist/earth worshiper nor a big proponent of formal/written prayers, here nonetheless is the "Planter's Prayer" as provided by JNF-KKL:

Heavenly Father, Thou who buildest Zion and Jerusalem, take pleasure in Thy land and bestow upon it of Thy goodness and Thy grace.

Give dew for a blessing and cause beneficent rains to fall in their season, to satiate the mountains of Israel and her valleys, and to water thereon every plant and tree, and these saplings which we plant before Thee this day.

Make deep their roots and wide their crown, that they may blossom forth in grace amongst all the trees in Israel, for good and for beauty.

And strengthen the hands of all our brethren, who toil to revive the sacred soil and make fruitful its wastes. Bless, O Lord, their might, and may the work of their hands find favor before Thee.

Look down from Thy holy habitation from heaven, and bless this land that it may flow again with milk and honey. Amen.

Know hope & spiritual awakening, 20th anniversary . . . . new creation in Christ, 17th anniversary

2009-10-31T13:39:00.001-07:00

This October and November marks the 20th anniversary of my spiritual awakening to the truth/reality of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It was during the fall of 1989 in West Hartford, Connecticut, that I first experienced the hope--in this life and in the life to come (eternity)--that exists solely in the resurrected Lord Jesus. Prior to that, I was "without hope and without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12).

The source of the hope that directed me to the Lord Jesus was The Holy Bible (Old and New Testaments). The Bible (New International Version [NIV]) was given to me as a gift by a friend. Some specific Bible verses that the Lord used to bring hope to my then-spiritually dark, sin-plagued and meaningless life included the following:

[15] Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. [16] For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. [17] The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
1 John 2:15-17

The LORD is my light and my salvation--whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid.
Psalm 27:1

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
Matthew 28:20b (words of the Lord Jesus)

[14] We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. [15] I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. [16] And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. [17] As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. [18] I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. [19] For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. [20] Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
Romans 7:14-20

It was a long 3 years (October 1989 to October 1992, ages 18-21) until I surrendered/gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ (= was "born again," John 3:3, 7) in a Lake Crescent Lodge employee dorm room near Port Angeles, Washington, in Olympic National Park. I had indeed became a "new creation" in Christ:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

For a full spiritual biography via Uncommon Christian Ministries' website, click here.

For an explanation of the Christian Gospel (literally "good news"), click here.

30th annual Christian-based Succot celebration in Jerusalem, Oct. 2-8 . . . 7th annual International Day of Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem, Oct. 4

2009-10-01T12:20:00.000-07:00

Sponsored by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (est. 1980)--and with assistance from Israel's Ministry of Tourism--October 2-8 is the 30th annual Feast of Tabernacles (Feast of Booths, Succot) celebration. This event has become the largest and most popular annual tourist-solidarity event in Israel, taking place at Jerusalem's International Convention Center (ICC) and other venues across The City of Peace/The Eternal City/City of Gold.

Some 5,000 Christians from over 100 countries will gather for 7 days of teaching, worship and practical service that is focused on Christians' support of Israel. Also, event registrants will participate in the annual Jerusalem March parade on Tuesday (Oct. 6).

Click here (ICEJ web site) and here (wikipedia entry) for more information about the celebration and the biblical/Jewish Feast of Tabernacles (Feast of Booths, Succot).

The theme for this year is the tabernacle of David:

On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old. Amos 9:11.

And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Zechariah 14:16.

Though not in full agreement with some of the theological and political aspects of the celebration, I nonetheless plan to attend the opening ceremony at the historic Dead Sea desert town of Ein Gedi on Friday (Oct. 2, dinner and outdoor Paul Wilbur concert), the International Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem on Sunday (Oct. 4, see below), Israeli night on Wednesday (Oct. 7) and the morning session and closing ceremony on Thursday (Oct. 8). Click here for the event's schedule.

ALSO:

A reminder that this Sunday (Oct. 4) is the 7th annual International Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem. This year, more than 200,000 churches in 175 nations will participate in the largest Jerusalem-focused prayer event in history.

The Jerusalem observance takes place in the city's International Convention Center from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Jerusalem time. The observance is being broadcast live on the international GOD-TV.

Observed the first Sunday of every October, IDPPJ "is a global grassroots prayer initiative coinciding with the season of Yom Kippur that, for the first time in Church history, links the Christian liturgical calendar with the biblical, Jewish calendar."

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: may they prosper [be secure] who love you. Psalm 122:6.

News sources for Israel's Christian friends . . . free daily email updates about news in Israel

2009-09-27T04:28:00.000-07:00

For the latest news about what is happening in Israel, the Middle East and the global Jewish and Arab world from a Christian (Evangelical Protestant) perspective, the monthly magazines Israel Today and Jerusalem Post-Christian Edition are two good resources.

Some print edition articles can also be found on their online sites via here (Israel Today) and here (Jerusalem Post-Christian Edition).

According to their web site, Israel Today "is a Jerusalem-based news agency providing a biblical and objective perspective on local news. Founded in 1978, when it began publishing a monthly German news magazine, the English language edition of Israel Today was launched in January 1999 in order to meet a growing demand for news from Israel to the English-speaking market. The Japanese edition was launched in 2004, and a Dutch edition is currently in the works, as well. Israel Today maintains a diverse staff of local journalists who live in the Land and therefore report from firsthand experience, offering a mix of information, interviews, inspiration and daily life in Israel." The monthly magazine has subscribers in more than 80 countries.

The Jerusalem Post-Christian Edition (est. 2006) is published in full partnership with the International Christian Embasssy Jerusalem (ICEJ, est. 1980). It "is packed full of biblical insight, political analysis and unreported news from the Holy Land, making it a must read for all Christians who care about Israel."

Both Israel Today and ICEJ offer a free daily news update via email. Click here to subscribe to Israel Today's, and here to subscribe to ICEJ's.

For other news sources and information about Israel, see Uncommon Christian Ministries' recommended links.